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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. ... 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!

Although long-form magical girl anime that aren't Pretty Cure have been on the decline in recent years, there has still been a few such shows that have come out that shook up the formula in different ways. One such magical girl anime is this year's "Gushing Over Magical Girls", which is basically about a magical girl fan who unwittingly becomes part of the evil organization that her idols are fighting against. It's an interesting concept, but given that it is also an ecchi anime, it also has a very high amount of fanservice to the point where it could be classified as a borderline-hentai; while ... I still watched it and found some enjoyment in it regardless, there may be some magical girl fans who may want to see an anime with its basic concept but feel alienated by the egregious amount of fanservice. Before I even heard about Gushing Over Magical Girls, however, I had already made the decision to watch an anime that was essentially, as YouTuber Gigguk would later call it in a YouTube video, "PG-13 Gushing Over Magical Girls". Now that "PG-13 Gushing Over Magical Girls" has finished its run, however, I must really ask the question, "Can Acro Trip really be a suitable replacement for Gushing Over Magical Girls?"

I may have described the basic premise of Acro Trip already, but of course, I should go into more detail. The magical girl fan here is Chizuko Date, a middle school student who is staying with her grandfather in Naniga City for a week. This week turns into an indefinite amount of time, however, after Chizuko witnesses a battle between the town's local magical girl, Berry Blossom, and the evil organization Fossa Magna; having become tired of seeing the same things over and over again in the multiple different places she has moved to, she becomes enamored with Berry Blossom and resolves to stay in town so that she can see more of her new idol's battles. Unfortunately, these battles gradually become less exciting to watch because of how pathetic of a villain Fossa Magna's mastermind, Chroma, is. Eventually, Chizuko encounters Chroma, and because of Chizuko's passion to make Berry Blossom stand out more and her ability to come up with ways to make his evil plans actually have a chance of working, Chroma recruits her into Fossa Magna. Although Chizuko initially refuses the offer....well, let's just say that fate has other plans for her, especially since Chroma's base happens to be underneath her grandfather's house.

First of all, I should mention that apart from being a magical girl anime, Acro Trip is mainly a lighthearted comedy. In that department....well, it's just okay. I may have cracked some smiles or even chuckled a bit at some of the jokes Acro Trip tells, but I can't really think of anything that made me laugh out loud. There wasn't too much of a story, either; it was mainly Chroma and Chizuko getting into wacky shenanigans, mostly in regards to the former's "evil plans". It almost doesn't matter, though, as these two characters do have a fun dynamic with each other. I do wish that the series ended in a more satisfying way, though; I feel like whatever story was there could be wrapped up by something better than a standard hot springs episode. The original manga is already complete with only five volumes, though, so if this is also how the manga ended - I don't know if it did, since I haven't read the manga as of writing this review - there isn't really anymore material that could provide a more conclusive ending. Oh, well.

The cast of characters present in Acro Trip are a bunch that can be amusing at times but also feel a bit lackluster. For example, as amusing as he can be as a(n incompetent) villain, Chroma doesn't feel like he has a real reason for why he wants to be the evil mastermind he is. One episode does have a flashback that shows what gave him the idea to become an evil mastermind in the first place, but it's the kind of thing that makes you think, "What? That's it?" I guess it fits him, since he is really not good at being bad, but there are at least some fictional incompetent villains who at least have a concrete reason for turning to the dark side that isn't just, "This guy wants to be an evil mastermind, so I want to be one, too!" Another character who I feel is lacking a bit is the magical girl fighting him, Berry Blossom herself. As cute as her character design is and as relatable as the insecurities she's shown can be, she's just not that interesting of a character overall. It is a little amusing seeing how much Chizuko freaks out when she's in close proximity to her idol, though.

Voil is the name of the animation studio behind Acro Trip. If it sounds unfamiliar, don't worry; this is actually the studio's first project. It does show, however, as while the art is very colorful, the movement can be stiff at times. Well, I can at least praise how well Yone Sawata's unique artstyle was translated into an anime format; it couldn't have been easy! The opening and ending themes - "Fragum" by Inori Minase and "Reversible Baby" by KanoeRana, respectively - are both upbeat songs that fit the mood of the anime well. I especially liked the latter, given its cute animation sequence and the catchy song that has occasionally gotten stuck in my head. The voice acting was also solid, and each character was well-cast. I wasn't too sure if Miku Itou was really a good fit for Chizuko before the anime came out, but she did a decent job!

Overall, Acro Trip is an okay anime. I personally prefer Gushing Over Magical Girls - mainly because it has better animation and a slightly more memorable cast - but if you're someone who likes the basic premise of that series but doesn't want to watch it because of all of the fanservice, I'd say that Acro Trip is a decent replacement. I may be incompetent at writing reviews, but I can at least say that much!

