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Mar 23, 2025
Do you remember your first anime? How has your discovery of that anime and the medium in general impacted your life? For some, watching anime has led them down an artistic path, whether it's just drawing pictures, drawing manga or comics, or working on new anime for others to fall in love with just as they had. Sometimes, an anime about just making animation could be the one that makes that impact on someone. Zenshuu, MAPPA's latest anime original project, is such an anime that could influence someone to go down the path of an animator. When I started watching it, I was disappointed to
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find out it was an isekai anime and unfairly judged it to be like all of the other generic isekai anime that have come out in the last few years (with prettier animation than normal), completely expecting myself to drop it after a couple of episodes. 12 episodes later, I've found myself to be glad I gave it a fair chance.
Zenshuu starts off with Natsuko Hirose, a young and talented animator who has already directed a successful anime series, struggling with her latest project. One day, after eating an expired clam lunch that her boss brought in and didn't throw away herself (for some reason), she collapses from food poisoning and seemingly dies. However, she wakes up and finds herself in the world of "A Tale of Perishing", her favorite anime movie and her inspiration for becoming an animator in the first place. In the world of "A Tale of Perishing", creatures called "Voids" are out to destroy the last of the "Soul Futures", crystals that keep the world alive, and a group of soldiers known as the Nine Soldiers must protect the people of the Last Town against them; however, the story is fated to come to a tragic end. In an effort to change the world and characters' fates, Natsuko fights alongside the currently surviving Nine Soldiers with the power of animation....or, to be exact, the power that she gains to summon a magical animation desk and make her drawings come to life.
As I mentioned toward the beginning of this review, I was disappointed to find that Zenshuu was an isekai anime, but over time, I came to understand that alongside other elements of this anime, it was just a part of the celebration of what makes animation special that the series displays. We don't see too much of this world outside of the Last Town, but the name of the town should make it obvious why, and even despite that, the series does do an effective job at worldbuilding. The overall story, though, does remind me a little bit of a fanfiction someone writes to "fix" the worst parts of a story, in the same vein as someone who writes a Persona 5 fanfiction that changes a certain part of its story that happens between the fourth and fifth Palaces. (If you have played Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal, you know what I'm talking about.) I don't mind that too much, but these "fixes" make the story feel not it's not flowing as well as it could, at least in the first half. The second half of the series does improve the story's flow by a lot, though, leading to an open yet still satisfying ending.
When it comes to the characters, we first have to mention the protagonist, Natsuko Hirose. I can imagine that not a lot of fans will start off liking her, as her personality does come off as a bit selfish to start with. We can especially see this in episode 7, which is primarily a flashback episode told from the points of view of people who have interacted with Natsuko in the past; although the determination she shows in the flashback scenes to become an animator is admirable, she does also come off like she doesn't care much about other people, which can get on fans' nerves. However, she does get a good amount of character development as the series goes on, eventually getting to a point where she's able to work with other people instead of insisting on doing everything herself. It's nice to see this amount of growth from her.
That doesn't mean that the other characters are slouching in the character development department, however, even though they're not quite as interesting as Natsuko. One notable example is Memmeln, an elf girl who is one of the Nine Soldiers. She starts out possibly being the least interesting of the Nine Soldiers, but without spoiling too much, her immortality leads to her starting to go down a dark path, which led to me being more interested in her character; after she regains her will to live, she ends up being a lot more likable, even if the reason for that is kind of silly (but also serves as a nice representation of a portion of the anime community). Another character of note is Destiny, who was once the love interest of Luke, the leader of the Nine Soldiers; although her romance with Luke is no longer a thing in this version of "A Tale of Perishing" (and for good reason, too), it doesn't make her any less charming, especially with the direction her character takes in her debut episode. Speaking of Luke, he's also an interesting character with some pretty good development, and although it took me a while to really buy the direction his relationship with Natsuko was going in, it ultimately made sense. Finally, I just want to mention that Unio reminded me a bit of the mascot characters you would find in a lot of other fantasy anime, including how annoying he could be at times, which I think was the point of his character.
When talking about Zenshuu, however, there is one thing we must never forget to address, and that is its incredible presentation. Sure, the voice acting is very good, with Anna Nagase (Natsuko) and Rie Kugimiya (Unio) having especially outstanding performances. Sure, the music is also very good, both the background music and the opening and ending themes ("Zen" by BAND-MAID and "Tada, Kimi no Mama de" by Sou, respectively). However, the undoubtedly best part of Zenshuu's presentation - as well as the overall series - is its gorgeous art and animation. The backgrounds are nice to look at, the character designs are great, the more downtime-like scenes are very well-animated, and the action scenes.... My compliments to the chefs who were cooking those up! The way Natsuko's drawings brought to life are animated are pretty reminiscent of anime storyboards, too, which I feel is a nice touch. If I were in charge at MAPPA, I would be making sure the animators who worked on this were paid a lot for the amount of work they put into this, but hey, I'm sure they're getting paid fairly for this, right?
Right, MAPPA? You're paying your animators fairly for this, right? RIGHT?!?
