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Jan 10, 2025
Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka tries to do a lot of different things at the same time, but the problem that it kind brings upon itself is that it doesn't do any of them particularly well.
Story: Before the events of our main story, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka introduces us to a group of magical girls who are fighting a war against the Disas, large monsters that fight to kill. After winning the war, though not without a few casualties, the remaining five magical girls, dubbed the "Magical Five", disbanded and went their separate ways. Their leader, Asuka, decides to retire as a magical girls,
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where she hopes to live life as an ordinary school student. But due to events unfolding in front of her, we soon see that she can't escape her past.
The story itself has an interesting concept - magical girls who have military-like powers in order to fight. Each one has their own unique powers. These were fun because of the variety the combat scenes could have brought to the table. The problem is that the series never really got all that interesting. Most would brute force their way out of a situation and it rarely led to any interesting fights. Kurumi had a wider array of tools, but the rest were pretty boring in general.
The series tries to be a more violent version of, say, Madoka Magica, and I do like what they were going for. This series gets pretty bloody. While this dark twist on the magical girl genre is welcome, I'm not sure they did enough with it.
The association that act as our antagonists clearly have some long-term plan on what they're doing, the problem is, once it starts to reveal itself, the series ends. This is always a drawback to any adaptation that only adapts part of the source material, and we barely get far enough to start to figure out what they're up to.
One real problem this series had was an annoying amount of "plot armour". When you have a healer on your team, your ability to recovery from "anything" is apparent, and basically reversing any damage that gets inflicting got old in a hurry. Characters would get emotional, and then it would all be better. I didn't mind it the first time, but after a few times, it gets very silly.
Another minor issue was the series had some very uneven pacing. Fights, story filler, anything were all very brief, so it feels like the plot is all over the place at times. The focus on different parts of the world didn't help either, so you're never really in a familiar setting more than once. While this isn't an issue in itself, the series does very little to explain why you're at a certain spot or why we care. The final 'arc' was done decently, mind you, and I actually like where they left off the characters - far too many anime end the series very quickly after the final fight. (5/10)
Characters: Our characters are an mixed bag, but I really couldn't attach myself to Asuka. She's an exceptional fighter and has a caring heart, but she always feels like a follower. For wanting to be retired, it doesn't really feel like it took much to pull her back into the magical girl world either. Kurumi fared a little better. She has a caring side, but also a bit of a psychotic side too. I do like the friendship she shares with Asuka, which makes her feel much more significant than the other magical girls. Nozomi and Sayako are Asuka's classmates and I actually liked them a fair bit. Adding ordinary citizens into a story like this, when done well, pays off and I thought they integrated them into the story quite well. For all the issues with the story there were, these two probably weren't part of them.
Most of our enemies don't mean a whole lot due to the story length - Queen is clearly the one pulling the strings but she's barely around. Abigail seems like her #2 and while I thought she was a good villain, she really is only part of a couple episodes. Giess and Chisato are decent characters. They fit the story well and have some decent backstory. There were a lot of very minor villain characters in the first half of the story and I couldn't say any of them felt memorable. Other side characters kind of just feel like they were there. Mia, Tamara, Mr Iizuka, Ise, Yoshino and even Tabira don't have enough story to call them good characters. (6/10)
Art: For the decent animation this series had, it feels like this was a bit of a budget work. Fighting scenes had the potential to look amazing, but there are so many times they use still-frames with panned shots going from one side to the other. This happened so often and really takes away from the battles, short as they may be. The series looking good aside one issue - the character models all looked incredibly awkward. They just always look ugly. (5/10)
Sound: Music and sound matches the series attempt at a military-style magical girl work, which is good. VO work was pretty good too. Tia Ballard (Abigail), Mikaela Krantz (Giess) and Sara Ragsdale (Kurumi) were all strong. I love Morgan Berry (Nozomi) and Bryn Apprill (Sayako) as a pairing - they were fantastic here. I'm never really over the moon on Trina Nishimura (Asuka), but she was okay here. (6/10)
Overall: Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka was mediocre in basically every possible way. Nothing really felt exceptional, and there are a handful other series in the genre - both military and magical girl - that probably do a better job at any of these. (6/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 30, 2024
Whisper Me a Love Song. THIS is the anime that I was probably most excited about at the beginning of 2024 aside from Solo Leveling. And I made that known in my MAL Blog Post. Bloom Into You was the closest comparable and that series is extremely near and dear to my heart - it's even on the same streaming platform - HiDive. But man, as everyone else has mentioned, the production issues this series had created so many issues for what probably should have been an easy 8 or 9/10.
Words cannot even begin to express how I feel about how
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this series was handled. Yokohama Animation Laboratory and Cloud Hearts couldn't have handled this project worse, outside of not finishing it at all (I've actually heard that they're essentially the same studio). People were worried about this series in the very early stages when the air date had to be pushed back two seasons later than originally planned - apparently the studio had a bad rep from prior. When a few episodes were delayed, there were leaks coming out that production was being halted and delayed because of EXRTREMELY poor working conditions. There's always going to be that grind in the anime industry because of the demand to get seasonal anime out on time, but it got really bad to the point that some of the work had to be outsourced. As of June 10th, when the eighth episode aired, production on the eleventh and twelfth episode hadn't reportedly gotten started yet. It sounds like a massive fumble for a series that really could have been something bigger.