Gotta admit, I didn’t expect Re:Monster to get an anime adaptation. I mean, sure, I did re:ad a few volumes of the manga adaptation of the original light novel series, but not only did I find it to be just your run-of-the-mill isekai with a re:cycled plot, I also felt that the story structure wouldn’t re:ally translate to anime that well. Given the isekai boom going on, however, I should have re:alized that it would eventually get an anime adaptation. I figured that I might as well give it a watch, and now that it’s over, I might as well write a re:view for it. ... Hopefully, it will help re:aders decide whether or not it’s re:ally worth their time.

Ah, my vocabulary isn’t expansive enough for this! Let’s just get to the review of Re:Monster.

Re:Monster begins when a human named Tomokui Kanata meets an untimely death at the hands of a yandere. He is then reincarnated in another world as a goblin while retaining his memories from his past life. Most isekai anime of this caliber would give its hero an ability that would make him overwhelmingly powerful, and for Tomokui - now named Gobrou - it is an ability he already had in his past life to inherit the abilities of whatever he eats. Using this ability causes Gobrou to rapidly become stronger, eventually evolving into different creatures and even becoming the leader of his goblin tribe. Basically, nothing isekai fans haven’t seen before.

One thing that stands out about Re:Monster, in particular, is its “diary” format. Whenever a day or more would go by within the series, there would be a title card that says “Day (insert number here)” with a short, slightly dramatic jingle accompanying it; there would also be narration of the day’s events provided by the main character. It’s certainly a unique format, as far as I’ve seen, but I don’t think the narration part works very well; I feel like Gobrou’s constant narration causes the “show, don’t tell” rule to be broken too much. I can see it kind of working in the light novel series that it’s based on, and it even somewhat worked for the manga due to the lack of motion with the drawings; however, when you’re watching an anime, you kind of want to see the action more than you want to hear the narrator describe the action, you know? Another problem with Re:Monster’s story structure - which doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with its format - is its pacing. Multiple days pass in every episode, and within those days, so many things happen at once that it gets hard to keep track of it. It’s hard to keep track of all of the abilities that Gobrou gets throughout the series as-is!

Speaking of Gobrou….I wouldn’t say I hate or even dislike him, but I don’t care about him too much. He’s a pretty strong leader, which I liked to see, but his values can be a little dubious. He’ll forbid the other goblins from forcibly impregnating the human women that his tribe captures, but he’ll also bang pretty much any woman who shows interest in him. What? I don’t really care too much for any of the other characters, either, albeit for different reasons; some of their appearances change throughout the series, but most of the characters don’t get any development. They just exist to play off of Gobrou….or in some cases, play with him, if you know what I mean.

The animation, provided by Studio Deen, is….serviceable. Sure, there are a few moments where the characters go off-model, but the action scenes are fine, for the most part. The voice acting was also serviceable; no one in the voice cast gave a particularly outstanding performance, but no one gave a bad performance, either. As for the music….well, the opening theme - “Into The Fire” by CHANSUNG(2PM) and AK-69 featuring CHANGMIN(2AM) - is a song I have mixed feelings about; the rap part of the song wasn’t all that good, but the singing part is catchier than one might think. Finally, the ending theme - “Sadame” by EverdreaM - is a nice song, even if not all that memorable.

Overall, Re:Monster is a bit on the lower side of average. I wouldn’t personally re:commend it, but massive isekai fans might get a kick out of it. As for me, though, maybe I’d get more enjoyment out of That Time I Got Re:incarnated As A Slime, which seems to have a similar concept. Wait, no, I wasn’t supposed to put a colon there-!

From my understanding, good parents just want their kids to be happy. I may not be a parent myself as of the time of writing this review, but I do see this in my mother, who supported me and my younger brothers in whatever we wanted to accomplish as we grew up. Although she could be a little probing about it, she has also been at least somewhat supportive of our love lives, whoever we happened to like at that time. I do wonder sometimes about one thing, though; neither my brothers nor I have ever been attracted to anyone who's the same sex as ... us, but if any of us were, would our mother love us the same, in the same way the protagonist in the manga I'm reviewing today loves her own son? No matter what the answer to that question may be, she definitely raised me to be the kind of person happily willing to read a manga about a boy who might be gay.

Ladies, gents, and nons, here is my review of Okura's "I Think Our Son Is Gay", known in Japanese as "Uchi no Musuko wa Tabun Gay" (literally "Our Son is Probably Gay").

