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Before I being, let me say this. I am very grateful to Tattun the producer, for visiting 4chan during the time LWA aired. Many fans, myself included, had the opportunity to ask him a bunch of questions, and learn a few interesting things about the story and characters. So in the unlikely chance you’re reading this, Thank you buddy!


Little Witch Academia’ (depending on viewers’ opinion) can be summed up as either “a charming, adventurous title; full of unique characters, interesting storylines, and filled with fun & entertainment.” On the other hand, it can be summed up as a disappointing, overly self-referential, lackluster title; ... full of too many western references, terrible pacing, filler, shoehorned, and plain one-dimensional characters.

Inside the magical, heartwarming tale of Little Witch Academia, we follow our annoying (but loveable… admit it!) protagonist Atsuko “Akko” Kagari. Akko is human with the burning passion of becoming a great witch like her idol Shiny Chariot! Watching the story unfold is one that viewers will certainly enjoy watching. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about little witch academia’s story is that it provides multiple re-occurring themes that fit well with the story.

The best one that is shown over and over throughout the series is ambition. Many of the women enrolled at Luna Nova academy show determination, and work hard to achieve their personal goals. Akko of course has to work the hardest because she has no talent. It feels like such an accomplishment to witness Akko and the others achieving their goals! I felt like that was the biggest payoff the story had to offer.

I was skeptical during the first 6 episodes; the content provided had failed to meet my expectations. In comparison to the OVA and movie, the quality of the TV anime appeared a bit more childish. The plot for each episode was overly simplified, coupled with terrible pacing. It was so bad that I felt like I was watching a children’s show.

Compared to studio triggers other titles, the content provided in LWAs’ story is tame. You won’t find over the top violence, blood and gore, overly sexualized characters, and other mature themes that you would usually see in a Trigger anime.

The transition from mature content to child-friendly was a little disappointing, and hard for me to get used to. But, after giving it some time, I got used to it. I must admit that Little Witch Academia’s story is fine as it is, childish and all. Some of the best episodes provide viewers with interesting narratives, humorous content, a wee bit of romance, and finally thrilling action. The lackluster episodes are almost filler like, with unnecessary and unwanted subplots, which do not add anything further to the story. In short, the subplots ruin the pacing of the story.

The middle of the series, the rising action, and the events leading to the climax of little witch academia was very disappointing. The pacing and action leading up to it was awful! It kills the hype that the show had previously had. It felt as if writers and director just wanted to rush into something bigger, as seen in episode 24. The writers ended whatever evil plot the antagonist had earlier, just to create another conflict which would have the Akko and friends defeat it.


Supporting characters in the story?

The supporting characters that are not Ursula-sensei, lose their value towards the rising action. During the last four or five episodes; Sucy, Lotte, and Amanda‘s crew, are demoted to background characters, and get at least 10 minutes (if even that) of screen time. It isn’t until last three episodes that we see the supporting characters comeback however; they’re basically around just to cheer Akko as well as give her help when needed.

The 25 episodes of little witch academia were generally good, and at times decent. While I was not impressed with the pacing and filler; I did enjoy the sweet and tender parts the show had to offer. I gave the story and 7 and a half out of 10 because I felt that even though the show was good, it still had a bunch of glaring problems and wasted potential.


Characters

I feel bad that there isn’t much that I truly enjoyed about the supporting characters other than Ursula.

I felt that Ursula was the only support that mattered because she helped the story progress. Diana would be a close second however; even she gets pushed to the side. Other than that, I felt that the characters were great. They were full of personality and fun to see on screen.

In the beginning I hated Akko. She’s so one-dimensional. Not to mention she’s annoyingly loud & dumb to the point where I just want to fast forward through every scene she is in. Despite this, Akko does have redeeming qualities to her; especially when her character starts to develop. In a weird way, she sort of reminds me of Naruto Uzumaki from the Naruto franchise. She’s loud, annoying, and stupid. However, when she’s determined to do something, she’s willing to work hard, train, and never give up! It makes her fun to watch.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, supporting characters lose all value (and to an extent) purpose. They’re subjugated to being nothing more than background characters with little to no lines. I felt that, in exchange for an episode based upon a supporting character, they would have to lose their screen time in order for the story to focus more on Akko.