Story & Characters: Himari Kino has her first year of high school and has possibly the most carefree attitude that I've ever seen in a school anime. She has zero worries in life and proclaims to everyone that she loves them. This is obviously a bit of a steep slope to go off of because of what you and I know as 'love', she defines as more as being friendly, or happy with said person. When she goes to the school's opening ceremonies, she is immediately amazed by the band that plays, mainly, the main singer, Yori Asanagi. Himari eventually catches up to Yori and tells her that she loves her. This completely takes the introverted Yori by shock, but what starts out as an innocent interaction between two different characters, ends with a decent-feeling story.
Himari is a decent character - she's happy to help anyone in need of assistance and still puts her best foot forward when she sees something that needs to be addressed. She backs up her beliefs with her actions and develops quite nicely as the series goes on. I was actually kind of worried where they'd take her because some series take the light and bubbly character and does nothing of developmental value with them. She's certainly not the best of example of this, but she's still decent written. Yori probably doesn't have as much depth though. She feels very withdrawn to a point where I could see her inability to speak her mind - as shallow as it may be - very often. Her strengths lie in her ability to create music and follow through in that medium. Whether that feels like a strong secondary character to you, I'll leave up for debate because I can see both sides.
As the series progresses, many other characters' stories start to unwind and I have some mixed feelings on how well they turned out. Shiho's was likely my favourite because it really attempts to tug at some serious feelings. This is not a past that is easy to read and not shed a tear or two and her attempt at getting by life is extremely admirable. My problem with her was how they executed her arc. I'm not familiar with the source material to say for sure, but it feels like her story jumps around a little too much. It doesn't feel cohesive until it's pieced together, rather than building up her story until the conclusion. It pays off, but it was a little awkward to get to. Aki is another strong character whose trope may feel all too familiar to Bloom Into You fans, but even if it feels familiar, I like what she does with what she's given. It's not to build drama, but instead, to make sure those around her aren't dragged down by what she is. Momoka is the final character worth mentioning because of her connection to Shiho. She kind of brings a lot of storylines together and, outside of the bumps along the way as I described in Shiho's arc, it is decently written.
Similar to how putting our characters together and piecing their arcs into one story had minor issues, I'd say the overarching story also had minor issues. The first and most obvious is that I don't believe enough attention was given to Himari and Yori. One of the issues that seasonal anime has when you're only adapting a piece of the whole series is that you have to stop eventually. A lot of the material that introduces new characters with a story that keeps you interested in them comes very early this time around, leaving limited runtime for our main couple. Sakura Trick had a similar issue, though I wouldn't say to this extent. There are still some wonderful moments being shown and developed, but a big part of me wonders if our main duo's relationship gets challenged much later in the source material, especially because of the position that Himari is put in. (Story: 7/10, Characters: 8/10)
Art: With all the production issues that Whisper Me a Love Song had, it should come as no surprise that the place that they suffered the most was the animation. The first couple of episodes looked half decent, but as you go on, the quality seriously begins to dip. In music anime, the performances are always the most important part - think Sound! Euphonium or Fuuka. The first big performance they had was such a mess. Heavy CG and choppy-looking animations were only the start. They also really overuse stand-still backgrounds while our characters are moving in the foreground. The Himari-Yori moments were still decent, but I would have loved to know how this would have been handled by another studio. (5/10)
Sound: Music and the OST were fine, but a lot of it ends up sounding too similar to each other. Follow Your Arrows might have been my favourite, but the rest was kind of just okay. Voice work was fine for the most part, but Himari's personality leads to some high-pitched stuff. (7/10)
Overall: I wanted to not just like, but love Whisper Me a Love Song, because of how much I've seen of other Girls Love anime. Even with a non-perfect story, I was ready to give this series high praise, but sadly, it's kind of just good. Fans of the genre will probably still be fine with it at the end of the day, but this series is not a good way to introduce a new fan to it. I might go back and rewatch it, especially if HiDive ever dubs it - though I can't see that ever happening now. But this series was not nearly what I hoped it would be. (7/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 27, 2024
I was actually pretty suspicious that I should bother watching Oshi No Ko Season 2, as I was pretty lukewarm on the first season, even considering some of the more shocking moments during the season. However, after watching it, I'm glad I tuned it - it was excellent. I'll assume you've seen the first season for the purposes of this review.
Story & Characters: Oshi No Ko Season 2 leaves us off with Aqua, Akane and Kana, among others, agreeing to take a role in a play. The play is known as Tokyo Blade, sourced from a local writer's manga work.
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The first few episodes are mostly setup and us getting to know the new faces around the series. There's a lot of names to take in and while it's all done through narration, the series still does a decent job at filling us in who everyone is, as well as what their responsibilities are. Between now and last season, Aqua and Akane are now in a relationship - though, it's mostly introduced to us as done for business purposes. Ruby and Mem-Cho take on more of a supporting role this time around, as the first half focuses on the play, while the second half has the gang going off on their own.
