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Oct 5, 2024
This anime should not work. It's morally dubious, completely harebrained, extremely uncomfortable to watch, and… I absolutely adore it.

Now let's make something clear—in real life, polyamory is not a good idea. A single romantic relationship is difficult enough to navigate, and you're telling me the protagonist of this show intends to have a HUNDRED girlfriends? It's impossible. Physically, mentally, emotionally, there's not a man on this Earth who could make that work to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

… So it's a damn good thing this is anime and not reality.

And I think that's the secret, really. 100 Girlfriends is fully aware of how stupid ...
Jun 20, 2023
I'm a huge fan of a good romance in anime, and let me tell you, I have not been eating well. Romance in anime generally comes in two flavors—fake romance, where the anime is romance-flavored, but you know the status quo is never actually going to change, and overdone romance, where the show is so focused on the romance and nothing else that it becomes boring.

A show with a good romance on the side is a rarity, and a show that focuses on romance without becoming stale is downright mythical.

… Well, what can I say? Here I am pulling the sword from the stone and ...
Apr 23, 2023
Y'know, as much as I like this show, it does itself a serious disservice by its premise and first episode. So much so that I think the people who quickly judge it as not worth their time are justified in dropping it and moving on.

Tomo-chan is a show that, for all intents and purposes, looks like another romcom with a gimmick. You know the type—they're 90% comedy, 10% romance, and what romance is there exists just to tease you while the characters remain in a carefully preserved status-quo. I swear, it's like the writers of those shows have the main couple floating in some eerie ...
Jul 29, 2022
Spy x Family (Anime) add
Let's get the obvious out of the way: Spy x Family has exploded in popularity, and it deserves to. That said, as we've seen from shows like the famed Sword Art Online, anime can become extremely popular despite severely mediocre writing. So what makes Spy x Family different? Well, in the manner of any good spy, it's disguising itself.

Anyone you ask will tell you that Spy x Family is a comedy first and foremost. Its setup is completely absurd in ways that just beg to be utilized for jokes, and it loves to put its characters in situations where they're completely out of their depth, ...
Mar 29, 2022
Mixed Feelings
I've been entertaining a theory recently that all anime—and entertainment in general—can be sorted into one of two broad categories: genuine art, and pandering. Genuine art is a piece of media that often leaves people thinking seriously about it long after they have left the experience behind. This kind of entertainment is less about simply entertaining, and more about being an expression of the creator's desire to etch a message into people's hearts and minds.

Pandering, on the other hand, is exactly what it sounds like—it is a product created to be successful as possible within whatever demographics it is targeted at. The shape of its ...
Jan 24, 2022
Taishou Maiden Fairytale is a show with a lot of characters who find themselves in crappy situations. A thief steals from good people in order to provide for her younger siblings under the guardianship of her alcoholic father. The daughter of a rich man pushes away everyone around her because her cold upbringing has taught her to expect the worst from other people. The whole country is struck by a natural disaster that ushers in despair and threatens the lives of many.

But that's all extra. The way this story starts is with Tamahiko, a disabled boy, cast away by his family and sent to live ...
Oct 1, 2021
Mixed Feelings
Spoiler
Foreword: There are minor spoilers in this review, with a big ol' warning before a major spoiler. That said, even if you read everything, there's nothing that would ruin your enjoyment of the anime, in my opinion. So please read on, dear reader.

Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song is an anime about androids and time travel. But mostly androids. Like a lot of other media about androids, it dabbles in questions like, "What is the nature of the soul?" and "Where do people find a reason to live?"

I say dabble, because the thematic groundwork Vivy builds itself upon is as fragmented as the branching timelines that define ...
May 18, 2021
Deca-Dence (Anime) add
Y'know... I fail to understand why Deca-Dence is not universally adored. It has a compelling roller coaster of a story, a wildly unique and multifaceted world, and characters that don't lean on stereotypes to be memorable. There are no gimmicks in this anime, no distracting fanservice, no illogical power escalation... just some of the most earnest writing I've seen in this medium.

... Oh. Never mind, I see *exactly* why Deca-Dence isn't universally adored.

Indeed, I posit that Deca-Dence is so pure and good—so incredibly unlike most anime before it—that the vast majority of watchers who have (by little fault of their own) had their grey matter ...
Nov 5, 2020
Guilty Crown (Anime) add
Mixed Feelings
For anyone who has watched a reasonable (or unreasonable?) number of anime, there are tropes and stereotypes that jump to mind the moment one brings up the topic. I need only say a few things, and you, if you are a well-versed anime fan, will likely nod your head in understanding:

High school.
Nice guy with brown hair.
Corner seat by the window.
Mysterious girl.
Not-very-protective battle gear.
Childhood friend.
Accidental groping.
Unreasonably large weapons.
...
Oct 7, 2020
Yuru Camp△ (Anime) add
If you've watched a moe anime, also known as a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things (CGDCT) anime, you already know they're garbage. Narratively speaking, I mean. They eschew the concepts of drama, character growth and plot development, the creators instead pouring their hearts, souls, and budget into the gaping, hungry void of vapid adorableness.

That's moe. It's pointless, and we watch it anyway. Because we're bad.

But it's okay! Because there's a moe show that you can enjoy without feeling like you're slowly killing yourself by inhaling noxious cotton candy fumes! That's right! It's Yuru Camp!

Now, I'm not gonna lie to you: Yuru Camp isn't a work ...


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