Art and Visual direction/Sound

Could have been better! I liked the designs; some of the settings were unique. The animation was okay. I wasn’t impressed with it, I felt like some of the special effects were poor in quality. As far as the character designs go, I felt that they were great. I’m honestly looking forward to the art book! WE WILL SUPPORT IT TATTUN!

The opening and ending songs were great; some of the background music was okay. I felt that some of the songs composed for this anime didn’t quite fit well with the atmosphere & settings they took place in. Also, the music didn’t do that good of a job bringing exciting moments to life. The voice acting was great however, the audio quality sounds like they were using budget microphones in the studio. I listened to Little witch academia using “Bose quiet comfort 35” headphones. I must admit, if you have a good pair of headphones or speakers, listen closely and you’ll hear how bad the sound quality is. Especially during scenes where there are monologues.

Enjoyment and overall feelings.

Is Little Witch Academia Academia a project Trigger should be proud of? I would say yes! It’s different. It’s something unique, I feel that it’s one of those shows that could catch on, and sell well if marketed correctly. I strongly believe that LWA needs a push. It needs to branch out more to be successful. I’m not saying that the series isn’t, it’s just that Trigger needs to make it stand out more.

I felt that little witch academia was well worthy of an 8/10 and I would strongly recommend it!

To be honest Flip Flappers should-be more popular. I felt that it had all the material needed to engage with audiences regardless of their preferences, and most importantly sell great merchandise. The only thing that stopped me from giving the incredible piece of art a solid 10 was the strange and often times confusing story; which I'll get into in a moment so please keep sitting in your chair, or levitating above, you wizards.

So what is Flip Flappers about? Why should you be watching it? Can you eat it? Only two of the three questions above will be answered.
Flip Flappers’ story is interesting in many ... ways. We follow the lives two cute girls, there’s intense action, amazing visuals, a yuri undertone lurking. What more could you want— other than nudity, perv.

The Story can be hit or miss depending on your preferences. If you’re into simple story-telling and plot developments then Flip flappers most likely won’t be on your watch list. The plot, the real plot, not fan-service is very confusing at times. It is so bad to the point where I found myself questioning “what the hell going on?” in certain episodes. You see, Flip Flappers method of storytelling is hard to follow…

There are often times too many distractions, mostly imagery, that if you miss a single detail then you will be momentarily confused as to what is happening in the story. This is extremely prevalent when there are scenes filled to the brim with dialogue and monologues. Personally, I found myself getting lost in the vibrant imagery or special effects while characters were talking. Now as far as the story telling goes, the “direction” I have to say that I strongly believe that both the narrative was straight forward as to be expected. Flip Flappers method of storytelling is “the hero’s journey.” For example, think of movies like Harry potter or Lord of the rings.

For those who are unfamiliar with the scenario, something bad or out of the ordinary happens. This causes the girls to go on an adventure to solve the problem; they receive supernatural aid, and get just a bit of character development. As their adventure progresses, they run into the antagonist whom they proceed to do battle with. At this point, “death & rebirth” kicks in. The girls lose, but suddenly realize that this battle is important, plot armor kicks in, and they both gain some sort of supernatural ability that helps them defeat the antagonist. After the grueling battle rests, a predictable outcome, the heroes succeed and head back home where everything is nice and happy.

Now with “the journey “that the girls go on. It is not incredible but it sure is unique. During the span of the entire series Papika and Cocnoa are involved in some type of journey that teaches them both lessons. For example they both need each other. They’re friends! Most of the problems the two have to fix during the series, I perceived them as stepping blocks for the two to continue building their budding relationship.
There’s never a dull moment in the Flip Flappers’ story I feel like it provided more than enough entertainment.

At first glance, depending on if you have a good eye or are just really experienced with watching anime. One would assume Gainax worked this title with its unique choices in art. However, they didn’t (as far as my knowledge goes) do much in the animation department. The credits in episode 11 say that they were used for outsourcing. This is common in the anime industry. Personally I believe that their unique art style was used as inspiration for 3hz.