While Aqua, Akane and Kana are our familiar characters that take centre stage in this season, there are still some decent supporting cast members present. Melt was present last season, but takes on a bigger role this time around with being a major character in Tokyo Blade. He's often picked on for being a somewhat subpar actor and goes through a lot in order to both better himself, and gain acceptance of his colleagues - in that order. He's a decently written character and if we end up not seeing him much more in the future, that's perfectly okay, as I felt they left him off quite nicely. Sumiaki returns for a more prolonged period and he was a lot of fun. His role does kind of limit to his involvement in this season, but I loved what he added, especially because this series isn't exactly the lightest piece of work. Akane has quickly become my favourite character because she always seems so sincere and putting her best foot forward for her new business boyfriend in Aqua. Her past is obviously troublesome after she tried to hurt herself in the last season, but she's more than just a pretty face. She's not focused on during this season, but she is present as a side character through the entire season - whether she's hanging out with Aqua or Ruby. I didn't love the idea of passing by how she got together with Aqua as an in-between thing that happened though. Abiko is the Tokyo Blade writer and she does come off as sheltered and unfamiliar with the world around her, maybe unironically. She comes off a harsh, but they actually developed on her character quite well.
One reason I was worried about the second season of Oshi No Ko was because of the Tokyo Blade play. It very well could have overshadowed everything they built upon in the first season because it really doesn't have a lot to do with the overall plot. However, to my surprise, I thought it was executed quite well. I really like that they didn't take an entire episode to just have the play go through it's thing, then have our characters interact after. They blended in character moments throughout the entire series and gave us a lot of process as we were watching it. They made sure to not forget why Aqua agreed to star in this play too, they made sure to have him has his moments as well.
During the second half of the season, we were back on track with more of the main storyline, including background information on Aqua and Ruby's past lives as Dr. Amamiya and Sarina respectively. They give us a lot surrounding all of this during the course of five episodes or so, and, like with Akane's arc in the first season, it gets rather dark at times. One thing Oshi No Ko does well is balance between light and dark moments and even though I find mostly the latter enjoyable, they sprinkle it around enough, which I think helps it reach more audiences. They certainly want us to see more, as the last episode gives us a lot to think about where this series is going, especially with the introduction of Tsukuyomi. (Story: 9/10, Characters: 8/10)
Art: The animation feels pretty consistent throughout, but I still am not sure it's Doga Kobo's best work - Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie and the recent Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night, two series that are more lighter in feel, might have been animation better, but giving a decent studio the chance to try a big name like Oshi No Ko is never a bad thing. It still adds a lot of pretty moments and certainly doesn't fall for the fall quality that seasonal anime are prone to. (8/10)
Sound: The tracks used in this season are still strong, but I both the OP and ED are probably not as good as the first season. Voice work does seem to have taken a step forward. I've never been a huge Shannon Reed (voice director) fan, but it does feel a like a few of the weird moments present in season one are no longer around. Kristen McGuire (Akane) and Jack Stansbury (Aqua) are still exceptional and Alejandro Saab (Sumiaki) predictably does an awesome job here too. (9/10)
Overall: Oshi No Ko Season 2 was fantastic, pulling me back in to a series that really doesn't have a good fit into any given anime genre. It fits into so many and does an excellent job and drawing out their existing story, even with a play taking a lot of the runtime. While I can't say this type of series appeals to everyone, I think most everyone should still give it a try. It does feel like they could be going for the long game here, as it feels like the conclusion to the story is way off, but I'm willing to stick around to see what this work can bring us. (9/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 7, 2024
By now, we kind of know what's going on with My Hero Academia Season 7, but it's insane that they've been able to keep up the high pace of action without really making me feel bored - which I feel was a downfall of a series like Naruto Shippuuden. My Hero Academia just does it better. I'll assume you've seen all the prequels for the purposes of this review.
Story & Characters: My Hero Academia Season 7's story basically hasn't changed since the previous season. The new Liberation Front, along with One For All, is making it their goal to create complete destruction
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upon the world, but have set their sights on Deku, being the holder of All For One. Now, with a world threat present, Stars and Stipe, the number one hero from USA has been called to the battlefield and it's up to her to turn the tide of the war.
Star and Stripe is awesome. Very early on, they present her backstory where she forms a bond with multiple army vets, none of which really come close to matching the spectacular strength that she holds. I loved it, making her scenes on the battlefield all that more fun, along with her quirk. After her brief arc completes, the rest of the season basically sees us with multiple groups of enemies fighting against each other - akin to the shinobi war that Naruto Shippuuden had. Most groupings that are create make sense from an emotional standpoint, though does have a tendency to drag the plot a little more than I would have liked. Toga's fight was one example of this, even though I kind of get what they were going for.