I Think Our Son Is Gay is mainly told from the perspective of Tomoko Aoyama, a married mother of two. Her younger son, Yuuri, is a bit of a cool kid who isn't interested in romance, and her older son, Hiroki, wears his heart on his sleeve and is very bad at hiding things. Case in point, one night, he lets it slip that he'd like a boyfriend who could cook, only to frantically backtrack and say he wants a girlfriend instead. This, along with several hints from before and after this particular moment, leads Tomoko to believe that Hiroki might be gay, but she would prefer to wait until he's ready to come out to talk to him about it. In the meanwhile, Tomoko watches over Hiroki as he goes through high school, and in the process, her worldview expands a little more each day.

At the time of this manga's creation, Japan still wasn't too open about same-sex relationships - with same-sex marriages still not being legal in Japan - and that is reflected here. While there are no LGBTQ+ characters being shown physically harassed, there are heterosexual characters who make not-always-accurate assumptions about the community; while people making such assumptions actually happening in real life makes this manga realistic, and while it's made clear that they're not necessarily true, those kinds of moments might not be a fun read for some. With that being said, though, while there isn't a whole lot of LGBTQ+ representation outside of homosexuality (and a little bit of asexuality), the representation that is there is solid. No gay character is shown to be overly campy or stereotypical, and although being gay is an important part of their identity, that's not all there is to them.

To start off talking about this manga's characters, I'd like to talk about the most obvious example of what I just mentioned, Hiroki. Although he's not the manga's viewpoint character, we do get to know about as much about him as we probably would if he was. Although he joins a school club later in the story for the sake of spending time with his crush, he gives club activities his all nonetheless. He also displays feelings of inadequacy and low self-confidence at times, which is painfully relatable. Above all, he's a good kid who cares a lot about his family and friends. He is canonically gay, but instead of a caricature, he's a fully-fleshed character whose mangaka wrote him well.

One could also say that Hiroki's mama raised him well in-universe, and with how good of a person Tomoko is, that'd be easy to believe. She just wants to support her boys and let them live happy lives, and while she does have her own feelings of inadequacy about her parenting abilities at one point, anyone could see how good of a job she's doing with both Hiroki and Yuuri. Speaking of Yuuri, while he isn't the type to show his emotions often, he goes through his own struggles, and chapters focusing on him tend to be interesting. Plus, it's revealed that he also knows of his older brother's sexual orientation, and the little ways he shows support for him are quite sweet. Rounding out the Aoyama family is Akiyoshi, Tomoko's husband and Hiroki and Yuuri's father. While he's not a bad father by any means, he is a little behind on his sons' lives due to his job taking him away from home for lengthy periods of time, and early on in the manga, he expresses some close-minded views toward the LGBTQ+ community, unintentionally hurting Hiroki with his comments. Fortunately, especially with Tomoko's help, he is able to gain a more open mind by the end and also build a good relationship with his son, which is nice.

The members of Aoyama family aren't the only characters in the manga, however. We also get to know about some of the people in each of their lives, such as Daigo (Hiroki's crush), Asumi (Hiroki's childhood friend who has a crush on him), and some of Tomoko's mom friends. One particular character who stands out to me is Touno, Tomoko's co-worker at a bento shop who happens to be gay and living with his partner. Through Touno, Tomoko is able to learn about the experiences of a gay guy who's not her son, which further expands her worldview. I may have lamented the lack of LGBTQ+ representation outside of homosexuality, but it's still nice to have him and a few background characters mentioned throughout the manga around so that it doesn't seem like Hiroki's not the only gay person in its universe!

I spent too much time talking about the characters, so let's move onto the artwork. There isn't really much I can really say about it, though. It's cute, it's simple, and it's a good fit for a slice-of-life story like this one. The character designs are also solid, without a single outlandish design in sight. Yeah, I think that sums up how I feel about the artwork.

Do you know what I think? I Think Our Son Is Gay is a pretty good manga. Those who are in the LGBTQ+ community may enjoy its solid representation (and even relate to Hiroki's awkwardness), and those who aren't may come out of it with a more open mind; either way, it's worth the read. Hopefully, if/when I get married and have kids of my own, I'll be able to follow Tomoko's example, no matter what sexual orientation or gender identity they turn out to have.

When people fall in love, they tend to try to make themselves more attractive for them. I mean, who cares about your personality or chemistry with someone when the other person thinks you're hot, right? Sarcasm aside, it's a little ironic that an anime movie could put such an emphasis on attractiveness and popularity when it isn't that popular itself. Why is that, though? Exactly what factors led to Kimi dake ni Motetainda being so unpopular that it didn't even get the English fansub treatment until nearly two years after its release? The desire to find answers to that question, as well as the character ... designs being done by Yamako from HoneyWorks, led me to watch it. Now that I have seen it....yeah, I can kind of see why it's not popular.