Backgrounds are beautiful despite lacking detail and high quality at times. Character designs are unique, cute which is most important. On the other hand, the animation wasn’t as impressive. I felt like there could’ve been improvements to the aesthetics and quality to make the show look more modern. HOWEVER! And Honestly, I think everything worked out. I enjoyed the beauty the show had to offer. It has a sort of “dreamscape” fantasy design to it. This choice fits with the theme of the show. Lastly, the colors are rich and the special effects are fluid.

The soundtrack does an excellent job setting the mood for certain situations. I felt that the composer did a wonderful job of creating songs that fit theme of the show. Happy, jaunty, tunes, the bells are of course the most important part. Voice acting was good to say the least. I didn't feel like the actors were anything special. The opening and ending song... Scratch the opening song. The ending song perfectly describes what the show is about! the sound director deserves to be acknowledge for their contributions to the show.

Enjoyment & Overall: Flip flappers deserves some notoriety for its great efforts and contributions to the fall 2016 season. I felt that this title was incredibly fun to watch! The characters, art, soundtrack and story. There was so many things that I liked in the show that made it enjoyable. I had to give Flip Flappers a solid 9/10 because of how great I felt watching everything unfold.

Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta had a very interesting concept, plot, story and more importantly nice cast of characters.

I think what I liked most about this title, the story specifically, is that no matter what episode I was watching I always had some sort of sense of enjoyment. Seeing the characters progress through certain events both inside and outside the game. I think that character development & growth was a big part of the story due to each character having some sort of social problem however, I'd like to discuss this more in the character department rather than story.

Sudden ... plot development and story development, I felt like the way both were introduced came off as weak and somewhat uninteresting.. The lack of exciting new developments in the shows story-line actually made me less excited to watch new episodes. The drama along with new issues in certain episodes could have been resolved within a few minutes maybe the first 11 minutes of a 23 or 24 minute episode. This however was not the case and because of that a majority of the problems that the characters had made it feel like some episodes were slow and boring.

Art looks pretty great. Special effects looked great when used properly and the overall character designs were fantastic. I can tell that the producers and animators were going for the moe look with the girls because they gave them bigger eyes and tiny lips. Personally I think that this was a very smart idea, especially for the character Ako since she's like the main female character. The producers knew that we were going to be seeing Ako the most, so why not make her look even more appealing. All of that aside costumes, daily outfits all looked alright to me. The only issue I had was the show was really bright.

I used three different methods of watching Netoge. I tried using my samsung 48 inch 4K Smart TV and the results just weren't that great so I tried using my computer monitor on "Economic" so it could dim down the brightness. Lastly I tried using my 42 Vizio TV and just didn't get the results I was hoping for. In the end though, I just had to deal with the strange brightness in the show.Other than that, the art and animation was pretty great.

Oh the soundtrack. I honestly didn't care too much for the soundtrack. The background music just lacked intensity and sometimes it felt dull. The ending song was the only song I liked. I felt that it imagined a better picture of the romance between Ako and Rus was all about!

Characters stood-out in a good way! In my opinion, the shows biggest working department is character development. As I mentioned earlier I believe that character development was much more important than actual story and plot in Netoge. This is because just about every episode focused more about certain characters issues... you know who I am talking about (cough Ako.. cough..) and how that said person is going to grow from it.
Lastly, the girls were super cute & adorable and Hideki was a pretty decent main character.

My overall feelings and enjoyment for the title were a little above average. I loved the fan-service, I liked the characters, and the story was engaging. There was a considerable amount of action that kept the story exciting. The character development kept the show refreshing and the special effects were great!

I felt that Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? deserves its 8/10 for introducing such a creative story as well as nice characters.

K-On!! Perhaps one of the best and underappreciated feel good anime titles of all time.

Now, K-ON to shorten things a bit, follows the lives of 4 later 5 ridiculous adorable high school girls as they attend their light music club or "Keion!" and get involved in silly shenanigans. Plot for each episode is sort of... I mean, occasionally their is a main plot for certain episodes however for the most part the shows plot and story is completely at random. Now personally I loved the story, I believe that it's a perfect all rounder show in the five key elements. It ... has a lots of things Emotional, fun, exciting, cute especially cute, it really has everything a slice of life anime needs. Unlike Kyoto animations Hibike Euphonium, Drama isn't brought up too much in K-On!! because the "plot" tends to focus more on the light music club's daily lives.