Ahem. Anyway, Zenshuu turned out to be a pretty good anime in the end. Those who appreciate animation as an art form may get a kick out of this, even those who aren't isekai fans. Maybe it might even serve as some kind of inspiration for you, like "A Tale of Perishing" did for Natsuko!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 22, 2025
Remember "Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto"? The Winter 2025 anime season gave us another Sakamoto, one that you're more likely to have heard of, given that he's from a popular Shounen Jump manga. I sure had heard quite a bit of the manga in question, "Sakamoto Days", even before its anime adaptation was announced; I've even read the manga's pilot one-shot, "Sakamoto"! Unfortunately, the anime hasn't been received as positively as anticipated, seemingly mainly because of the animation. Can "Sakamoto Days" still be considered good in spite of its hiccups, though? For its first half, at least, I'd say so.
In "Sakamoto Days", the titular Tarou
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Sakamoto is a legendary assassin who was renowned in the underworld for being immensely powerful....until one day, he gives it all up to be with a convenience store clerk named Aoi. Five years later, he has married Aoi, had a daughter with her, started running his own convenience store, and - perhaps the most shocking change of all - is now overweight. Don't be fooled by his change in body type, however, as Sakamoto's strength has not diminished at all in the past five years. Good thing, too, because a large bounty has been placed on Sakamoto's head, and as a result, all of the local hitmen want a hit on him now. Alongside his new employees, clairvoyant ex-assassin Shin Asakura and mafia daughter Xiaotang Lu, Sakamoto fights to protect his family while also trying to respect his wife's "no killing" rule.
Normally, I save talking about an anime's animation for near the end of a review, but in the case of Sakamoto Days, it's an elephant I should probably address now. Yes, the animation can feel a little stiff in some places, but I can at least compliment how cool and well-paced the action scenes are. TMS Entertainment did as good of a job as they could, especially considering that they were also working on season 4 of Dr. Stone - another well-known Shounen Jump series - this season. There is also some really good background music during the action scenes, which really helps to elevate them. Speaking of music, the opening and ending themes - "Hashire SAKAMOTO" by Vaundy and "Futsuu" by Conton Candy, respectively - are both solid songs, with the former going especially hard and being a good fit for the series.
I don't know what possessed me to stick to watching the English dub for the entire first half of this anime, especially since the Japanese cast seems pretty solid - Sakamoto is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, for crying out loud! - but I did, anyway. Luckily, Sakamoto Days has a pretty good English dub. Most of the English cast gave good performances with voices that matched their characters well; Matthew Mercer and Dallas Liu, the respective voices of Sakamoto and Shin, did especially well in their roles. The only exception I'd say there was in terms of good voice acting was Rosalie Chiang as Lu; not only was her voice not the best fit overall, but something just felt a little off about her performance. Well, maybe I can just chalk it up to inexperience in voice acting and - wait, what do you mean, she voiced the main girl in "Turning Red"?!
Ahem. Anyway, what role could voice actors play in an anime's production without a cast of characters? Before that, though, I want to touch on the story that these characters are in for a bit. On the surface, Sakamoto Days just seems like a simple slice-of-life comedy with some action thrown in for good measure - and to some degree, it is - but the whole bounty thing that I mentioned earlier does ensure there is an actual story arc going on. Honestly, there is a part of me that wishes that there was more of the slice-of-life stuff, but the story we get here isn't bad at all. It doesn't end on a particularly satisfying note, but that's what the upcoming second part and however much of the manga the anime doesn't end up covering are for, I suppose!
Sakamoto is probably the most interesting character here. He's not a very talkative guy, with most of his dialogue coming from Shin reading his mind, and even aside from that, he's got a bit of an air of mystery to him that not many other characters have. Characters would talk about his past as an assassin, but what was he really like back then? How did he even get into that life in the first place? I just can't help but wonder. That doesn't mean that none of the supporting characters are interesting, though. The antagonists are all various degrees of menacing, and Sakamoto's allies are all fun to watch, whether it's because of their likable personalities or the cool action scenes they participate in. Shin, in particular, is especially notable in that regard; his banter with Sakamoto is always fun, his backstory is interesting, and although the ways he uses his mind-reading powers can get a little predictable, he does use them in clever ways. I do wish that we saw more of Aoi Sakamoto, though. Of course, given the kind of character she is, it wouldn't make sense for her to participate in the action scenes, but I would have liked to see the development of her relationship with Tarou Sakamoto besides the montage we get in episode 1 and a bit of backstory in episode 2.
Overall, Sakamoto Days may not be taking over the anime community - and understandably so - but it is off to a good start. I recommend it for people looking for action-comedies with middle-aged protagonists. Wait, never mind, Sakamoto's 27.... Well, I still recommend that you watch it as soon as you can in order to catch up for part 2, which starts airing in July!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 20, 2025
If you've fallen as far down the anime rabbit hole as I have over the years, you would know about some really bad anime. Two anime largely considered to be the worst of them all are a pair of OVAs known as "Mars of Destruction" and "Tenkuu Danzai Skelter Heaven". Personally, I still think "Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo" is worse than both of them, but I can't deny how incomprehensibly bad both are. Before those two bad anime could run, however, Spectral Force had to walk. Like Mars of Destruction and Tenkuu Danzai Skelter Heaven, Spectral Force is based on a game from the
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video game company Idea Factory, and like the idiot I am, I decided to watch this as punishment for incorrectly guessing that the upcoming "Haite Kudasai, Takamine-san" would be streaming on HIDIVE. I don't even know how to begin with this one, though; it's just that incomprehensible.
