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Jan 19, 2025
A young man returns to the island where he was raised to attend the wake of his childhood friend and stepsister following a tragic accident where she drowned while rescuing another child. Shortly after returning to the island, he learns that his friend's untimely death may not have been an accident at all, but murder; and even more disturbing, the girl who was rescued has suddenly disappeared, alongside the rest of her family.
Summertime Render is thematically a supernatural mystery-suspense with elements of action and drama. The story follows Shinpei, a thoughtful young man who hid his accent when he was residing in Tokyo, and the
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cast of characters around him will steadily expand and compound with interest as the anime goes on. The supernatural concepts at work here have good execution, with some touches of plot convenience (or flexibility, if you please) built into them, but nothing is otherwise too unreasonable or far-fetched. The scope of the story was planned out rather well.
The animation quality is good to great; the action scenes are smartly composed and have great choreography. The writing is good; the cast of characters are collectively interesting and likable, some more so than others. There are lots of twists and turns. There could be said to be some weaknesses in the unreasonable (or otherwise asinine) logic of certain antagonists(s) towards the end of the story, but when have villains ever been reasonable? If they were reasonable, they wouldn't be villains. The pacing of the show is rather nice too, as the episodes will fly by with few dull moments to speak of.
I strongly endorse Summertime Render as being a worthwhile watch for anyone that likes mystery, action, and interesting characters doing some troubleshooting for their problems, all with a supernatural flavor to it. It doesn't disappoint as being entertaining.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 19, 2025
A 30-year-old salaryman and bachelor, Daikichi, attends the wake of his grandfather, only to find out (alongside the rest of his relatives) that grandpa had been keeping a little secret from the rest of the family: a 6-year-old daughter, Rin. The family, not readily acceptant of this as being an authentic bloodline connection, is apprehensive about who should raise her. Daikichi, on the other hand, does not understand his family's hesitation and instead takes the initiative to raise this little girl—his aunt by nature of association—on his own.
Usagi Drop is a bona fide slice-of-life story: it is a day-by-day journey of a man making changes
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to his life to shoulder the weight of the responsibilities associated with raising a child on his own. It is also about this girl, Rin, growing up under these circumstances, and with this man who bears a fair resemblance to grandpa. There is humor, there are mirthful moments, there are difficult conversations to be had, new relationships to be made, new ways to fill a schedule, and there is a redefining of goals and what matters most.
The quality of animation throughout the show is good, as is the quality of the writing. The characters resemble real people, with their own schedules, goals, problems, and lives. The anime excels at showing, in simple ways, how complicated being an adult can be and how demanding parenthood actually is.
I strongly recommend Usagi Drop to anyone seeking a good slice-of-life story. It is easy to watch and a satisfying, wholesome experience at-large.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jan 18, 2025
Civilization as we know it has ended, and in quite a spectacular and brutal fashion at that. (It is just as well - we probably are not destined for a peaceable ending as a species anyway.) We are flung many centuries into the future, where a new kind of civilization exists comprised of humans that can use telekinetic powers, and we follow the perspective of a young girl who comes of age and is finally able to use these powers, having undergone her rite of passage through the village elders. From there, we follow her throughout her youth, exploring what it means to grow up
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in a society where all humans have a Force-like superpower.
Shinsekai yori, or From the New World, is an epic character journey that explores several different themes - most prominently, the morality of a society of superhumans. There is a great share of drama, mystery, intrigue, and suspense too. You follow the story of Watanabe, Saki, who is in for a hard time throughout the show and is centralized to all of the dramatic developments that occur. The tonality of the show is flexible, with there being moments that would not be out of place in a slice-of-life series, but the power of the show lies in its ability to create tension and suspense - this is a rare case of when an anime does a great job creating and maintaining a harrowing atmosphere. Smart scene compositions and good sound direction allowed this anime to deliver some thrilling moments that other anime, designed by genre specifically to do just that, could not.
The animation quality of the show is consistently good; sometimes we end up on the far-end of the "it's really good" spectrum, and other times you can tell that this was paid for with a bit less impressive animation elsewhere. Fortunately, the anime is usually considerate of where it chooses to overindulge and where it wanted to cut the budget, so the overall impression is a positive one. There are some elements of CGI and those are all done really well; when you consider that this show came out in 2012-'13, having decent 3D-rendering is almost a miracle in and of itself, and this show did it better than most do a decade later.