The artistic styling of K-ON is sloppy at times however, characters, objects, and background settings maintain vibrant, life, and detail. Character designs aren't the best in terms of limbs. Legs, fingers, and arms it appears as if the animators didn't care about other parts of the girls bodies as long as their face was in the shot. The design on the instruments are beautiful. I appreciated the great length in detail that the animators went into making the instruments.

The sound is pretty interesting. The background music for the show is "meh." It's not defining and just sounds bland. But! when After noon tea time gets on the mic I find myself tapping along to their music. Lastly the voice actors. Perhaps some of the best acting for a music series I've heard at the time I initially watched this. What I loved most though was how cute the girls sounded!

The characters are amazing. I personally believe that anyone who watched K-On has a favorite(s) It is, with very little doubt, impossible to hate or dislike any of the girls on the show, side characters included. K-Ons cast of characters are well beyond that of the standard moe. In fact, I would need to come up with an entirely new word to describe how adorable these girls are. Now, each character has their own unique personality which is one of the many things I liked about the characters in K-ON.

Their personalities often times interfere with each other. What makes this so unique is that from real world experience of course, we more times than not, meet people with different personalities and often times don't see eye to eye. However, it is only after we get to know that person and understand them we can work something out and help support one another. The characters support to their fellow club members brings joy to anyone able to tolerate it.

Overall enjoyment for the K-On series will always be strong. If I ever have time to pick it up again then I would be completely engaged in the music and characters as opposed to the story. I feel that K-On is one of the best and underappreciated feel good anime titles of all time. Overall I gave K-On!! a 9/10 for being such a well put together title.

I was highly disappointed with Owarimonogatari. In my opinion it was a major step down compared to the rest of the series/stories. I thought if I gave it more time that maybe there would be a better chance of me liking it and changing my rating, however to my disappointment it did just the opposite.

To begin, with the story, there were so many things that could have been done to make the show better and actually worth watching. The best example I will give would be having a huge cut of the dialogue, reflecting on the past, flashbacks, and obviously talking. I felt like ... it was just filler, in fact I will call it that. Next I didn't like the final story, "Shinobu mail." There were way too many episodes during the final arc of just talking and reflecting on the past (while uncommon in this series) it made it difficult for me to enjoy.In addition to that the lack of action and engagement between characters (that were not talk related) made things even worst.

I felt like I was being teased through the majority of the final arc. It was like the director was telling me "here is a little bit of awesome action now we are going to give you some more talking." Another thing that bothered me immensely about this arc was that the information and things talked about between Gaen, Kanbaru, Shinobu, and Koyomi. By now we should all know that Araragi is stupid. Just about everything Gaen was saying to him didn't matter nor did it better help him to understand completely what was going on during the shinobu arc. It literally took is underclassman (Kanbaru) to explain even the simplest things to him (even Shinobu's feelings.) I would have really liked to see more psychical action and drama to keep me, the viewer interested and engaged. Compared to the rest of the series this one is a major step down both story and plot related-wise.

I wanted to see more surprising revelations like in the other stories in the series. However, for Owarimonogatari to start off so interesting and mysterious, then end with little sense of accomplishment was just utterly disappointing especially since the last arc was Shinobu related.

The art style in Owarimonogatari didn't really change comparing it to the rest of the series. It still had that unique Shaft animation style that most of us have grown to love and cherish. I liked the little things that animators had added. For example there were a few western themes or styles for example, one part in I believe "Sodachi Riddle" had a western cartoon theme (Maybe powerpuff girl) where Ougi was on a sports car.

The soundtrack and voice acting was still pretty good. One thing that stood out most to me was the outro song of this series. Especially since after the first stories were done the character on the little train thing changed to Shinobu who is one of my favorite characters on the show. Overall I felt disappointed with Owarimonogatari. I felt that most of it wasn't really worth watching.

Final thoughts, if you have watched the entire series, and are just starting Owarimonogatari don't have your expectations up to high.

Perhaps the most disappointing entry in the Wixoss franchise.

Lostorage incited WIXOSS biggest turn off is that the story and plot takes itself way too seriously, and is overly dramatic. It’s so bad to the point where the show feels like a giant depressing mess. There aren't many enlightening moments featured within the story, which makes a majority of the show a chore to watch. In addition to this the dialogue and characters do not feel fleshed out enough. Characters that are featured feel so one dimensional.