Spectral Force takes place in Neverland (not related to Peter Pan or The Promised Neverland), a once peaceful land now caught up in a power struggle between humans, demons, and gods. Although it seems like the demons are winning, things take a turn when a hero named Chiffon finds a sword called the Tenmaken, which he uses to kill the Demon Lord and give humans an edge in the war. Right before this, our main heroine, the half-demon and half-human princess Hiro, is sent away with a bunch of mercenaries, and right when they come back is when her father is killed. Now, it's up to her to avenge her father and end the war, and during that process, she somehow comes to trust humans, who she hates due to an incident in her past. At least, that was what I interpreted the plot to be.
I apologize if I summarized this anime wrong, but can you blame me? The story isn't that easy to follow in terms of how it's structured and in how entertaining it is. Throughout the entire thing, I was either bored, confused, or some weird combination of both. The characters don't help make the story any interesting, either; they're all typical fantasy series characters with no real characteristics that could make them stand out from one another. Not even our leading lady, Hiro, is all that interesting; her whole thing of being a not-entirely-human who hates humans has been done multiple times before in more interesting ways, and the way she eventually comes to trust humans doesn't feel organic, either. I'm sure the story and characters are expanded on better in the original Spectral Force game, but whether it has an English translation or not (seems like it doesn't, despite the fact that the third game did get an English release in 2008), I can't be bothered to play it and know for sure.
For the first six minutes or so, I was watching Spectral Force in Japanese with English subtitles, and the voice actors for the Japanese version didn't sound too engaged in their roles. However, due to some circumstances that I don't feel like explaining, I was forced to switch to the English dub for the rest of the series. On that note, I just want to question ADV Films's choice to even give Spectral Force an English dub really quick. I can't imagine the original OVA earned a lot of money when it was released in Japan, and it's very easy to see why; why in the world did ADV Films decide that something like this - something that would very likely cause them to not make any of the money they must have spent on licensing, dubbing, and producing the DVDs back - was a good anime to dub into English?! The quality of the dub certainly didn't help matters; perhaps it was due to having little experience with voice acting at the time, but it saddens me to hear English dub voice actors who have shown incredible talent such as Chris Patton and Jessica Calvello give such lackluster performances. Well, at least the background music and ending theme were okay; they fit the fantasy vibe of the series well.
The worst part of Spectral Force is, without question, the animation. To be fair, this is the first Idea Factory anime that ever came out - God help us all for what was to come after - so the animators probably weren't entirely sure of how to animate at the time. With that being the case, however, they could have gotten some more experienced animators to help them along so that the end product didn't end up being as much of a mess as it is. There is a lot of ugly-looking CGI animation in the first episode that I'm sure nearly made my eyes bleed, but luckily, there isn't as much of it in the second episode. The 2-D animation, however, is consistently bad throughout both episodes. From characters seemingly glitching out in the middle of a walk cycle animation to lips not moving when they're supposed to and even one scene in the second episode where a soldier literally slid into frame, everything about Spectral Force's animation should be the subject of a study on animation disasters. Well, at least they were able to improve on this terrible animation with Mars of Destruction and Tenkuu Danzai Skelter Heaven, right? (It's been over a decade since I've watched either of them, and I'm not going to rewatch either of them just to answer my own question.)
Overall, Spectral Force is a terrible anime, and I implore you to not watch it. If you did, you would have to suffer longer than you would having to watch both Mars of Destruction and Tenkuu Danzai Skelter Heaven. Question is, though, is it worse than "Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo"? I'd say it's not, because I can confidently say this about Spectral Force and not the other one with a long title; even though I don't do drugs, I can see people enjoying this if they got really, really high and watched it with equally high friends. I would prefer it if people didn't do non-prescribed drugs, though, so....yeah. Don't watch this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Mar 6, 2025
They say that evil never sleeps, but that's not always true. Whether it's spent sleeping, eating ice cream, or watching pandas at the zoo, even villains trying to take over the Earth need some time off from all of that. That sentiment is best demonstrated in the anime "Mr. Villain's Day Off", the subject of today's review. I didn't watch it back when it was airing, but I had been hearing about it quite a bit; thus, I eventually decided to give it a watch. If there's one thing I can take away from this anime besides the whole "needing to take some time off"
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thing, it's that pandas are cute, although that's something I already knew.
The premise of Mr. Villain's Day Off, or "Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san" in Japanese, is pretty self-explanatory. The titular Mr. Villain is a general for an evil organization plotting to exterminate humanity and conquer the Earth in the name of their home planet (which I don't remember if it was even given a name), fighting against a group of Rangers who aim to protect the Earth. (Yes, Rangers as in Power Rangers.) However, most of the anime doesn't focus on these battles between the Rangers and the organization; instead, it is a slice-of-life focusing on the general's time off of work and how he spends it. A common way for him to spend his days off of work is using his annual pass to the local zoo and watching his favorite animals there: pandas. In addition, we sometimes get to see his interactions with other characters whether at work or on his days off, including those with the Rangers.