There aren't really more new characters added to the roster, even though this season has twenty one episodes in it. Most of our favourite characters are still present, putting everything on the line - Phantom Thief might have been my favourite from this season, though Shouto, Kachan, Fumikage and All Might are worth mentioning too. Whoever your favourite hero - or villain - might be, they likely got some screen time here. Some uneven pacing here or there is kind of to be expected, but the most upsetting thing might have been the ending because of the cliffhanger they left us with. (Story: 9/10, Characters: 9/10)
Art: Animation still feels very consistent, one thing that Naruto never seemed to be able to keep up. They do all their characters justice and I love how each scene looks and feels. (10/10)
Sound: Sound doesn't disappoint either with the OST bringing in a bunch of new tracks that fit what we are seeing on screen. I've never been high on the OPs of EDs that this series seems to offer, but that's very minor. Voice cast continue to be amazing, with Luci Christian (Ochako) and Austin Tindle (Phantom Thief) impressing me the most. Top to bottom, this voice cast is top notch. (10/10)
Overall: My Hero Academia Season 7 brings the action to the party with basically every episode featuring some fight or another. Even if you're not a big Shounin fan, this season would appeal to most every audience - it's that good, especially if you've been low on some of the previous seasons. With only one season remaining, I really hope they keep up the momentum, because it's been an awesome ride. (10/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 21, 2024
The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses Season 2 has a lot going for it, but it also has a handful of things that play against it too. I'll assume you've seen Season 1 for the purposes of this review.
Story & Characters: Let's start with the strengths, many of which continue from Season 1. The storytelling is still quite strong. The first arc focuses around a competing café, known as Family. It features a rival owner who hires five girls to run the café for him. There is a minor problem this posses, as it's not the most use of character
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design - each girl resembles and shares characteristics with the current cast. Leaving that out, I actually enjoyed the storyline with that setting quite a bit. It posses a serious problem for Hayato and company and, while it's still a little goofy, they go about their business in trying to find a way to coexist with this new crew. Expanding the setting can only be a good thing considering how much time is spent in Familia anyway.
One character that really starts to shine is Ami. You may recall that each girl got their own mini-arc in Season 1, but Ami did not receive the same benefit. And, like the others in Season 1, it was pretty well told. Much of Ami's character is about this weird, over-the-top girl who always seems so carefree, but introducing a serious problem for her fleshed her out so much more. This actually was really good timing, because you can see her finally develop as a character, especially when you consider the finale. She was great here. This isn't to say the rest of the crew didn't develop either. The other four were still really well represented, though some got more screentime than others. Shiragiku and Akane might have the least here and I'd like to see the two of them developed more if this series were to continue.
As the series carried on, I felt like the second half started to get slightly dull in terms of exciting material. This isn't to say an attempt to continue strong storytelling didn't continue because it remained different. I just didn't think it was quite as interesting. If you liked the weird and over-the-top stuff from before, then you'll still find it here. This, along with the excessive fan service, were probably my least favourite parts of this series, but the latter was at least a little more held back than before.
Aside the new Family cast, there weren't a ton new characters to really sink your teeth into, but at the same time, you don't really need to. There's enough story elements with our current cast that I didn't feel more than a handful of additional minor characters were necessary, and they delivered that here. Hayato, for the most part, remains the same person as before, which I enjoyed for the most part. You can clearly tell that he's starting to feel pressure about who he likes most out of the five girls and if this series were to continue, I hope he starts to form more of a connection with someone. (Story: 7/10, Characters: 8/10)
Art: The series looks more or less the same as the previous season, but in terms of shine and terrible censoring. (9/10)
Sound: I don't have a ton to add here, as everything sounded fine. The OP wasn't nearly as iconic as the first season's, but that's a minor gripe at best. (7/10)
Overall: The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses Season 2 continued to be an entertaining series, even if started to taper off in the second half of the season. Audiences happy with the first season should still enjoy this series and it continues to do right by its characters, which should have been the goal with such a large main cast. If it were to continue, there are things I'd definitely want to see, especially after the developments of the finale, but I'd check it out to feed my curiosity. (7/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 28, 2024
Story & Characters: Love Is Indivisible by Twins focuses on a pair of twin sisters: Rumi and Naori Jinguuji. They are neighbours, as well as childhood friends of Jun Shirosaki. Having known him for so long, they've basically grown up with him and at the start of our tale, Rumi and Jun decide to start dating. Things go well for a year until, seemingly out of nowhere, Rumi decides to break up with Jun, to his surprise. Her reasoning? So that he could date Naori.
Easily the best part of this series is our trio of characters. I'm a huge
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fan because they bring something different to the table. Rumi is very athletic, where as Naori is more of a nerd. They aren't very similar at all, but both are fantastic together. They're super close, which is Rumi's reasoning for dumping Jun to begin with. She wanted him to date her because she keeps her sister in such high regard. Naori very obviously has a huge crush on Jun too, but she doesn't spend the entire series denying it. Instead, she makes it obvious to him - or at least tries. Jun is a character with decent morals, unlike his best friend Toyoshige. While he keeps questionable company, he's actually pretty normal. No matter what the Jinguuji sisters suggest, he keeps a level head until one of them fluster him. I feel like it's a good balancing act between keeping this series silly and serious at the same time.