They have the childhood friends who have become disconnected. There is the insane main antagonist who cannot be ... harmed until the end because of plot armor. Then lastly, we have the character, whom has morals, and a goal, yet falls flat during their big opportunity. The biggest problem I had with them was that they lack any interesting qualities to their personalities.
Of course the story goes back and tries to explain the past traumatic events to certain characters; which do in fact make the story and individual character a little more intriguing however, not to the point of complete satisfaction.

Sometimes during the show I would think to myself, “Damn these guys need some Prozac.” However, I don’t even think that medication would help these crybabies and drama queens. The so called “drama” in the story is so cliché and repetitive that I found myself losing interest in the entire series.
I would've liked to see the show branch out more and at least try and get out of the constant drama.

I felt like the story needed that one fan service beach episode to enlighten the mood. This simply was not the case. One of the worst reoccurring themes in the story is the card battles. The overbearing drama coupled with the characters fear and lack of attitude that isn’t anger or depression took away the pleasure of watching the card game.

This is how I interpreted the card battles,
Suzuko: “wah wah, I can’t lose this battle; I only have one coin left, boo hoo.”
Chinatsu: (Unnecessary angry grunts and screaming) “I hate you; you need to disappear, derpa herp.”
Kou: “Hee hee hee” (sucks crazy juice through a straw in the background) these dumb bitches are fighting for my amusement.”
Hanna: ________ Attackuu, Coin betto, please recharge batteries... well she isn’t a robot but you get the picture.
Rinse and repeat…

Finally, during the girls' overly dramatic climatic battle; I couldn’t feel bad nor make any connections to the characters because they've been depressing and angry throughout the entire story. Flashbacks, intense moments of screaming & crying... yeah, they've been doing that through the span of the story. So why the hell would it make a difference now? Because it's the last episode? Of course.

Overall the storytelling was terrible. It lacks refreshment and creativity. I felt like it focused too much on drama than the quality of anything else. I mean for Pete sake there was a damn suicide… lighten the story up just a little.

Moving onto the art. The art and animation that Wixoss provides is pretty impressive, although I felt like there could've been improvements to background settings, most specially details in objects. There could’ve been more of an effort made to make background details livelier. The special effects were good.

They’re noticeable and stand out in battle, which makes the action look great! Character designs were not that impressive. I’m mostly criticizing the outfit designs for the Lrig’s for lack of creativity.

The soundtrack was pretty good. Maiko Iuchi & Yasumasa Koyama did a great job with sound effects and creating music that fit the tone of many of the battles. The voice actors do a good job of making their characters sound like whiny annoying high school students, and one crazy adult... well, sadistic man-child.

Overall there are many changes I would’ve liked to have seen during the show. Number one would be more action without the dialogue. I felt like every time a character had an opportunity to speak they would just ruin the simplicity of a card game battle by making everything so serious. Lastly I would’ve loved to have seen at least one beach episode to enlighten the overall mood of the show.

Ultimately, I was so unimpressed with this entry in the Wixoss franchise that I gave it a well-deserved final score of 4/10.

Keijo is a genuinely fun, unique and most importantly "asstounding" title. Bad English puns everybody, LeaderTGW (the greatest warriors) always provides them!

Boobs & asses fighting it out on a small floating platform in water in a ridiculous game… well, sport that only the Japanese could possibly conceive. Keijo was definitely the transition anime needed this year. A break from those magical school battle harem titles, and the “original” (Sarcasm*) trapped in a fantasy world or video game titles. Keijo's story is simple, consistent, and most importantly it works. The plot is straight-forward and for the most part follows the original sources story. There are small ... breaks in the story however, these are necessary sub plots filled with training, backstories, and fan service. All necessary in order to keep the story refreshing and engaging.

What makes this story so unique? So appealing? That isn't related to boobs and asses. I'd say that it's the pacing as well as the characters determination to be great at the tournaments. As many before me have already mentioned, the anime skips a few chapters of the manga, and this choice in direction improves the pacing. In addition to this change, I’ve also noticed that some dialogue is cut too. Perhaps a change needed to focus more on action. The intensity and determination of the characters keeps the show interesting. The girls have a goal, and they're willing to subject themselves to weird "ass" training methods in order to improve their skill.