As you can see, it's the kind of anime that puts a character who is normally in a villain role into that of a protagonist. That being said, to sort of steal a quote from the movie "Wreck-It Ralph", just because he's a bad guy doesn't mean he's a bad guy. He doesn't want his work and private lives to intermingle, he can't help but take multiple pictures of cute animals at once, and he just wants to spend his precious time off of work relaxing; I'm sure we can all relate to all of that. Plus, he has displayed multiple acts of kindness throughout the series, such as when he helps the Red Ranger - who is his enemy, mind you - find his way on the multiple occasions when he gets lost. I think Red Ranger's nickname for the general, "nice guy from the Evil League", really says it all.
In regards to the other characters....well, it's not like I'm not quite as interested in how they spend their times off as the general, but none of them are really bad characters. Sora and Mugi, a pair of twins who combine together to make the Green Ranger, have a pretty sad backstory, so there's that, at least. There's also Trigger, one of the general's coworkers who has a grudge against him, and I'm still not entirely sure whether he amuses me or annoys me. One character that I wish we got to know more about is Hiroki, a child who the general meets at the zoo. His dream is to become an animal doctor, but his mom tells him that he can't do it; I really wanted to see him show his mother that he really is capable of what he wants to accomplish. Other than these characters, I was, unfortunately, not too invested in any of them.
Right there, in that last sentence, lies the main problem of Mr. Villain's Day Off; it's not incredibly interesting. Sure, it's a slice-of-life anime that is not meant to have a real story to it, but you could at least make the supporting characters more memorable than they already are. Although I wouldn't say I'm a tokusatsu fan, it's also a bit of a disappointment for tokusatsu fans who want to see some cool action scenes between the Rangers and the evil organization and don't really care for what happens inbetween the battles. That being said, if anyone who's like that is able to sit through the entire series, they are rewarded with a full-blown battle scene between the Rangers and the evil organization in the final episode. This battle scene doesn't have spectacular animation, but it's campy enough to be a fun watch regardless.
What I said about the animation for the final episode's battle scene can be said about the animation in the rest of the series, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP worked together to give viewers some solid animation with some solid color design; it's nothing thrilling, but it suits the vibe of the anime very well. Speaking of vibes, I have to mention the opening theme, "Yuuho" by Ivudot; the backing track for this song sounds to me like it could be heard on a lo-fi hip hop playlist, and the vocals are pretty good, too! Oh, and the ending theme, "Kyuusoku Juuden" by GLASGOW, is pretty good, too. Even the voice acting was pretty good, and I especially want to give a special mention to Nao Touyama, who voices a convenience store clerk named Yamano who appears a few times in the series; she does a good job at making her sound enthusiastic!
I may have said some pretty negative things about Mr. Villain's Day Off, but I do think it's on the higher side of average. If you want a nice slice-of-life anime to watch on your day off, you could do much worse than this. At least you'll get to see some cute anime pandas!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 26, 2025
Weekly Shounen Jump is probably one of the most cutthroat manga magazines there are out there. If you’re unable to keep readers engaged for each chapter you release of your manga to the magazine, you could be faced with an early cancellation. Its digital counterpart, Shounen Jump+, is the same way; many manga on this app/website have had their final chapters published when they haven’t even been publishing for a year. One such manga is the subject of today’s review, Magokoro Scramble, which ended today after first being released in October of last year. When I found out Magokoro Scramble was being cut short, I
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figured I might as well take the opportunity to read through it while I could; it’s not like I can read much else on Manga Plus, given the fact that I cancelled my subscription for its subscription service after Oshi no Ko ended and have no intention of resubscribing any time soon. Why was Magokoro Scramble cut off so soon, and just how much was its story affected by the 17-chapter length? Can’t hurt to find out!
Magokoro Scramble, subtitled “What Lies In Your Heart?” in its English version, is a romantic comedy about Koharu Sanada and Yuki Yatsutase, two high school students from very different bloodlines. Koharu’s bloodline carries the trait of reading minds, which has been a source of grief for our scary-faced hero; it has even led to him swearing off love. Everything changes one day, however, when he meets Yuki after saving her from a group of thugs. Yuki may seem like a quiet girl, but she is very excitable inside of her mind; as a result, when she inevitably falls in love with Koharu, he can hear her internal declarations of love loud and clear! From there, although Koharu initially decides to make Yuki hate him, it only leads to him getting more entangled with her and other people who come from bloodlines that have their own unique abilities that come with them.
In my opinion, the biggest piece of missed potential that Magokoro Scramble displays is the whole “bloodline” thing. Honestly, I feel like the only character whose bloodline power is fully established is Koharu’s. His mind-reading ability is, of course, an integral part of the story that is used for both comedy and drama; plus, although it’s not important to the overarching story, it’s established in the first chapter that his father can also read minds, proving that it is, indeed, a bloodline thing. With other characters and their bloodline-related abilities, however, they’re all either not explored as much as they could be or just plain pointless. There is one character whose bloodline allows him to see the weights of objects and people just by looking at them, but it didn’t really feel like there was much of a point to it other than to give an excuse for why this character does something the way he does. Honestly, even if the shortness of the manga didn’t allow for much exploration of the bloodline abilities, that one is just plain stupid.