In the world of Kimi dake ni Motetainda, or "I Want To Be Popular Just For You" in English, there is a contest known as "The Handsome Competition". In this contest, attractive young men compete in groups of five to show off their appeal to adoring female fans in various ways, with the winning group receiving 10 million yen. One such group - consisting of Tokio Furuta, Shigekazu Ashida, Koutarou Tojima, Aki Sahashi, and Shun Gotouda - comes together when the wealthy Sakiko Horinomiya enlists their help in paying off a 5 million yen debt that resulted from a scam she seemed to fall for. (It should be mentioned that Tokio is reluctant to participate at first, but an accidental stain he creates on an expensive carpet coerces him to do so.) As the boys prepare for the competition - cleaning up their acts and all that - and make their way through it, they find themselves falling in love with Sakiko....somehow.

On the surface, the art looks pretty enough; Yamako did a pretty good job with the character designs, making each of the boys look as handsome as they should be. Then, we get into the actual animation, and....oh, boy. It's far from the worst animation I've ever seen, but the characters look off-model and just awkward overall at times. Well, the animation might not be the best, but at least the voice acting was decent enough. Most of the voice cast is full of experienced voice actors, such as Souma Saitou, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, and Yui Ishikawa, and they all do a solid job at their roles. The only exception to this is Rikiya Tomizono, who has done no voice acting work before or after his role as Koutarou, and his lack of experience in that department does lead to a lackluster performance; at least he still has his live-action acting career to fall back on. If I'm going to be honest, I thought that the Handsome Competition was going to be more of a standard idol competition, which makes it rather funny that "High School Princess", the ending theme sung by the main male leads, kind of sounds like an idol song. Not exactly a song that stands out too much among the other male idol songs, though.

The biggest problem with this movie, however, is its length. Within 54 minutes, it tries to tell a story that would benefit more from being a 12-episode series, and the end result is a horribly rushed plot. To give an example of what this short length affects, there's the romantic subplot, because of course there's a romantic subplot; there are enough guys involved for the female lead to have a reverse harem! Unfortunately, these more romantic parts aren't handled too well; when some of the guys admitted they had a thing for Sakiko, I was just thinking, "Wait, really? Since when?" See, if this movie was a series instead, there could have been more time to develop their relationships with her, making them actually seem like they might have chemistry with her. Out of the guys, Tokio seemed like he might have the most chemistry with Sakiko, but the movie doesn't allow for their relationship to be explored to where they could actually have chemistry. On a side note, the short length also affects the development of the characters themselves; we don't get to see why they are the way they are.

Despite all of my problems, though, I can't really say I found no enjoyment in Kimi dake ni Motetainda. With more polished animation and a longer length - preferably as a series rather than a movie - it could have potentially been a more enjoyable experience, as there were some parts of it that were quite amusing, such as Sakiko's naïveté. Give it a go if you want to watch something with hot guys, but I don't expect to see it becoming popular any time soon.

(WARNING: This review contains MAJOR spoilers. Proceed with a LOT of caution.)

Spend enough time around the anime block, and you’re bound to at least hear about anime that have a particular combination of genres: ecchi and harem. The premise of one guy being involved with multiple girls has been done time and time again and will continue to be done, and most of those times, fanservice will be sprinkled into the mix. A couple of my favorite anime may be part of these two genres, but like many others, I have grown slightly weary of them. For that reason, when I came across a screenshot ... from a certain ecchi/harem anime that had just started airing, I expected it to just be another generic ecchi/harem anime; looking into it, however, led me to discover that it was an original anime (as in, not based on a manga, light novel, visual novel, etc.), and for some reason, that convinced me to watch the first episode. Despite thinking I’d drop it after that first episode, something about it made me feel like there was more than what meets the eye, so I kept watching.

One entire season later, here we are, with me trying not to do a victory dance over being proven that I was right that something was going on with “Renai Flops”.

Although it takes place in a more futuristic setting than most, Renai Flops starts like any other rom-com anime, with our hapless hero, Asahi Kashiwagi, having five different risqué encounters with five different people - Aoi Izumisawa, Amelia Irving, Ilya Ilyukhin, Bai Mongfa, and Karin Istel. When he finally arrives at school, he discovers that Mongfa is his new teacher, and the rest of them are transfer students in his class. To top it all off, these five all confess their love for Asahi and even move in with him. So begins Asahi’s life with these five, with their feelings for him developing more with each episode. Pretty standard setup for a harem anime, right?