Moving on to the fan-service. Personally I didn't feel that the fan service was rewarding enough. I'm not saying that it's bad; it's just that there was a lack of nudity, and sex appeal. I felt that the direction the fan-service leaned on was comedic rather than erotic. They had to force sexy moments rather than having them happen naturally, and honestly that took some of the pleasure away from the show.

Lastly, what was it about Keijo’s story that made me happy? It was perhaps the most "fun" title that I've seen in a long time. Over the top explosions and blast from asses that aren't fart related, the action was intense. Overall the story wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. It provided enough entertainment and pleasure for an ecchi title.

The art in Keijo… Oh boy. Character designs are awful! The character outlines to be more specific. They remind me of a bad vectoring job or rendering done in either Illustrator or Inkscape. The outlines look pixelated and the strokes are disgusting to see with their movements. This took away quality from the action scenes (Special moves) on platforms. A majority of the time, the outlines looked way too big! Hair on a majority of the girls was for the most part poorly done. Hair in anime is always unique and often times define a characters personality and appeal. While the personality part sticks with the character designs in Keijo, the appeal is appalling.
I felt like they went overboard with hair designs. Nozomi's hair in particular reminds me of a cockroach with those hideous antennae. There are way too many character design flaws in keijo and that really hurt the 7/10 score I wanted to give it. As an artist who loves to do vectors and renders it was a complete eyesore looking at the designs.

Background settings and the environment were surprisingly nice to look at. Water and waves would obviously be the eye catcher. Other things featured in the show like plantations and farms looked pretty nice too.
Special effects were amazing. Over the top as I had mentioned earlier. What I enjoy most was that the effects were able to captivate me as well as the manga’s effects did. Special move were great despite the hideous character animation that often followed. Now the subtitles were bad in terms of localizing. I watched Keijo via CrunchyRoll and boy was that a mistake. I’d say about 85% of the changes that were made, were incredibly cringe-worthy and hurt the quality. In all honesty though, it’s better than nothing. Overall I felt that the animation was vibrant and intense.

In the sound department, I felt that the voice actors were able to do an excellent job making battles intense and exciting with all their yelling. To be honest, it seemed like with the way the new voice actors dropped their lines, it is as if they were told by the voice director to watch 90’s shounen anime to get an idea on how their character should yell out special moves! Needless to say, I am impressed. Sound effects were about a silver. For the most part I noticed that they were recycled like most are. Lastly, the opening and ending songs. I cannot say that I was impressed with them. They fit the theme of the show and unfortunately that’s about all I can add.

Enjoyment and overall feelings for the show were low were I first started it. I expected nothing special to come of this series. It was only when I finally decided to read the reactions of others that I finally sat down and gave the show a watch. To my amazement the show is pretty solid and well-polished. As I said earlier there are various changes that could’ve been done to make the visuals look better however, despite how unhappy I was with the designs, the action and comedy is what eventually allowed me to accept Keijo as an 8/10 anime. Overall I was very impressed with Keijo.

I like that every other manga or poster featured in the background settings have become anime now. Kuma Miko, Servamp, Re:ZERO, Taboo Tattoo.

The story and "plot" is pretty simple. Bunch of co-workers, friends working at a manga shop. It's nothing too special except for the fact that there are romantic tension between a majority of the characters.What bothered me is how the story introduced the romance between the girls and the guys. They kept it subtle at some-points during the story. Then there were scenes where anything could happen like kissing or... maybe sex but not really.

The second bothersome part of the story is that ... nobody was paired together towards the end. I couldn't fathom what the point of adding all of those intense scenes where characters could have potentially had created a romantic relationship; if there was no intention of acting upon on it. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

As for the comedy that the story has to offer. It's actually not that bad. There are a bunch of random moments where hilarity ensues and those moments are quite effective! Besides the romance, the comedic moments where something that I had fun looking forward to seeing each episode.Overall the story was good however, I felt like if the romanctic intentions were acted upon, then the story would have been much more satisfying to sit through. Too much teasing and not enough action were my main reason of giving the story a low 5.

The art and animation was certainly unique. I think the character designs were the best thing about the show. I felt like the character designer did a great job of making characters both stand out and... cute. Background settings were pretty nice too. As I mentioned earlier there are a lot of shout-outs to other popular light novels and manga featured in the background of the work shop.