Before all of that, though, Magokoro Scramble is a romantic comedy, as I have mentioned. How are the two romantic leads, though? Eh….not too bad, but not terribly engaging, either. Koharu is kind of a typical “delinquent-looking dude who isn’t actually that bad of a guy” character who wasn’t a particularly engaging protagonist. I did kind of like Yuki, although that’s just because of how amusing her internal thoughts can be, especially when compared to her outer personality; otherwise, she’s not that much more engaging. However, I can at least appreciate the character development Koharu goes through because of his encounter with Yuki, eventually being able to open up to her at least a little bit. While the two ending up together was a foregone conclusion, it’s at least a little satisfying when they do.
As for the art….well, it is the kind of art you would expect from a newbie manga artist submitting something to Shounen Jump+ for the first time. Not too bad, but not particularly great, either. I wasn’t entirely sure about the way Koharu’s face was drawn, but if he’s supposed to have a scary-looking face, I suppose Satoshi Taninaka drew it pretty well. I do think the way he draws Yuki in her more energetic inner thoughts is quite cute, though. Yeah, I don’t think I have much else to say about the art.
Overall, Magokoro Scramble may not be the most satisfying of manga out there, but it’s not that bad, either. I’d recommend it if you have Manga Plus and want a quick rom-com to read on it. It may get you interested in whatever Satoshi Taninaka’s next work may be; hopefully, he’ll be able to flesh things out more!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 16, 2025
Have you ever decided that you weren't going to accomplish a goal until you accomplished another one first? Like, you might have decided that you weren't going to ask someone out until you had done something else that might impress them. For example, beating them at chess....or really, Japanese chess, also known as shogi. Look, I'm no expert at shogi or chess - the one time I can recall playing chess, I tried to play it with the checkers ruleset - but I have seen my fair share of romantic comedy anime. As of the time of me writing this review, the well-liked "Teasing Master
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Takagi-san" may not be among them, but a certain other anime from the same manga artist as Takagi-san is. No, it's not "In The Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki".
Now, dear readers, I must ask, "When Will Ayumu Make His Move?"
When Will Ayumu Make His Move, known in Japanese as "Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru", follows a certain shogi club at a certain high school. Its two members, club president Urushi Yaotome and first-year Ayumu Tanaka, play shogi together at pretty much every club meeting, with the former usually beating the latter. Ayumu never gives up on trying to beat Urushi, though, his main motivation being his crush on her; he has decided that he won't confess his feelings for her until he has beaten her fair and square at a shogi game. Meanwhile, Urushi suspects that Ayumu likes her and, although she's not aware of it, begins to develop her own feelings for him. From there, we get to see the rom-com and shogi shenanigans that these two get up to.
As I said at the beginning of this review, I'm no expert at shogi, and as such, I'm not sure if the moves that are made in the shogi games played in this anime are good moves or not. It might be better to ask someone who is actually good at shogi about things like that. However, it is the game of shogi that connects these two and allows us to see how cute they are as a couple. Their interactions can be a little frustrating as much as they are cute, however. Ayumu has a tendency to tease Urushi in a way that is obviously flirty, and Urushi's reactions make it clear that she feels the same way that he does, even if she doesn't realize it until the end. On multiple occasions, I have thought, "Come on, Ayumu! You might as well just confess now!" I guess I do have to respect him for sticking to his guns when it comes to when he's going to confess, though.
Surrounding Ayumu and Urushi is a cast of likable supporting characters. My favorite is probably Maki, Urushi's best friend; not only are her teasing antics quite fun to watch, but the way she's so supportive of her friend is very wholesome to see. Rin is another character that sticks out in my mind; although she doesn't appear until later in the series, she adds to the group dynamic of the shogi club in a fun way. The supporting characters I especially want to highlight, however, are Takeru and Sakurako, Ayumu's childhood friends and the anime's resident side couple. My feelings for their relationship are pretty much the same as my feelings for Ayumu and Urushi's relationship, as in I think they're cute and fun together and I really felt like they might as well just confess to each other already.
The animation studio behind When Will Ayumu Make His Move is Silver Link, who has had an extensive track record prior to when they released this anime in 2022. Unfortunately, I can't exactly say it's their best work; while the character and color designs were solid, the animation was a bit on the limited side, and even when there was movement, it sometimes felt a little stiff. Maybe "stiff" isn't the right word to describe it, but it just felt like the animation wasn't flowing as well as it could have been. At the very least, though, the voice acting and music make up for the limited animation. The voice acting is all very good with every character being well-cast, especially with Kana Hanazawa voicing Maki. Speaking of Kana Hanazawa, she sings the opening theme, "Kakehiki wa Poker Face", which is a cute song that fits the anime well. The same thing can be said about "50 cm", the ending theme that is sung by Urushi's voice actress, Kanna Nakamura. Even the background music is very cute!