Toyoshige is Jun's friend and probably one of the weirdest people in this series - how he got the nickname of "professor" might make it more questionable. He has very firm beliefs about women and tries show Jun what they are - unsuccessfully. Riris is Naori's friend, often being called "chief" by Naori. I really liked her! She's a complete nerd and the friendship she has with Naori is awesome. Shiena enters the picture about halfway through and I thought she was going to be a ditsy boring character. Sure, she's not the most story-heavy character, but she's fun and an excellent mix with our cast. Reira is one of Rumi's friends, but I didn't think much of her.
One of the issues with this series is that I'm just not in love with the framework that the story tries to bring to the table. The series takes very little time breaking Rumi and Jun up, but then spends basically the entirety of the rest of the series trying to figure out whether or not Naori is a good fit for him or not. It can get very dry at times, while others, it feels like the story progression completely halts when we feel like it should be making progress. While I like the idea of seeing if Naori is a good fit as a girlfriend, I feel like story prefers to take the slow-paced approach when it could have sped up a little more than it did.
Another problem - and the MAL synopsis kind of hints to this - is that the series wants us keep in mind how the relationship between the twins and Jun are at all times. The problem? It doesn't spend nearly enough time with the three of them figuring things out in a serious manner. The twins talk to each other a fair bit at the start, which was off to a strong start, but then it was always two out of the three of them, trying to figure things out. The pacing really drags at times like this. Don't get me wrong, it was still entertaining at certain parts of the story, but that's all it was - entertainment. Something can be fun to watch, if you want to turn your brain off for certain story bits. You can be the judge if this series is worth of that. (Story: 6/10, Characters: 9/10)
Art: While the animation held up throughout the runtime without serious quality issues, I'm not entirely sure I remember watching certain scenes and admiring how well they were animated. While romance series never really need to shine as much as action-oriented series, staying in the mediocre range probably isn't doing the studio any favours. (6/10)
Sound: Like with the animation, I wasn't terribly high on the sound either. Nothing spectacular, nothing to be upset about - though I'd be lying if I didn't say Shiena's voice work got a little annoying at times. (6/10)
Overall: Love Is Indivisible by Twins has a strong base to shoot your romance story off of because it's own twist on the romance genre is the appeal of seeing twins interact with the one they love, and grew up with. The problem with that here is that the story never really blooms that into anything more than what we got to see in the first couple of episodes. The characters and the basis for the story there, but I don't feel like this series had enough high points to counter some of the slower moving parts of the story. I could still see this being appealing to those looking for a romance story, but there are others that do a better job, even if they don't have characters that you're quite as engaged with. (6/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 25, 2024
"Deceive your heart all you want, but if you don't resolve this, it will scorn you. And before you know it, you'll be scarred forever."
Story & Characters: Days with My Stepsister is truly a wonderful anime series to experience, and I'm not sure if I could treasure this more in a controversial topic. It speaks to what happens when stepbrother and stepsister start to have romantic feelings for each other and the obvious complications that come with such a taboo. I, of course, am I talking about Saki Ayase and Yuuta Asamura. The former's mother and latter's father get married at
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the start of this series, and it's here that our characters meet and make every attempt they can to make sure their new family stays as one happy family.
There's so much to unpack as to why I like this series, but I think I'll start with the thing that sticks out the most. That is the tone that series sets at every turn. It takes a extremely mature take on this topic, mirroring the dialogue that an older series known as Love Wind, takes. At first, it's completely about trying to make sure their family meshes. Saki and Yuuta have very strong feelings about how their parents should have the best life, due to the natures of how their previous family broke down. While this isn't dug into too much, we know enough to give us an idea why our characters treasure family so much. As our characters go through their daily lives, they slowly start to realize something is amiss - that they believe they are having romantic feelings towards one another, a taboo in most everyone's minds.
Saki and Yuuta put on very strong fronts, not because they're always headstrong, but because they feel they need to. They have their birth parents - who work tirelessly long hours - who they treasure now that their other birth parents are not in the mix, they have their sibling, who they need to get along with because they're now step siblings, and now they have their step parent, who makes their birth parent so happy. It all makes sense, and they will look for no angle that will sour on their experience as a family. I love this about them because they don't show malice towards their new living arrangement. But what happens when it starts to push too far into loving their stepsibling?