The sound department could've been better however, I don't really think it had much of an impact on the show. When I went back to re-watch this, I noticed that the soundtrack doesn't really play a part in a majority of the scenes that play out in Denki-Gai. The voice actors were great. They did a pretty amazing job with the romance scenes. I felt that they put a lot of emotion into their characters and that made them feel "real.'

The characters themselves were great to a certain extent. I felt like each of them had a good personality to them. They were likable and there interactions with each other were always fun to watch. Especially when they would do competitions with their rivals. My only problem with the characters would have to be the lack of pairing. As mentioned earlier the romantic tension between most of the characters was play a big part in why I loved the series. However, not having the characters properly confess and pair up in the end ruined my experience.

Enjoyment for the series was above average. I was able to remain engaged in the story, there were plot developments that took me by surprise, and I was happy with the comedic moments. It's sad that the only thing that killed a lot of my hype and good impression for the series was the lack of pairing the couples together.

Overall Denki-gai no Honya-san is pretty good, despite the failed relationship pairing and romance. I gave it a 7/10 because it manages to remain interesting as well as hilarious at times. When there are romantic scenes I like feeling involved in them. I would highly recommend this series for casual watching.

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, yet another entry for the "dark and edgy" as well as unnecessarily sophisticated "mature" magical girl genre.

The Magical Girl Raising Project took a creative risk to introduce the completely original and unique concept (*major sarcasm) of the dark side of Mahou Shoujo‘s to audiences. Plot: Girl(s) with ``surprise surprise’’ problems in the real world distract themselves from their problems by playing a free to play (*with micro transactions) magical girl game on their android or IOS devices. But! Get this, in the game The Magical Girl Raising Project, one in tens of thousands of people to get to be a ... real "magical girl” even guys apparently... that’s a spoiler for another day. Besides the unwanted shock at the beginning of the series, the plot of the story was for the magical girls’ to race each other and collect more "magical candies" than their competitors. You know, a sweet and fun game that young girls would probably play… maxing out their parent’s credit cards on the micro transaction, but I digress.

All of this changed however, and the edginess kicked in. Instead of working together to defeat the common evil, the girls instead start killing each other because that is the easiest and most logical solution to solving problems.
The edginess and darkness that the story adds for shock value is simply repulsive. There was too much effort made to try and set this title apart from similar mahou shoujo titles with unique rules stipulations. Often time given out by some sort of creature or deity. I felt that the entire story was supposed to be going for “uniqueness” and there is no doubt that the staff reached their goal however, somewhere along the lines the staff got too involved in trying to recreate the same ``dark & edgy’’ formula seen in titles like Yuuki Yuuna is a hero, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka. So to a certain extent it just feels like watching a knock-off version of YuYu or Madoka.

This approach took away a lot of the good parts and redeeming qualities that the story had to offer. Rather than focusing on a story that branches out more on the game and characters, you’re greeted to a blood fest rumble where the main focus leans on shock value and a darker narrative. The story feels too constricted as well as repetitive with it's choices in storytelling. The most noticeable patterns are plot twist, shocking moments, and of course blood and gore. There are lighter times however; they are kept to a minimal. Only to be used when they need to add a quick plot twist. Because of the lack of freedom in the story, I found it difficult to remain engaged and satisfied with the events taking place in the story.

The animation for Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku is impressive nonetheless! Lerche is a pretty reputable studio putting out hit titles like Assassination classroom, Danganronpa, School-Live (*maybe not so much) and of course Monster Musume. All shows with amazing visuals and special effects. I found myself most intrigued by the battles in rising project, which should be no surprise. The destruction of scenery coupled with the determination and fear on most girls’ faces while fighting were well displayed. I felt like the visual tension between the characters made most fight scenes feel more dramatic too.The best fights where the animation felt clean and fluent had involved Calamity Mary and Cranberry. So I would highly recommend watching them in action. I mean you know a battle is done right when you want to go back and re-watch it.