Overall, When Will Ayumu Make His Move is a cute romantic comedy anime. If you want an anime that has at least a bit of a focus on shogi or want more from the manga artist behind Takagi-san, go ahead and give this a try. It will get you wondering exactly when Ayumu will make his move, too!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Feb 8, 2025
Around 2021-2022, I watched an anime called "Blood-C", which followed a girl named Saya who fights against monsters. I'm aware that the description I gave was very basic and boring, but I think that describes how I felt about that anime; despite a very interesting plot twist toward the end of that series and a sequel movie that slightly improved the whole thing, I thought Blood-C was very boring. Despite that, I felt compelled to go back and watch the anime movie that started the franchise Blood-C is a part of, "Blood: The Last Vampire", which follows a girl named Saya who fights against monsters.
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I promise that this Saya and these monsters are different from the ones from Blood-C, but unfortunately, I can't promise that it's any less of a bore. Well, at least it's not so bad that it doesn't make good material for a B-grade horror movie night, right?
Okay, maybe I should go into more detail on what Blood: The Last Vampire is actually about. The year is 1966, and the protagonist - guess what her name is? - works as a hunter of bat-like, vampiric creatures known as Chiropterans. Her latest mission? Infiltrate an American high school as a student and kill the Chiropterans that have been spotted at the air base adjoining it. Oh, and Saya really needs a new sword to do that, because it's been getting as dull as her personality is!
Yeah, as you can see, one of my biggest problems with this film is Saya as a character. Sure, she's cool and mysterious, but we never get to really see why she is the way she is. What are her motivations for killing the Chiropterans? It's never exactly explained. There's also a reveal towards the end of the film pertaining to who Saya really is, but there's not enough time left in this 48-minute film (with 6 minutes being dedicated to end credits, so it's really 42 minutes) to really explore this. The rest of the cast doesn't fare much better, either. Each character is either a Chiropteran for Saya to slay or a human who is....just there, I guess.
So what does this movie have to offer if not compelling characters? Blood, of course; it's in the name, after all! To be specific, this film is so chock-full of bloody action scenes that you almost forget that the story and characters aren't particularly interesting. There are certainly more thrilling action scenes out there, but Production I.G. is able to make use of its previous track record prior to the film's 2000 release to make it look good even in 2025. The character designs....well, the way many characters' lips were drawn were a bit distracting to me, but I didn't feel one way or the other about them otherwise.
Sound-wise....well, I wouldn't say it's any worse than the character development, but the voice acting is another weak point. I do think it was interesting how the Japanese characters in this film spoke both Japanese and English throughout the film, and it didn't sound too Engrish-y, either. However, their attempts to sound fluent in the language causes their acting abilities to take a hit, and the way they deliver their lines makes it clear how much they're struggling to act under these circumstances. The American voice actors don't fare much better; in fact, despite their better grasp on the language, their acting is just awful. I know that it's too late to request they all be recast, but they really should have gotten better voice actors! Well, at least the sound design and the background music are decent. I didn't really care much for the instrumental ending theme, but it did fit the mood of the entire film.
Overall, Blood: The Last Vampire isn't a particularly good film, nor is it any better than Blood-C. It's not too bad if you're a fan of B-grade films and just want to watch cool action scenes and not much else, but this wouldn't be a good choice if you wanted an A-grade horror flick or something film-length. Well, hopefully, I'll experience more enjoyment when I get around to watching Blood+, which I've heard is a better version of the story of a girl named Saya who fights against monsters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 4, 2025
Valentine's Day is coming up soon, and you know what that means; it's time for the single people of the world to envy the couples of the world as we indulge in candy and love stories! I mean, I'm mostly fine with staying single, but there's nothing wrong with reading a cute little shoujo romance manga, right? As if to fulfill my desire for a love story to read this February, I happened to notice that someone I follow on AniList had just finished a manga with a cute-looking cover called "Hajimete Koibito ga Dekimashita." After reading the synopsis and realizing how short these 22
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chapters must be to be contained in a single volume, I decided to follow his lead and read the whole thing for myself. I might have diabetes now, and I'm blaming the guy who read this before me! (I'm kidding, I'm kidding.)
It's hard to really describe the premise of Hajimete Koibito ga Dekimashita in an entire paragraph, as there isn't really a whole lot of story to describe about it. The first 21 chapters, having originally been published on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), are all around 4-8 pages long, and most of them are small vignettes of the all-too-pure relationship between high schooler Ayumi Yoshioka and her upperclassman, Sumito Iizuka. That's all there really is to it. No drama, no real conflict, just fluffy little slice-of-life bits between two blushing teenagers just trying to make their relationship work.
For some, the relationship between Ayumi and Sumito won't be the most engaging to read. As far as character growth goes, there is a little bit for Ayumi toward the end, but that's about it. What the manga does well with their relationship, however, is capture how giddy and excited one might feel with their first romantic partner. Plus, Ayumi and Shinto are nice, considerate people (even if not terribly interesting characters), so it's easy to wish for their happiness together. The final chapter, made for the published volume and clocking in at around 30 pages, showcases how they met and further drives the point of how good they are together home.