The story is large, grand in proportion, and tries to do a lot; the writing is mostly good. Perhaps the most unattractive qualities of the anime are that it periodically spends its time on miscellaneous storylines and details that do not lead to anywhere in particular and are of no great interest to serving the greater themes the story explores: fear, control, freedom, consequence. It is both a strength and weakness of Shinsekai yori - we never really leave the perspective of the lead character, and therefore never get to explore the setting through the supporting cast, which has a great number of interesting and compelling characters, most of which you will never learn much more about than what you experience of them through Saki herself. On the subject of Saki, she is not the most compelling lead character ever conceived, but she also is not poorly written when the whole of the anime medium is taken into consideration - if anything, she is a cut above average with her various fears, insecurities, regrets, hopes, and dreams. In short, she's very human.
The anime abides by the tried-and-true Chekhov principle: if you show a gun in the first act, you fire it in the second. Shinsekai yori gives you a lot of information early-on, much of which may not seem particularly interesting or relevant at first exposure, but ends up laying the groundwork for what unfolds later on during the story. This does not make the story any more or less predictable in how things come to pass, only that these things will come to pass. It is an instance of the writing making promises to the viewer that it intends to keep. This anime also does a fairly consistent job at depicting the power, Cantus, used throughout the show; the general power system built around this ability is sensible, and the rules defined by the story concerning Cantus are never bent or broken concerning its usage - it is really smartly done.
I strongly recommend this anime to anyone seeking an epic character journey with elements of drama, suspense, and mystery. The story is unique for the medium, interesting, and possesses good writing and animation. There are some weaknesses throughout, but the quality of the work remains high overall.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 27, 2024
A group of girls come together over a common interest and form a new, anonymous musical group that quickly gains traction online.
Thematically, the anime is drama/idol, and spends a significant amount of time trying to have its main cast answer these questions: what do you want to do with your life? How are you going to get there? Where are you going now, and why? There is character development throughout the show; the cast of girls are likable, each flawed and possessing some deeply rooted insecurity that they help one another to overcome. This theme double-dips throughout the show, as all of the characters are
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trying to reconcile with some element of their past which often hinders their progress towards the future, or at least makes the journey itself more turbulent.
The writing is decent, but has a tendency to lean towards melodrama and is a bit contrived towards the end of the season, which is a point that works against some of the narrative of the story for various reasons: these characters have now been working with one another for a while, their relationships have all advanced, and yet they still cannot reasonably work out doubts and problems through simple and honest conversation, instead remaining overly vulnerable from beginning to end. The writing is also predictable, in that the show makes it very clear every character will get her turn to overcome her own troubles and become stronger for having done so.
The animation and art direction throughout the show are great. Great compositions, great tonality and atmosphere created by nice environmental design, creative execution, and excellent colorization. Being an idol show, there is naturally singing, and it is well done; the songs sound like any other pop song you may hear on the radio.
Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night is a dramatic experience about young people coming into their own, making meaningful connections with one another, and trying to figure out what it is they desire from life. I recommend the anime to anyone looking for a good drama with a decent payoff.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 24, 2024
A high school student wins a random raffle and ends up atop a tall commercial building in the heart of Ikebukuro to press the button that will launch the new 7G network. Confused, she presses the button, and in doing so reality itself becomes altered, twisted, and made strange. Fast-forward 2 years later, after the initial shock of the launch of the reality-warping 7G network has worn off: a group of high school girls who live in the quaint and far-removed town of Agano have made up their minds to leave town to find their friend who went to Ikebukuro, which now seems to be
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a world away in distance. The girls set off on their adventure, unsure of how long the journey will take and what strange sights they may see along the way.
Train to the End of the World is an adventure anime in the purest sense of the word. It is an anime that takes every creative proposal that came to mind in the writer's room and answers it with a confident "Sure, why not?" before telling the design team to have fun. Every episode is a mixture of strange ideas in environment, character design, and miniature narrative. The overarching plotline is simple: a group of girls, each distinctly her own character, work together to reach their destination and overcome all of the obstacles in their way.
The writing for the anime is mostly good. Dialogues are smart, snappy, and the characters engage one another in conversation fluidly. There is some blandness to the core characters themselves in terms of the scope of their goals, and perhaps the rationale behind them, but the cast is peppy and engaging more often than not. The minor characters that are introduced throughout the series are varied and interesting. The animation is surprisingly smooth throughout the season, with there being special attentions paid to the liveliness and expressiveness of the cast of characters and their gestures.