Contrary to the title, Saki feels more like our main character than Yuuta, especially in the second half. As she spends more time with Yuuta, she tries to pull herself into his space, but does so gently, and slowly. It's here that she tries to learn through "experience", to see if her heart is telling her the same things that she thinks, and it's all wonderfully well written. She doesn't have a ton of friends to confide in, and what really only pushes her is someone she meets near the end. I didn't love how this particular scene played out because it kind of bounced out of nowhere, but the conversation at least felt correct for the feel the series is going for. Maaya, a female classmate of Yuuta's, hangs around both of them and somewhat adds a nice element where we have someone that observes both of them, but she's not serious enough to really push the envelope. This is something I appreciated because the overall feeling of the series seeks to stay mostly light. Yuuta fights his feelings his own way too, but is far more outgoing that we start to see something leak out when he talks to colleagues. Shiori is a coworker of Yuuta's and I'm uncertain how to feel about her. She starts to feel like she has the Maaya role near the second half of the series, and feels somewhat redundant because of it. Still, I appreciated that she adds more eyes onto both our main characters because the series is light on conversation as it is. Near the end, Yuuta's classmate at cram school, Kaho, enters the picture and she's excellent for the series. Her backstory is extremely harsh. This really threw me off but she's such a welcome addition. She pushes the story forward and somehow, Yuuta feels very comfortable talking to her calmly.
Where audiences might take issue with this series, outside of the controversial topic, is that issues aren't tackled head on. It's not handled directly until the final few scenes. Our characters withhold their feelings for one another so much, and Saki goes so far to say that she's keeping it "bottled up" and knows that she can't continue to do so without going crazy. The series, overall, retains this relaxed feeling most of the time, and even when intense dialogue enters the fray, the series depends on us reacting to what's going on screen, when it seems possible that we might not. Some people may go "well, is that it?". I get it, but I was so into this series that this never occurred to me. (Story: 10/10, Characters: 8/10)
Art: The animation was strong is very specific areas and weaker in others. Studio Deen has done some excellent work with series such as Seven Deadly Sins and Sakura Trick. Backgrounds went for a watercoloured shading, though had this weird line pattern through some scenes. Not sure if this was intentional, but you can barely notice it unless you're looking really hard - it's not that obvious on mobile either. Character designs were a mix of strong and different. What I mean by the latter is that they had a habit of showing characters without their eyes at far-off camera shots. While not terrible, I'm not sure what the goal was there. However, lighting made this series really shine (pun not intended) during some of the nicer shots. I was a huge fan of this. Random thing, I was a huge fan of the way they coloured our characters' eyes though. (8/10)
Sound: The atmosphere they go for is to constantly try and remain laid back, and the OST sure did that. The OST is almost entirely light piano tunes and this matches up very well with the series. The OP and ED also do the same job. VA work is strong throughout - I would have liked to see how this series would have panned out with the right English dub actor because there was so much raw emotion that Yuki Nakashima (Saki) put through here that I don't feel like I truly appreciate when it's in a language I don't naturally understand. (8/10)
Overall: Days with My Stepsister was fantastic, and should be a watch for any fan of the romance genre. It doesn't try and be stark like Domestic Girlfriend, but rather, take a more serious approach that Love Wind does. Yes, if you don't care for this subdivision of the romance genre, then this won't be something you'll enjoy. But the story was so well written that I don't think I ever thought twice about not finishing this series. If more were to come out, I'd gladly pick it up. (9/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 19, 2024
I love what The Dangers in My Heart Season 2 stands for. It was the top rated anime of the season it aired in - beating out titans like Solo Leveling, A Sign of Affection and Classroom of the Elite 3. Which is awesome. I'll assume you've seen the prequel for the purposes of this review.
Story & Characters: We are back with Kyoutarou and Anna, both high schoolers with an obvious mad crush on each other. Now that Season 1 has ended, we're onto the next chapter of this delightful adventure. Now, when I say adventure, I mean we're going
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all over the place with our two main characters, and watching them going all over the place, with or without each other, is probably the biggest appeal of this season. One of my favourites was when Anna needed to go to someone for a photo shoot. It allowed us time to see how she is with non-classmates, what Kyoutarou thinks of them, and how others interact with them. These are the things that drive character-driven narratives such as The Dangers in My Heart Season 2. Another one of my favourites was when Kyoutarou ended up at Anna's house during a rainstorm with her dad. Why is here there alone with this scary 'giant', what does he do next, how does he interact with him? These are all so interesting to me.
Our characters are fundamentally the same, but they have certainly grown since we last saw them. The biggest and most obvious change is that both Anna and Kyoutarou have noticed that they love interacting with each other, but are almost denying how they feel. I'm sure it'll big some anime fans because it'll be the old "just kiss" meme again, but I actually think their approach to their relationship with each other was done very well. Anna isn't quite as goofy and aloof as the first season, but I'm pretty okay with them moving past this fascination. After all, it's those obvious obliviousness that made Anna, Anna, so now, we're ready to see how else she is like. A lot more of her real emotions start to show up, even if she doesn't straight up say it. Kyoutarou is the person we are watching the show through, so we know most of how he feels. I feel like most of his appeal is his funny reactions to how Anna is, or trying to deny how he feels. Most of these end up being fun, but there are some minor misses.
The only real issue I had with this series is the lack of real secondary cast. A lot of Anna and Kyoutarou's friends don't have much of an impact on the series. Yamada's father might have had the best moments for me, even though he wasn't around a lot of the episodes. The way he is is rather unique to romance series, but he's an awesome addition. Shou Adachi still has a mad crush on Anna, but his personality is such a weird mix with the series. He's also completely oblivious to how Kyoutarou is. Kenta is a character I started to like in the first season because deep down, he's a gentle guy who is crushing on Honoka. I really wish they were more present in this series but they could have gone with that idea a few times. Moeko is one of Anna friends, but she doesn't really fit into the "bestie" mold. She's just kind of there, like everyone else.