The soundtrack fits the atmosphere of the battles. The well composed songs create a good amount of tension and exciting during events throughout the anime. While I felt the soundtrack was good, I did feel like it lacked the replay value and lasting effect that puella magi madoka magica soundtrack had. That aside, the voice actors were pretty good. I felt like each actor did an amazing job representing their perspective characters and giving them personality… except that dog girl whose name I cannot remember, and I’m too lazy to go close out of word and Google it. I’ll probably edit this out… or not.

The enjoyment of the series would have to be the fighting. I would’ve said drama however, Magical girl rising project is the kind of show where the drama tends to drag on. It goes on to the point where you’ll probably lose interest and skip forward a little.

Overall the show isn’t “bad” as in “the worst thing ever.” It’s just full of too many cliché’s and predictable moments depending on how experienced you are when it comes to watching anime. If there were any changes that needed to be made for the shows second season, if green lit. I would hope that they use an approach that isn’t so… one-sided. I want to see more than just violence and drama. I would like to see more into the characters daily lives and happier moments that last longer than 6 minutes (in screen-time.)

I gave Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku a 7/10 because I felt like despite all of the problems the show presents, it still manages to captivate audiences with its intense fights, drama, and unique cast of characters.

Bubuki Buranki: Hoshi no Kyojin, the show nobody really asked for, but we got it anyway.

Before I being I’d like to thank Richard Eisenbeis from Anime-Now for his wonderful interview (What BBK/BRNK is Really About) with the director, Komatsuda. I believe that reading his interview will also help those who plan to watch season two grasp a deeper and better understanding of Bubuki Buranki's narrative.

Perhaps the most noticeable change is that production value seemed to have increased.
While not particularity special, considering most studios try to improve quality of their work, this was actually a nice change of pace. With season one ... the characters walking animations, body reaction and facial reactions appeared very robotic. This time I noticed that they improved it to the point where there are more “human-like” characteristics. There were times where I could see “robotic” like movements because CGI and all, but so far it seems that the animators have a better understanding of how to give their characters realistic movements.

A majority of the cities and other populated areas felt complete, despite lacking life and background activities. At most you'd see a handful of people that aren't main and supporting characters walking around however, they have a limited amount of interaction. Once you see it, it's actually kind of funny. This lack of activity coupled with not so interesting dialogue from the characters ruin a majority of the beautiful scenes that the show has to offers. Honestly, it comes off as a waste of money.

Finally, as far as the art and animation goes, CGI is still a work in progress. There are too many scenes that look sloppy and incomplete. Of course these minor problems can be fix via Blu-Ray however, a first impression is always important... not to mention that the sales for CGI based anime aren't that great.

Moving on to the story, in season two character developments & growth appeared to be the main focus. Backstories and new developments in the plot were gradually revealed however, they didn’t seem prominent enough or featured as much throughout the story. One of the things I had been looking forward to in season 2 was an in-depth look and better explanation about who these characters are via backstories. I was just a little disappointed with the information given. (I’m trying to keep information minimal because spoilers.)

The story tends to lack engagement, action, and intensity. Not to mention that the dialogue between characters feels dull. No matter what's happening in the story, the action doesn't seem to capture my attention. A huge battle could occur, and the lack of intensity or poor choice in adding comedic moments ruin particular scenes. Comic relief wasn't even a strong-point for the title. Overall the story is painfully weak and unimpressive.

The Sound department wasn’t impressive either. The music composed for the series didn't leave much of an impact during the duration of the show. No particular songs stand out during battles or scenes of emotions. The sound effects for settings are lackluster. Often times it appeared as if the staff didn't even put sound effects or background noise in certain scenes. This poor choice in direction makes scenes feel bland and boring. The voice actors were pretty good. Never really had any complaints.

Characters feel the same as last season; albeit with minor changes to personality due to development. Of course these aren't permanent changes that effect a characters behavior & action because they go right back to acting the same way they used to.

My enjoyment for this season.. I was highly disappointed. I want to say that this series felt rushed. In fact, I'm going to assume that! With the lack of interactive environments, interesting narrative, and personality in the characters. This season just seemed to be a waste of time.

Overall you can skip Bubuki Buranki: Hoshi no Kyojin. The only major difference in the series is quality, everything else just falls flat. I gave this show a rating of 5 because it could've been much better in the story department. The characters could've been less one dimensional, and finally there is just too much wasted potential of the series. It was an interesting concept but a failure overall.