This is a creative anime; while the characters, the plot, and the narrative lean towards the more shallow and frivolous side of storytelling, the show is entertaining and distinguishes itself as being a convincingly unique setting with solid execution. I recommend this to anyone who is looking for adventure, or for something quite unlike anything else you have seen before.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 24, 2024
A middle school boy spends his afternoons and allowance of yen on the 90s arcade game scene, where enthusiastic kids and work-weary adults go to play the hottest new fighting games and classic retro ones. Having no ambitions to be successful in school, inattentive as ever to classwork, what the boy lacks for in passion concerning his education he makes up for doubly in his knowledge about and passion for games and gaming and does not lack skill at it either. One afternoon, however, he encounters an unlikely opponent at the arcade and forms a mysteriously quiet gaming rivalry for the ages.
High Score Girl is
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a love letter to retro gaming, each episode containing a plethora of references to and gameplay from some of the most iconic titles and series of the 90s. You need not be a game aficionado to appreciate the thoughtfulness of these references or the evident passion with which they are made, as the show makes it easy to follow along by providing immediate examples of what it is talking about where any mentioned game title is concerned. Thematically, the anime poises itself as a comedy, but works better if treated as something of a slice-of-life/drama. There is rivalry present, there are supporting characters throughout that provide a surprisingly positive synergy with the main characters, and there is a quiet sort of love triangle that evolves in importance throughout the season.
The writing is fair; rather, it is primarily about gaming. When games are not the focal point of a conversation or internal monologue, the writing resembles the average high school rom-com, but with notably less flustered nose-bleeding and blushing word salad (although, some of the conversations are rather one-sided), with characters having formed reasonably fleshed out connections over common interests. The main characters experience growth and development in ways meaningful for them, and the core characters of the show steadily define what their goals are and proceed to work towards achieving them. The animation for the series may require something of an adjustment period, as the viewer is immediately greeted by CGI-styled characters and will often encounter retro game graphics throughout the series; however, the style is not so unattractive and could even be considered complementary to the content of the show. The season wraps up with what can only be described as a major cliffhanger.
This is a niche-interest sort of series. If you are a fan of retro games and gaming, especially of the 90s fighter types, or if you do not recoil at the idea of a show that has strong gaming themes with elements of drama, rivalry, and lite romance, then I recommend this anime to you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 23, 2024
A young man climbs a witch's tower for the opportunity to be granted any wish that he desires if he should succeed. He does and meets this witch to ask her to break a curse upon him, and she informs him that she cannot immediately fulfill this wish and that it would take time. The two compromise and come to a solution: the witch will accompany the man for the next year, placing him under her protection until the curse is broken; the man himself will spend that time attempting to court her into marriage.
Unnamed Memory is an adventure-romance-fantasy, thematically speaking. It makes several major
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narrative promises, such as the aforementioned aspects of wish-fulfillment (to break a curse) and the prospect of marriage, as well as the prospect of meeting the other wicked witch who was responsible for the curse in the first place, and juggles some background elements of mystery and intrigue, showing characters outside of the main cast who skulk about in the wake of their events discussing their plots and schemes, or doing something evil to inform the viewer that the roses in the garden also have some thorns accompanying them.
The first episodes are mostly promising, showing fluidity in the action scenes, a high attention to detail in character designs, and playful dialogues. The writing is simply fine, if not good. But then something terrible happens, and it is somewhat subtle at first, but the anime begins to show quiet signs of erratic pacing - of important details being glossed over and of character development being rushed through, if not outright skipped. By episode 6 the narrative has spiraled out of control and in full decline as character relationships change without any reasoning or rationale provided to the viewer, and by episode 7 it becomes clear that neither the source material for this series nor the audience are going to be treated with any semblance of respect.
What began as a very promising anime this season has rapidly devolved into something reminiscent of an expedited shipment, handled without care, and arriving broken and lame to its destination post-transit. I do not recommend this series to anyone - it is abundantly clear even as a preliminary viewing that the series is unable to adequately fulfill any of its themes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Apr 30, 2024
A veteran Bronze-ranked adventurer with a dream of becoming a Mythril-ranked adventurer discovers a new section in a well-known dungeon and decides to explore it alone. There he finds a creature that defies logic and reason, and is ultimately killed by it... or so it would seem, but as this adventurer's luck would have it, he survives the encounter and becomes an undead skeleton with his mind intact.
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer is an action/fantasy that bears a close thematic resemblance to isekai, as the protagonist must engage in a bit of identity fraud in order to return to civilization and not be ousted by those
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who knew him for becoming undead. The leading characters are likable and have good chemistry, which should come as no surprise as one of them is something of an alchemist. The main character himself is introduced as being lively and kind, but becomes stoic, mysterious, and kind as the show progresses. The show maintains a relatively peaceful tone as everything continues to work itself out in favor of the protagonist being able to go about his day-to-day as he usually does.