Well…. you know what? We’ll get to that later.

First and foremost, I should talk about the technical aspects of this anime, starting with the art. The character designs are pretty solid for the kind of anime this is, the backgrounds are quite pretty, and the animation was nice and fluid. At the very least, it’s easy to see that Passione put some passion into this project! (Cue someone throwing a banana peel at my face.) The voice cast is full of all-stars - such as Ryouta Oosaka and Ayana Taketatsu - who also do a solid job at their roles. The music is probably the best part of the anime, with the opening and ending themes being quite pleasant to listen to; heck, I went out of my way to purchase the opening theme, “Love? Reason why!!” by Konomi Suzuki, on iTunes! One song that stands out in my mind, however, is the insert song that plays during the final episode; as of now, I don’t know the name of the song, but I do know that it’s sung by Miku Itou and that it, accompanied by the scene that it played in, almost made me cry!

Unfortunately, Renai Flops’s story and characters aren’t entirely at the same quality as the art and sound….although that statement might be debatable. At the very least, the first half of the series will take a lot of patience to get through. Not only are there almost all, if not all, of the clichés that can come with an ecchi/harem anime, there tend to be played out in such an over-the-top way that I found myself cringing. There are a few moments that make it stand out among the crowd, but those moments are few and far between. In the first half, the characters are also pretty standard for this type of anime, with not a whole lot to make them stand out among other characters like them. All of this is on purpose, as is made clear later, but even knowing that doesn’t make the first half of Renai Flops any less exhausting to watch.

There is one thing I can honestly praise the first half of Renai Flops for, though, and that is its foreshadowing. From episode 1, there are hints that something isn’t quite right here. These hints range from pretty obvious, like when Asahi fails to remember his “best friend”, to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-type moments, such as the date on Asahi’s alarm clock inexplicably changing. A conspiracy theorist could have a field day with those hints, and ultimately, by the time episode 7 ends, they would be doing a victory dance over how correct they were all along.

Well, if their theory was that none of your waifus were real, anyway.

To be more specific, Asahi was part of a simulation, and Aoi, Amelia, Irina (Ilya), Mongfa, and Karin were all artificial intelligences. This plot twist is probably a predictable outcome given the anime’s setting and all of the hints that were dropped previously; however, those who aren’t paying close enough attention will be caught off-guard, and even those who are may not be able to predict the full extent. The moment the plot twist is unveiled, the story steadily begins to improve. There is less fanservice, the characters develop in a way that make you care about them more than before, and as I briefly mentioned earlier, there are some nearly-tearjerking moments during the second half. The ending does raise a few questions, but I wouldn’t say it was a bad ending, by any means.

Overall, I think Renai Flops was alright. Fans of the ecchi and harem genres and those who have a lot of patience may find themselves appreciating what it has to bring to the table. Those who don’t like those genres and don’t have the patience to sit through it, however? Sorry, but you’ll probably see this as a flop.

(Originally posted on AniList)

Don't you just hate it when a love that was already unobtainable gets even further away even when certain circumstances bring you closer? In what way, you ask? Why, that love becoming your stepsister, of course! Huh? Not enough for you? Okay, how about, while having feelings for that girl, having a one-night stand with another girl that turns out to be her younger sister, and now, SHE'S your stepsister, too? Congratulations! Your life is now a soap opera with the same premise as the anime we're going over today. I read some of the manga of said anime before it came ... out to prepare myself a bit for what was to come, but I never got around to actually watching the anime until two years after it premiered. One thing led to another, however, and here I am now, having gone through this so-called "dumpster fire" in just three days and about to dump my thoughts onto any unsuspecting reader who comes across this.

Lads, ladies, and non-binaries, here is my review of "Domestic Girlfriend", known in Japanese as "Domestic na Kanojo".

Domestic Girlfriend follows the trials and tribulations of Natsuo Fujii, a high school student and aspiring novelist with a huge crush on his teacher, Hina Tachibana. Unfortunately, he knows that his love will never be, as not only is she a teacher who claims to see him as a child, but there are rumors floating around that she already has a boyfriend. One day, when invited to a mixer, he sneaks out with one of the girls at the mixer, Rui Tachibana, and because of Rui's desire to know what sex is like, the two of them lose their virginities to each other. You would think that their association with each other would end with this simple one-night stand, right? WRONG! You see, Natsuo's widowed father soon gets remarried to a woman with two daughters of her own, and those daughters just so happen to be Hina and Rui!

From there, to put it one way, emotional chaos ensues.