While I love what most of the story does for our main couple, there are a few characters that don't really do it for me. And that's fine because you're not watching this series for them. The main focus is on Kyoutarou and Anna, and seeing all the different ways for them to try and interact with each other keeps this series as it's best. (Story: 9/10, Characters: 7/10)
Art: Animation here is more or less the same as the previous season, but there a lot slower scenes which make it stick out more. I like these! I'm still not entirely settled on the character art, but we can look past that. (8/10)
Sound: Similarly, sound was solid with, what it feels like, more piano tunes in the OST. The OP, Boku waa..., is an awesome tune and one that's found a spot on my YouTube playlist. The ED is fine, but not likely better than the last one. VO work is excellent, as is the case with anything John Swasey voice directs. Katelyn Barr (Anna) doesn't voice in a lot of softer roles, but she does an excellent job with Anna's up and down emotions of this season. Clint Bickham (Kyoutarou) is really not someone I'm familiar with outside of Bloom Into You, but he also is excellent here. Two others that I liked were Emi Lo (Moeko) and Jay Hickman (Mr Yamada). (9/10)
Overall: The Dangers in My Heart Season 2 is everything I wanted it to be, and more. This is one of the better school romance series around and I'm certainly glad it got a second season. Apparently it covers up to volume eight of the source materially and currently only nine are out, so I can't really see this getting another season, but I would certainly watch it if it became a reality. (9/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 24, 2024
This season of Demon Slayer with the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc is just kind of what it sounds like at this point - lots of training and not a whole lot else. I got about what I thought I'd get and considering what's been teased at what's coming next, I'm mostly okay with that.
Story: The premise of this season is pretty straight forward - have the Demon Slayer core get as strong as they possibly can in the limited amount of time they have before fighting Muzan. The Hashira, mostly as a group, decide that in order to achieve
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this, each member of the core will go from Hashira to Hashira as they undergo different types of training. For example: Mitsuri Kanroji's training focuses on flexibility. Each Hashira has a different form of training as we mostly follow around Tanjiro as he goes from trial to trail.
There really isn't much to the story, which is this season's biggest downfall, especially because it's only eight episodes long. There were zero fighting sequences with demons, but there were decent action scenes in very brief moments to sort of make up for it. The plot doesn't advanced all that much and it mostly feels like filler content, outside of maybe the first episode, and last episode, the latter of which really hypes you up for what's to come. This is kind of how we know where the story is going to go and as a non-manga reader, I'm exceptionally excited for the trio of Infinity Castle movies that are set to come - though we don't know when yet. (6/10)
Characters: Tanjiro takes on each separate Hashira trial, and it's his work ethic that really sticks out in this episode, even if he's playing it dumb sometimes. He's clearly still adored by the lower-rank core members, which is kind of neat to see. Zenitsu and Inosuke are seen in a few episodes and watching them react to the training was somewhat amusing. Kagaya Ubuyashiki got some screen time too and, assuming everything that other characters said about him was true, then he's far more clever than I originally though. Nezuko was basically absent for this season due to story-related reasons.
I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was nice to check in on the Hashira. We haven't seen a few of them for quite some time, so seeing them all, along with some minor story detail on a bunch of them was likely the best part of this season. Giyuu, Shinobu, Gyoumei were present and even Tengen was still sticking around. They really do create some awesome sequences and if they're all basically involved in the next arc - that's gotta be a let down if they aren't the most fun to see, right? (8/10)
Art: Shocking, ufotable is still the best in the business. Obviously there wasn't as much flash as usual, but this is still a beautiful series. (9/10)
Sound: The OST is basically the same, which is perfectly fine. The OP is fantastic, as My First Story and Hyde team up for both that, and the ending. This might be the most stacked VO cast, even if you're only looking at the Hashira. Johnny Yong Bosch (Goyuu), Erika Harlacher-Stone (Shinobu), Ray Chase (Tengen), Erik Kimerer (Obanai), Kaiji Tang (Sanemi), Griffin Burns (Muichirou), Kira Buckland (Mitsuri) and, one of my favourites of all time, Crispin Freeman (Gyoumei). It's insane. (10/10)
Overall: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc is definitely nothing special outside of the first and last episode. The middle six episodes play off as filler and just kind of acts and both character and physical development for our characters and that's likely not the reason people watch this series. Still, the movie trilogy is probably going to be insane. I can't wait. (7/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 2, 2024
Add to the pile of "anime that I have a hard time evaluating" because it has a lot of good stuff in there, but there are a handful of little things that sort of get in the way. Still, there are a lot of things that set this apart from other series in its genre.
Story & Characters: Shy takes place in a fairly distance future in which super heroes are in each country and it's their job to help humanity feel safe - whether it's saving people from natural disasters, or fighting the next big baddie that comes to town. Teru Momijiyama is
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a fourteen year old, and goes by the code name Shy. She's not particularly special, but her obvious trait is that she has devastating anxiety around literally any human being - thus the name, Shy.