When the manga isn't focused on these two lovebirds, however, we get to watch as another romance unfolds between Nao Kisaragi and Shirou Asano. Nao is Ayumi's best friend and has a cool, calm, and collected personality; meanwhile, Shirou is buddies with Sumito and has an energetic and kind of puppy-like personality. Their differing personalities create a dynamic that is nothing less than fun to see, especially with how adorably in love Shirou is with Nao. Honestly, I wish Nao and Shirou had a spin-off manga to themselves just so I could see their dynamic and overall relationship more. Oh, well!
These two love stories were written and drawn by Yuu Kamena, whose artstyle is pretty standard as far as modern shoujo romances go. For some reason, the artstyle particularly kind of reminded me of Honey So Sweet, another wholesome shoujo romance manga that I've reviewed in the past. My feelings for Yuu Kamena's artstyle here are similar to how I felt about Amu Meguro's art back then; it's cute and simplistic in the right ways and in the right places. It's good art! What else can I say?
Overall, Hajimete Koibito ga Dekimashita is a cute manga. You're going to be disappointed if you want some extra spice in your romance manga, but if you want something short, sugary sweet, and wholesome to read on Valentine's Day, this would be a good choice. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to start begging the manga artist for a Nao and Shirou-centric spin-off.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 3, 2025
It's all too easy to judge people with a black-and-white mindset. This person's good, that person's evil, the whole shebang. In actuality, people are a lot more complicated than that, and you can't really judge a person by their cover. One person could be cruel and antagonistic while also genuinely wanting those she loves to have happy lives; another could aim to get vengeance for those who have been wronged while also letting a crime happen for the sake of "evidence". There is a number of stories that make us think about morality in ways like this, but few of them are quite like Death
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Parade. Okay, the 2013 anime short "Death Billiards" would have counted....if it wasn't where Death Parade even came from, that is. Nearly a decade after I watched Death Billiards myself, as well as nearly a decade after Death Parade's premiere, I've finally watched Death Parade for myself and am ready to give my own judgment to it.
The premise of Death Parade is rather simple. When two people die at the same time, their souls are sent to one of many bars inside of a mysterious tower in the afterlife. The bartenders may serve them a drink or two, but their true purpose is that of an arbiter - those who judge whether a person is reincarnated or has their soul sent into the void. (They are told that they are sent to either Heaven or Hell to make things easier to understand, though.) They make their judgments by having the two patrons of the bar play a game; however, these games have cruel twists to them designed to bring out each person's inner darkness and help with the decision-making process. The series primarily takes place in one such bar, Quindecim, run by the stoic Decim, who works alongside a mysterious, black-haired woman....
In the first few episodes, Death Parade's story is rather formulaic. Two people arrive at Quindecim, Decim gives them the same spiel of how things work around there, a game is chosen, the two people play the game, we learn about who they are, and they get their judgments. There is nothing particularly wrong with the formula; in fact, it helps with the character studying that the series sets out to do. Not only that, but although very few of Quindecim's patrons are seen in more than one episode due to the nature of the series, most of them do make enough of an impact to keep them memorable. A couple of examples are the guests from episodes 8 and 9; their stories were both shocking and heartbreaking at the same time.
At the center of it all, however, are Decim and the mysterious, black-haired woman who serves as his assistant and who remains unnamed until very late into the series; to avoid spoilers, I won't call her by the name she is revealed to have. I will emphasize, however, how important her presence was to the overarching story. With the emotions she displays that Decim is not allowed to have as an arbiter, she often challenges Decim's way of judging people. This is essential to Decim's character development; although his role essentially remains the same from beginning to end, you can see at the very end that her presence did leave an impact on him. If it wasn't for this, Decim would be a rather boring character, with the supporting characters carrying the show all of the way through; that's why I feel like the black-haired woman's presence was important.
You know whose presence in the show I didn't feel was important, though? Mayu Arita. I mean, I didn't feel like many of the recurring characters made a huge impact on the overarching story, but I feel like Mayu was the worst offender of this. Her episode was the only one where a game was overlooked by a different arbiter, which was an interesting change of pace; after that, however, she ends up sticking around until near the end of the series, and it doesn't feel like there was a point to that. The kind of role she played after her episode seemed like it could make the arbiter who overlooked her game get a little bit of character development, but in the end, it felt like he remained largely the same. I wouldn't say that I hate Mayu as a character, but it does make me wonder why she stayed in the series longer than she should have. Her presence did warrant a random cameo from Light from "Death Note", though, which I was more amused by than I probably should have been.
Speaking of Death Note, the animation studio behind that series, Madhouse, is also the one behind Death Parade, and like with Death Note, they did well with the animation for Death Parade. I also liked the character designs for each of the characters, especially that of Decim; his mostly black-and-white color scheme matched his black-and-white way of thinking that he had for his judgments. As for the voice acting....well, due to my desire to legally watch this anime and Crunchyroll not having the Japanese version of this anime, for some reason, I was semi-forced to watch the English dub. I don't have a problem with this, however, as this is one of the better English-dubbed anime there are out there. Each of the character's voices fit their character, and their voice performances were really good, especially Alex Organ as Decim and Jamie Marchi as the black-haired woman.