Now, the story of Domestic Girlfriend is, by no means, bad. At the very least, it isn't boring; it's the kind of story that will keep a viewer watching to the end, even if for no other reason than wanting to see the main characters make a smart decision for once! However, I do have a major issue with the anime's pacing; skipped events I remember reading in the manga getting skipped aside, the story presented in the anime feels like it's going too fast, with little time for the audience to process what happened. For that, I blame whoever thought it would be a good idea to cram 76 chapters of the manga into a 12-episode series. If the anime had gotten a longer runtime - probably 24 episodes, at the very least - the pacing issues could be fixed.

No matter the pace of the story, though, there's no doubt that the characters are at its heart; unfortunately, the main cast is a frustrating one to follow. Perhaps the biggest source of frustration is the protagonist, Natsuo; while he actually seems like a nice guy, which makes it hard to me to say I hate him, most of his actions make me want to yell about how freaking stupid he is being. Neither Rui or Hina are that much better; Rui makes some questionable choices regarding her relationship with Natsuo, and while I can appreciate how Hina tries to go about her own relationship with him, it's hard to know what her true feelings are at times. As for the supporting characters....well, not a lot of time was given to develop them, so I didn't really care about most of them. However, there are quite a few supporting characters, such as Masaki - uh, excuse me, Marie - Kobayashi, who give decent advice to the main characters, and I genuinely appreciated their presence.

The art and animation, done by Diomedea, is solid overall. There were a few moments of still animation that felt unnecessary, and even aside from that, the animation isn't perfect; however, the colors, the backgrounds, and most of the animation was beautiful. The voice acting is solid, as well, although some of the casting choices, while not bad, surprised me; I don't know what I was expecting with Momo Kashiwabara's voice, in particular, but the softness of Haruka Yoshimura's voice for her managed to catch me off-guard, for some reason. The ending song, "Wagamama" by Alisa Takigawa, is more than solid; the song is a beautiful piece that I wouldn't mind listening to multiple times.

My favorite part of Domestic Girlfriend, however, is undoubtedly the opening theme, "Kawaki wo Ameku" by Minami. I had listened to this song several times and even watched the music video over the course of the past two years, and my feelings for it then are the same as they are now; it is a fantastic song with emotional lyrics that could be relatable for most people, sung with the powerful voice Minami has. It was already perfect for an anime like Domestic Girlfriend, and the visual part of the opening only helped it shine. It's clear to see that the animators went all out with this one, from the colors and movements to the visual storytelling that complimented the story of the actual series. I don't know exactly where it would be placed on my top 20 anime openings, but it's somewhere on that list, for sure.

Overall, is Domestic Girlfriend a trainwreck into a dumpster fire? Absolutely. Is it a bad anime? Absolutely not; those with a taste for melodrama and incest will definitely get a kick out of it. Just....be careful when it comes to the kinds of relationships it depicts, okay?

Love isn't always sunshine and rainbows, but during a relationship's best moments, the couple would be so cute and sweet that just looking at them would give you diabetes. A lot of these moments happen when the relationship is as healthy as one can be, but not all of the healthiest relationships start out so well as it eventually becomes. Sometimes, it's just a matter of whether or not you're willing to look past first impressions and see a potential partner for who they are inside. For example, someone who might look scary and cold-hearted may actually have the warmest heart and most gentle personality. ... Wouldn't a relationship with someone like that just be sweet? After reading this manga that was given to me by a friend, I definitely would think so.

Lads, ladies, and non-binaries, here is my review of "Honey So Sweet", known in Japan as simply "Honey".

Honey So Sweet begins when Taiga Onise, a high schooler who is believed to be a delinquent due to his frightening appearance and some unfavorable rumors about him, asks out his schoolmate, Nao Kogure, with the possibility of marriage in the future. (Aaaaand the diabetes have already settled in.) Nao is originally scared of Taiga for the reasons mentioned earlier, but as she gets to know him, she discovers that he's not the delinquent people believe him to be; he even refuses to hit other people without a good reason! Still, Nao originally can't return Taiga's feelings due to her own feelings for her uncle Sou, who has been looking after her ever since her parents died when she was small; thus, the two agree to just be friends. Over time, however, Nao comes to realize that she, too, has feelings for Taiga, and they end up dating (with marriage in mind, of course). From there, the manga follows their relationship and how they ultimately change each other for the better.

