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This anime is comparable to a grilled cheese sandwich: not much to expect but satisfying nonetheless.

Firstly, the main highlight for me was the soft and simplistic style. Combined with its creative animation, the overall visual aesthetic creates a sense of childhood nostalgia. Furthermore, the visual storytelling effectively emphasizes the contrast between the old and the new, such as with the juxtaposition of the DIY club room and the surrounding campus, Serufu's house and Miku's house, or even the appearances of Serufu and Miku themselves. Nothing groundbreaking, but a nice touch that emphasizes the tension between Serufu and Miku. However, as suggested at the start of ... my review, the first 4 episodes don't really give much setup for a complex overarching plot. I suspect some more backstory here and there but, otherwise, it will probably end with Serufu and Miku becoming besties again (as seen in the OP lol).

Despite the lack of particularly interesting characters, DIY compensates by successfully creating a truly wholesome watching experience. Sometimes it's okay to just sit back, grab some chocolate milk (or whatever your beverage of choice may be), and relax to some good ol' slice of life.

P.S. Even if you don't plan to watch the anime, the opening is really cute. 10/10, I've watched it at least a dozen times already.

Uramichi Oniisan has the potential to give unique insight into the melancholy of adulthood, yet fails to do so due to a repetitive plot and static characters.

The interactions between Uramichi and his coworkers were initially interesting thanks to the slapstick humor and the relatability of their situations. It really is quite tiring to repeat the same routine over and over, going to the same job that you hate just wake up and go back the next day. Sometimes the bunny and bear actors had moments that amused me and there were wholesome moments with the children, but that alone was otherwise not enough to ... balance the overwhelming sense of dread I while reading this manga; the fear of being bound to a boring life.

While I recognize that the author is intentionally writing with a pessimistic tone, my major problem with the story is that there is little variation in how each chapter progress: It starts off with everyone happy and smiling, then there are a few dark moments here and there, and then it ends without being particularly entertaining or insightful. However, this makes me question if this "fault" was made intentionally. Through the static characters and repetitive plot, is the author illustrating that life itself is similarily monotonous? Whether or not this is the case, that doesn't change how, for me, Uramichi Oniisan felt overly melancholic without hope for finding happiness.

Overall, while Uramichi Oniisan was entertaining at times, the narrative didn't leave a lasting impression due to excessive nihilism and repetition. While I would recommend reading it or watching the anime when it comes out later this year, it just didn't resonate well with me personally.

As a side note, this definitely has a lot of meme potential with its "r/animeirl" vibes.

This is not the most original concept, and the ending reveal was a bit cliche, but the story was executed well nonetheless. The quiz questions were unique, and it was fun trying to decipher the answers along with the characters. The characters and art were generic (regarding the genre), but still well done. I'm not a fan of snuff but overall I enjoyed this manga. I would reccomend this to anyone who doesn't mind a bit of gore and is looking for a quick read.

(Also I noticed that a bunch of people suddenly read this manga despite it being published a while ago. Any reason ... why? I personally found this through "similar manga" on manga rock after reading doubt/judge/secret)

Love Live! is fun and lighthearted, but most of the appeal comes from getting invested in the community (seiyuus, the mobile: “game school idol festival”, and the fandom in general).

The school idol tournament “Love Live” and the plot of the school shutting down are not interesting by themselves, and so the show focuses on the characters. However, there are too many characters to develop so none of them end up getting developed anyway. Of the nine main cast members, Rin and Hanayo are forgettable, Maki, Kotori, Nico and Nozomi are one-dimensional, Umi and Eli are decent and the main character, Honoka, is basically just a ... shonen protagonist shoved into an idol show. Honoka is a complete airhead and just preaches loudly about friendship and idols. For a character-driven show, the characters are poorly developed and do not contribute much to the plot. Although the show is objectively bad due to the (essentially) nonexistent plot and weak characters, I really enjoyed it! It was still a fun show to watch and made me laugh a lot.

Overall, the production quality is good. Despite being poorly written, the characters are cute and quirky with colorful animation to support them, and at least have interesting visual designs. The music is above average, and the seiyuus did a good job singing and voicing the characters.

TLDR; Love Live! is a fun show to watch if you’re bored, and I would recommend it to new anime watchers if you’re into shows that aren’t too plot-heavy and focus more on entertainment. I wouldn’t watch it again but I don’t regret watching it either.