As far as the music was concerned, the background music was very good and fit each scene pretty well. What I really want to talk about, however, are the opening and ending themes. Before watching Death Parade, I had listened to the opening theme, "Flyers" by Bradio, several times, and I was aware that it wasn't the best fit for the overall mood of the series. It doesn't matter that much, though, as it's a really catchy song that would make a good fit for dancing to at a dance party! However, I had never heard the ending theme, "Last Theater" by NoisyCell, before watching this, and I will admit that while I don't find the song as catchy, it does fit the overall mood better, especially with the mannequin-themed ending animation that accompanies the song for most of the episodes it is played in. You take some, you give some, I guess.
Overall, while Death Parade isn't perfect, I did think it was an excellent anime. If you want to watch an anime that will challenge your perspectives, I'd highly recommend it. While you're at it, you might also want to check out Death Billiards; I don't remember much about it since it's been too long since I've watched it, but I do remember liking that a lot, too!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 20, 2024
I said before in my Zannen nagara Chigaimasu review that if you're going to fall in love with someone, you should take the time to get to know them before deciding that you want to be with them for the rest of your life. I still stand by what I said there, as marriage is a major commitment that will change the course of your life. That being said, some people may be desperate enough to avoid circumstances that they may be pushed into that they'll do whatever it takes to avoid it. Take the main characters of the anime I'm covering today, for example.
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While the concept was far from original, I decided to watch it mainly because it's based on a manga from the same manga artist as "The World God Only Knows", a series that holds a special place in my heart, despite me not being able to confidently say it's one of my favorite anime. Now, let me tell you about a story about a wedding that is 365 days away from not(?) actually happening!
365 Days to the Wedding, known in Japanese as "Kekkon Suru tte, Hontou desu ka", begins when the manager of a travel agency known as JTC announces to the other employees that a new branch of the company will be opening in Anchorage, Alaska, and someone will need to move there in order to get this branch up and running; furthermore, unmarried employees will be considered first in the decision of who it will be. Our two main leads, Takuya Ohara and Rika Honjoji, fit the bill of "unmarried employees" that would be up for consideration, but both of them are introverted and uninterested in moving away, with the former even having a cat to consider in all of this. Thus, Rika comes up with a proposal (pun not intended): she and Takuya will pretend to be engaged so that the company doesn't choose either of them to move. Takuya agrees to this plan, and thus, the newly-formed "couple" have to act like they're in a loving relationship in front of their coworkers and keep the fact that they're not actually getting married a secret. Surprise-surprise, this leads to them gradually developing real feelings for each other.
As I said, the concept of this anime is nothing you've seen before. There are a handful of anime that also tackle the topic of a false relationship, such as Rent-A-Girlfriend and the appropriately-named Nisekoi. However, 365 Days to the Wedding isn't just about a false relationship; it also aims to look at relationships from different kinds of angles. Whether or not marriage is really something that everyone should be hyping up as much as most of the JTC workers are when they find out about Takuya and Rika's engagement is called into question at multiple points; there is even an episode where one supporting character goes through a divorce, and we see how badly it affects him, albeit some parts of his reaction are more comical than one might consider realistic. We also see, however, how love can really make someone grow as a person. In my personal favorite episode of the entire series, another supporting character falls for someone who he decides he wants to marry, but upon finding something major out about that person, he realizes that he's not truly ready; although I truly wish things could have worked between these two characters, as they had genuinely good chemistry, I also acknowledge how mature it was that this supporting character made this realization about himself, despite it not seeming like he would.
That's all great and all, but what about the main couple? At first, despite their personalities being somewhat similar, it's kind of hard to believe that they would be a convincing couple. I mean, it makes sense; up until the start of the series, they barely interacted, even at work. As they interact more, however, you can really see just how much they're starting to fall for each other. Although it seems more like teenagers having crushes on each other than full-grown adults, I don't mind; their interactions are cute nonetheless. Plus, both of them are very relatable characters on their own ways, especially Rika; her tendency to come up with elaborate plans to make the whole "fake marriage" work and to ramble on about things that interest her were both relatable and amusing to me. Also, despite how little he actually appears throughout the series, I absolutely love Kama, Takuya's cat; his personality reminds me a lot of my younger brother's cat.
The animation is done by Ashi Productions, who did a decent job on it. I liked the way everything was colored and how the way the characters were designed for the anime were actually a close match to Tamiki Wakaki's artstyle; however, the animation can look a little bit stiff and awkward at times. I mean, Ashi Productions was also working on "How I Attended An All-Guy's Mixer" this season, so I guess something had to give in that department. I also really liked the voice acting here; Saori Hayami did a great job as always as Rika, and while I'm not too familiar with Kentarou Kumagai as a voice actor, I do think he was a good fit for Takuya. (I just wish Natsumi was more prevalent in the show just so I could hear more of Kana Asumi's voice....) Finally, the opening theme ("Kirakira" by HoneyWorks feat. HaKoniwalily) and the ending theme ("Tsumari wa" by Gohobi) are both cute songs that fit the anime well. I also liked the artstyle used for the ending theme; it was very cute!
Overall, 365 Days to the Wedding is a cute anime, even if it's nothing groundbreaking. I'd recommend it to those who love cute romantic comedies or The World God Only Knows fans who want to see more anime adaptations of Tamiki Wakaki's work. I'm not going to call you and tell you to watch it with an autotuned, menacing-sounding voice, though!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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