Honestly, I'm a little conflicted about the story. On one hand, I can understand how some people may not be entertained by this manga. The whole "tough-looking guy turns to be a big softie who possibly likes cute things" kind of plot has been done time and time again, and it's possible that it will continue to be done several more times; in other words, it's completely unoriginal, and some people may be sick of it. There's also the amount of real conflict in the story; there's not a high amount of conflict, and even the conflict there is in the story doesn't hold a lot of weight because we all know that our lead couple will just get through it. Finally, this is just a nitpick, but I wish that we got more of what happened to the characters at the end; we see a bit of Nao and Taiga as adults in the final chapter and some of the other characters in a bonus comic at the end of the final volume, but I just wish the direction their lives went was explained in more detail.

All of my gripes about the story aside, though, I just can't hate it; in fact, I actually really like this manga. The main reason for this is just how cute the relationship between our two leads is. On their own, they're good characters; Nao is a sweet girl who got a decent amount of development during the story, and Taiga is just a big sweetheart who makes it easy to root for him. Together, however, they present one of the healthiest relationships in shoujo manga. They pretty much always communicate with each other, treat each other with respect, and help each other grow as people. It may not seem like anything special, but when compared to, for example, Honey x Honey Drops, it's more of what a loving, healthy relationship should be like.

Nao and Taiga aren't the only characters in Honey So Sweet, however. This manga also includes a colorful cast of supporting characters who are mostly likable in their own ways. One character I'd like to mention is Miyabi Nishigaki, who appears rather late in the manga; given her actions, it would typically be easy to hate her, but when you think about her personal struggles, it's hard not to feel bad for her. Ayaha Futami is, at an earlier point, in a similar boat to Miyabi, but although he doesn't necessarily have the same problems as Miyabi, I honestly wanted to see him happy, too, as he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, despite my worries that I was going to hate him. There's also Kayo Yashiro and Ayumu Misaki, two of Nao and Taiga's mutual friends; they're fun characters on their own, and although the direction their relationship with each other went was highly predictable, it was still nice to see it develop.

Then, there's Sou. I was originally worried about his relationship with Nao due to her initial crush on him, but seeing their familial relationship and how it developed, my worries quickly went away; it was a perfectly healthy relationship between two family members. Although it's, of course, not in a romantic way, Sou repeatedly demonstrates how much he loves and cares for Nao throughout the manga. I also liked his relationship with Taiga; although Taiga hadn't actually married Nao (yet), it already seemed like he and Sou were family. As for Sou himself, his character development was slower than I was hoping it would be, but I like to think that he had grown a little bit by the end.

As for the art....what can I say about the art? With a cute, fluffy manga like this, a cute art style is essential, and fortunately, mangaka Amu Meguro manages to deliver on that front. The character designs are great, the backgrounds are well-drawn, and the art is adorably simplistic when it's necessary for it to be. The art style is perfect for a shoujo manga like this, and I honestly feel like that it's an ever-so-slight improvement from the mangaka's previous works, like Chiguhagu Planet. What else can be said about it?

Overall, Honey So Sweet is an enjoyable manga with plenty of cute moments. People looking for something incredibly unique won't find it here, but if you just want a simple romance that is as sweet as honey (roll credits), I'd recommend that you give it a read. Just don't be disappointed by the pet name "honey" not being used, though.

First of all, WRAPPING PAPER ISN'T HAIR! Ahem....excuse me. That's just the name of a badge on Anime-Planet that you can earn by watching this particular anime, which is how I learned it existed in the first place. Despite the curiosity I felt after discovering it, though, I ended up spending YEARS trying to find it with English subs included. I eventually found it and was able to watch this pair of OVAs; however, it's evident now that all of that searching was NOT worth it.

Lads, ladies, and non-binaries, I now present my review of the 1994 OVA series, "Tanjou: Debut".

Tanjou: Debut, known in English ... as "Birth: Debut", is based on a 1993 video game of the same name where the player is a manager for three idols; however, nothing except its opening theme hints that this is what the anime's source material is about. Instead, each of its two episodes tells two completely different stories with some of the same characters. The first episode follows Aki Itou, a high school girl with a crush on an employee at a restaurant she frequents, who is told that said crush already has a girlfriend, and misunderstandings ensue from there. The second focuses more on Saori Fujimura as she and her two friends - one of them being Aki herself and the other being another girl named Kumi Tanaka - dig up a time capsule that they buried 10 years ago. They discover that inside of the time capsule, alongside each of their own boxes with their own possessions inside, there is a fourth box with a small bouquet inside of it, but they can't remember whose box it was....apparently.

Look, I have no problem with each episode having a different plot from the last; there are plenty of other anime that are similarly episodic, but they manage to make sense for what came before each episode and even sometimes be enjoyable to watch. Tanjou: Debut, however, doesn't do either of these things. Some aspects of the second episode don't make sense when you think about what was going on in the first, such as how the relationship between two characters was established in each episode; this disconnect is rather jarring. It certainly doesn't help that neither episode is that enjoyable in the first place; both of the plots in this anime are boring, highly predictable, and full of characters I personally didn't give two cruds about. As I mentioned earlier, both episodes have the same main cast, but both iterations of these characters are as bland as the plots and go through little to no character development.