The animation is decent, though perhaps the series is a case of being front-loaded, as most of the really interesting scenes occur early-on. The action is fine, serviceable - certainly not over-the-top or overly involved, but shows what it needs to well enough. The writing is similarly fine; the story focuses on the main character and his own progression, leaving a lot of interactions and supporting characters in the dust as he continues to try and reach his goal of becoming a Mythril adventurer. This means a lot of the characters he encounters are effectively one-offs in terms of screentime; however, the recurring supporting cast is well-written and does help to establish the main character's place in the setting, particularly how well-thought of he was prior to "dying". The pacing of the series is good, which makes it easy to watch.
The anime does not deliver on its promise of the adventurer being 'unwanted'. In fact, it is just the opposite: everywhere the protagonist goes people end up taking a liking to him, despite his imposing appearance, as he continues to work in earnest to solve the problems of commonfolk, guild quests, and decadently wealthy (if not slightly questionable) sponsors. He is most certainly wanted, despite being undead.
Overall, it is a solid action/fantasy that is leaning towards a mature audience. It does what it is supposed to do well enough. I can recommend the anime to anyone seeking action, adventure, and fantasy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 19, 2024
The daughter of an old apothecary serves a brothel in a pleasure district, acting as their own apothecary. She is soon kidnapped and sold off to the imperial palace, contracted there as an expendable servant. Through her wits, street smarts, and the connections she makes along the way she begins to navigate the complexities and dangers of court life.
The story follows a young apothecary that has a knack for finding herself at the heart of important affairs. The series is full of drama, making good usage of its feudalistic hierarchy, and is lined with a fair bit of mystery. There are several subplots that quietly
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develop in the background, spanning across multiple character perspectives, that only compound with interest as the season goes on. The setting itself is imperialistic feudalism - there is a strict social hierarchy, and it will be your head if you try to go against it.
The animation is good throughout the show. The horse-drawn carriages are the only notable instances of CGI usage in the show, and even then they are well-done and only end up standing out because they do clash a touch with the splendid background art and animation done throughout the anime. The composition throughout the series is great and does an outstanding job at creating atmospheres humble, opulent, and occasionally eerie.
The characters are dynamic, interesting, and likable. The writing is decent, though it is the weakest component of the anime, and even then it is well above average for the number of narrative elements the series manages to juggle. Some of the resolutions that occur throughout the series lack finality - these are narrative points of interest that simply vanish once addressed. There are some particularly vacant follow-ups concerning what is perhaps the dramatical climax of the series, and there is no indication thereafter if they will be expanded upon in the future. The story very heavily centralizes its main character to many critical moments that occur throughout the series in the form of the confidant - the character in which the rest of the supporting cast confides, which enables her to more effectively speculate and make deductions that are seemingly out of reach for the rest of the cast, despite their own higher social statuses giving them a significant advantage for the role of information gatherer.
All that aside, this is an excellent anime and does what it can to keep track of its own timeline. I strongly recommend this series to anyone seeking a more serious drama with aspects of mystery, as there is certainly enough of both to keep you occupied alongside the web-like network of characters, and it also works effectively as something of a slice-of-life too.
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Addendum: a second season has already been forecasted and so it is entirely plausible that the threads of some of the more unsatisfactorily wrapped-up items are picked up in the continuation of the series and may be given full closure then and there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 10, 2024
A young girl born to a dragon mother and a former dragon-slaying father becomes infatuated with pop-singing dragon-slayer Dick Saucer. Unplanned interventions occur when the dragon-half girl and her friends set out to attend his concert.
Dragon Half is a short 2-part dumb-fun comedy with lascivious undertones. The humor is mostly slapstick, the circumstances in which the characters find themselves are often absurd, and the story is ridiculous. The animation fluctuates by the scene, caricaturizing its own characters and oversimplifying their designs, and then shifting back to fully illustrated; the animation itself is good. The writing is parodical of the fantasy/adventure genre, picking on classic tropes
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and characterizations.
Somehow, this very brief OVA has bundled adventure, villainy, rivalry, fan service, a tournament arc, a love interest (and the subversion of mutual attraction), and a myriad of classic fantasy elements into 40some minutes of runtime. It is a whacky and somewhat amusing ride, though a lot of the gags would appear to be simple compared to what else has been released in the past 30 years.
If you are seeking a quick fantasy comedy with low viewer investment required, I recommend Dragon Half. It is short, simple, and stupid fun. It does nothing outstanding, but nothing wrong either.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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