Evaluating her is such a hard thing to do because that personality kind of defines how everyone in her world sees her. She has an exceptionally hard time talking to people and an even harder time getting people in Japan to accept her as their hero. For context, each country has one hero, so when trouble arises that requires more than one hero, another country's assigned hero needs to assist. Shy's first act of duty is at an amusement park where a rollercoaster has frozen while it's upside down, fifty feet in the air. One of the occupants, Iko Koishikawa, insists that she is saved last, as she wants to see the others on the ride, including her brother, Daigo, saved first. Why does this, but not without some minor consequences to Iko, as she gets a minor injury from the ride.
First, I have to say, I really like how this series sets you up. We have this hero, who wants to help everyone that she can, and right away, she's faced with this situation where she feels like she has failed not just the person in front of her, but the whole country. A running theme in this series is about what you feel with your heart and they incorporate this into the series very well. For a fourteen year old, she takes what she does VERY seriously and for the story to basically tell us that she needs solve her first big obstacle from an accident is excellent. It made this arc extremely compelling, and sets you up with basically everything you need for the rest of the series.
Iko's arc basically becomes central to Teru's first step in character development, and boy, for a non-hero, I love what Iko brings to the table. The greatest thing is that I'm not even sure why I love her so much. It might be that I love the "best friends" approach that a lot of action series has, but that's not entirely her purpose in the series, especially the first arc. After being saved, something mysterious occurs to her, and Iko does everything to tell Teru that she's an inconvenience. What makes this even better is that now, Teru is faced with this situation where someone, whom she just met, is telling her something about themselves that she keeps telling herself. I really wish the series played off of that more than it did, but this situation is basically telling both Teru and Iko to not beat themselves up so much, especially in situations that you can't help.
Stimga is likely the big baddie that is the key player opposite to the heroes that form in this series the series doesn't really do much to introduce who he really is, aside from some brief conversation. Stigma doesn't really say anything to give himself away, but this early in a series where it looks like he could be the main villain is usually okay. Tzveta shows up later in the series in the final arc of the season and her story feels, while solid, somewhat confusing after the initial episode ten story. Still, episode ten is what makes her, as well as Pepesha. Pepesha is the Russian hero, capable of forming clouds (steam?) with her hands and use them as her weapon. She's your typical happy-go-lucky character, but they certainly try and break her in the final arc. The resolution was probably stretched out a little more than I would have liked, as it feels like they went back and form with no real purpose a few times. It stalls what was a decently paced series.
The second arc introduces other heroes, such as Uni-Lord, who oversees all the heroes, the China hero, Li Ming Ming, the Britain hero, David Wonder Jones and the Swiss hero, Piltz Dunant. As a group, they look out for each other, but they do feel unique enough that they didn't really bother me. They weren't really involved in the plot too much except for David, who saw some screen time in the second arc. The arc itself was fine, but again, felt like it went on for longer than it needed to. Finally, Shrimpy is Shy's floating companion who is in the shape of a shrimp. He doesn't do much aside remedial tasks, but having him there gives someone else that Shy is comfortable with and for that, is probably a net positive.
I didn't really know what to expect in a story about heroes, but they had some really strong plot-related ideas that hit really well for me. This series gets very emotional at times, the biggest of which was in that aforementioned episode ten. Teru's far from the best written protagonist and having a weak lead has buried some series before. Still, there's enough here that I feel like she can continue to grow. (Story: 8/10, Characters: 7/10)
Art: While fine, I couldn't say I was the biggest fan of the series animation. It was fine, but definitely not better than My Hero Academia, whose visuals are also not exceptional. 8bit is the studio that handled this series, and my guess is that this series doesn't get the attention that other bigger names that this studio produces, does. These might include That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Blue Lock, Yuru Camp and The Irregular at Magic High School. (6/10)
Sound: Shy gives off a very comicy vibe with it's OST, one that I'm not surprised at. I wasn't the biggest fan of either theme song, but probably match up here just fine. Voice work is equally fine, with one exception. Bryn Apprill (Iko) was easily my favourite of the voice cast here. She goes through so many emotional ups and downs, and my guess is this was one of her better works that I've heard her have. Natalie Hoover (Pepesha) is also worthy of praise here. With Aaron Campbell (David), I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a nature British accent and at least to my untrained ear, it sounded pretty solid. I was just kind of fine with everyone else. Marisa Duran (Stigma) takes a crack at an evil little boy and I think I'll be more comfortable with hearing it more as we go along here. (7/10)
Overall: Shy really surprised me because the stories that it told were done really well. It takes time - maybe a bit too much at times - to tell characters' stories, and try and make audiences care about them. Still, if they can bring this level to the, currently running, sequel, then I think that series will have the same type of success, as long as they mix it up a little, and continue to have Shy and friends grow. This series plays off as a Shounen about superheroes, and anyone interested should feel comfortable with this series. (8/10)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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