As for the art....well, a quip about a certain aspect of the character designs in the form of a badge name is why I'm here in the first place, is it not? Not only is the artwork every bit as bad as you probably expect (with Aki's design being especially awful, in my opinion), but while not flat-out awful, the animation is very dated, even for its time; I'm sure that we all know that Studio Pierrot was capable of better even back then. Meanwhile, the music is rather forgettable, as it doesn't stand out when placed next to other tunes from the '90s; I don't even remember how the opening or ending themes go, much less what they were even called. The voice acting isn't anything to write home about, either.

Overall, Tanjou: Debut is a bad way to spend an hour of your time. Looking for it isn't really worth it, either, but if you REALLY want to earn the "achievement" of watching the "wrapping-paper hair anime", be my guest. Don't blame me for not warning you if any negative feelings are born in your heart after you watch it, though.

No one would want the people they care about to be sad; they’d do whatever they can to make sure they’re happy. For those in a loving family, that would include those in their family. There is one anime girl like that, who went back in time just to make her mother happy in the future....but not many people know that the anime she is in exists. I certainly didn’t know it existed until the day I randomly decided to scroll through the list of anime produced by the studio Encourage Films and instantly got attracted to this particular anime’s cute art style. Thus, I ... decided to watch it, although despite its cute art style, I honestly didn’t expect much. Little did I know that I was in for a bit of a treat.

Lads, ladies, and non-binaries, here is my review of the not-so-well-known cutesy anime, Ontama!

The story of Ontama begins with an elementary school girl named Ichigo Tamura being distressed about her family issues; her mother is a very nice woman, but her stepfather doesn’t act the same way, always berating the two of them. One day, while she’s crying in the park about it, she is approached by a person in a bus driver’s outfit, who asks her what her wish is; in response, Ichigo says that her wish is for her mother and her father - her REAL father, that is - to get married instead, as she feels that her real father would have made her mother happier. Next thing Ichigo knows, she is thrown into a magical bus (not to be confused with the Magic School Bus) and driven back in time to before she was born. She ends up meeting her real father, the clumsy Kyousuke Hikami, and, while posing as his little sister, sets off to set him up with her mother, Miyuki. However, she must first overcome some obstacles, such as Kyousuke’s best friend and Ichigo’s future stepfather, Yuuji, who also clearly has feelings for Miyuki.

Oh, did I mention how Ichigo ended up meeting Kyousuke? He cracked her out of an egg. I’m not kidding; that actually happened. That is only one of the many completely random things to happen in Ontama’s story, and most of the time, these random moments can actually be quite funny; I ended up laughing out loud a lot more than I thought I would. However, what I didn’t appreciate was the fact that the comedy took time away from the story, which gave the relationship between Kyousuke and Miyuki less time to develop than it already had and made it feel really rushed as a result. Plus, the plot twist revealed in the last episode was so predictable that it was honestly kind of irritating, and although it answered one potential question a viewer who possibly might not figure it out may have, it just leaves them with more; as a result, I wasn’t as emotionally invested as I could have been.

Despite the story not being that good, I can say that the characters were charming. Ichigo is a decent protagonist; I liked how supportive she was of her parents’ love lives. The one who granted her wish, Cappy, had a cute appearance, but otherwise....he was kind of forgettable. Honestly, not a lot of the characters in the cast stand out that much, not even Kyousuke and Miyuki, who are both important parts of the story; no one was really unlikable, but I didn’t really like them, either. I will give a special mention to Yuuji, however; he is perhaps the most complex character in this simple anime, although I won’t get into it because of the possibility of accidentally entering spoiler territory.

I said at the beginning of this review that the art was what made me watch Ontama, and aside from that, the animation was decent. The quality I watched it in wasn’t that good, but the animation flowed well for the tone it was setting. The character designs were cute, too, and while the backgrounds weren’t anything special, they weren’t awful, either. The voice acting was also decent; while there were times where I felt like the voice actors weren’t portraying the emotions the characters feel good enough, it’s still easy to tell that they’re having fun. Finally, the opening and ending themes were decent in their own ways, but ultimately, I wouldn’t listen to them again.

Overall, Ontama was just a decent anime. If you like zany comedy with a bit of romance on the side, I’d recommend you watch it, but at the same time, no one is going to kill you if you don’t. There are other anime out there where characters take field trips through time, after all.