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Golden time, Review by Mk-the-potato

-Wasted potential-


Story
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Golden time is an anime about the everyday life of a univeristy student called Tada Banri. At the beginning you think its going to be another cheesy romantic story between a mediocre looking guy and an obnoxious rich girl called Kouko who just got rejected. But it's anything but that. No wait. Let me rephrase. Its not ONLY that. He becomes friends with a good looking guy, a cute girl, a stereotypical otaku, as well as an older student named Linda...or Barbara...Anything is good. As the story goes on, you get more and more revelations about Banri's past which is ... connected to Linda. And so, we get to the point where we learn about an accident he had when he was younger and the amnesia that followed. The character is slowly regaining parts of his memory and so, he is slowly remembering the love he once had for Linda which causes problems to his already problematic relationship with his now girlfriend Kouko. There are a lot of heartbreaking moments as well as a lot of plain stupid and cringy moments, a lot of drama, and also a ghost....Yeah, a ghost of his spoiled and whiny past self. The whole situation Banri is put through while regaining parts of his memory is truly tragic and makes a very emotional concept. Banri, now more confused than ever, has to find out who we was, who he is, and who he has to become. This leads to very poweful scenes, full of emotion. He has to choose between his old love and his new love. He is put through a very interesting dilemma. The story has great depth and almost every part had great development. ALMOST. Unfortunately, the part that needed the most development was the one that actually got the least. Banri's relationship with Kouko. To me, there was no chemistry, no love, there was no development what so ever. They just put them together. That's exactly it. Kouko had just been rejected and since Banri was into her, she DECIDED that from now on she was going to date him, in order to avoid being left alone. And Banri, as the great man he is, accepted it. This is NOT how relationships work. If that was the case and they actually fell in love on the way, then I wouldn't mind. But all I saw was Kouko desperately trying not to stay alone. The story had -to me- great potential. Banri's and Linda's relationship had more depth and it was generally a much better choice. It could have ended up being a very deep and meaningful love story but it ended up being shallow somehow. It was truly dissapointing and the reason why it went from an excellent concept to a wasted one.


Art
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To be honest, the artstyle in the anime was quite mediocre. In some parts the animation was simply poor and dreadful. The characters were not so well animated either but I've seen worse. I just wish there was better animation to fit the really good content.


Sound
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Great voiceacting and fitting soundtrack. The soundtrack was satisfying since it formed the atmosphere in each emotional scene greatly.


Character
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Once again, I am going to say, that there was fair to good character development. The characters were mostly interesting. I honestly enjoyed the fact that their choices were not "perfect". They made mistakes and their choices were sometimes stupid, immature and careless, which shows how "close" it is to some extent to real life. I was very annoyed with the character of Kouko, and I do think she got the least development of all. To me. she just seemed to be very fake throughout the story. I also feel that Banri should have gotten more development, especially in the end when he makes his final choice. That moment needed in general more development since it felt sudden.


Enjoyment
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Honestly, I really enjoyed the anime "Golden time". It was a new experience for me. I loved every dramatic and emotional moment. I loved every beautiful memory, every romantic scene. I enjoyed "fighting" for my ship and even crying in so many different parts of the show. The time I spent was surely worth it.


Overall
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The anime "Golden time" is a show with a great main concept that can show how deep an anime can get...Maybe its not the best example out there, but its surely a good one. Unfortunately, to me, Golden time will be remembered mostly as a wasted opportunity. Wasted potential in making a really really good show.




Story - 7/10
Art - 5/10
Sound - 7/10
Character - 6/10
Enjoyment - 8/10
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Overall - 7/10

I was searching for a manga to read, and then, after reading many "top 10 shoujo-ai manga" lists, I decided to start the manga "Octave".

A "raw" image of life.


Story
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The story focuses on Yukino, a former idol in the Japanese music industry. After the end of her musical career in a girl's band, who's success was short, she is 18, without the necessary education, as she dropped out of high-school to fulfill her dreams, trying to survive in Tokyo. She still has a job in the industry as an assistant, but her life is not that easy. Yukino has always been "against" -in a ... way- men. She has always considered them manipulating beings whose's minds are only in sexual relationships. One day, while being at a laundry shop, she meets a girl -the owner's sister- and her life changes drastically. Suddenly, after having an intimate night with that girl, whose name is Setsuko, every part of her life takes a big turn. The manga talks deeply about so many things. It talks about success, about the industry and gives the audience a very realistic view of life. It shows that dreams don't always come true and that success is not guaranteed even if you really want it and try hard. It also talks deeply about sexuality, confusion, struggling in finding your true identity. The main character goes through so many different things and truly gives you a raw image of life. As a teenager, while one would believe life is easy and that this manga is exaggerating, I truly disagree. The problems the characters face are a part of life and reading this manga could easily make you be more realistic and down-to-earth without meaning that it makes you less optimistic and hopeful. I found the story very good. The development was more than enough. It covered many issues and as I have never really read anything like this before, I was truly amazed and impressed. It is a slice of life manga and shows the everyday difficulties one has to deal with. I remember there were few times when I skipped some pages just because I was tired of reading about her past in such detail, but in general, the story was quite interesting and anything but boring. There are a few sexual scenes but nothing too sexual. This is not a hentai in any way. As for the ending, I was very pleased with it. I wanted that to happen for a while and I am happy the author did it and presented it in such way.



Art
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I did not really like the artstyle. Its very simple and although simple doesn't always mean bad, this was not good. The characters didn't have the art I would have liked to see.


Character
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As I previously said, there is a lot of development. The main two characters get the most of course. The side-characters barely get any development to be honest. But that is not bad, as it wasn't really important or needed for the story. Yukino's character does evolve, but throughout the story I just couldn't get myself to like her. She was a bad character to me. She always made the same mistakes, she was not as loving as she should be, she was ashamed of who she was, although I personally believe you should be exactly who you are and if others don't like you, then just move on, and to put it in simple terms - she was a really antipathetic character. I would have never been able to be friends with a person like her. I constantly found myself face palming to her actions. Setsuko from the other side, was a great character. We see her character change as she becomes more and more loving and sensitive to the point where you truly admire her love for Yukino. She is a great musician, with perseverance. She is a very strong character, with flaws but always very nice and fun to be around. I really don't get how the two of them end up falling in love, but I guess this is also a true part of life, and shows that love is truly blind.



Enjoyment
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I really enjoyed this manga series. It was a different experience and made me reconsider many things in my life. It made me see more clearly that success isn't easy to reach and that sometimes the career you choose is not really what you are meant to do. So, while reading the manga, I was thinking and in-a-way taking a lesson in life.


Overall
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Octave is a great manga. I am not just limiting it to just a great shoujo-ai manga, because what it offers is truly much more. Its not just a nice and realistic romantic story. It is, as I already said couple of times, a raw image of life. I highly recommend anyone to give it a try.




Story - 7/10
Art - 5/10
Character - 7/10
Enjoyment - 7/10
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Overall - 7/10

Few days ago, i started watching the anime "Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru". I reached episode 7 out of the 12 it has. I was so bored, I was forcing myself to watch more. At one point, I just couldn't do it. I found out it had a sequel. An ova series, based on the original, but with a different story. I searched it on youtube and after watching a cute shoujo-ai clip, I decided to watch it...BIG MISTAKE. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating, but hear me out.


Story
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I have no idea why I was convinced this was shoujo-ai. Because its not. It follows the ... main idea of the original series, which is basically a guy, cross-dressing like a girl and attending an all-girls school. Why did I think this was going to be different? I don't know. Just because I am a girl x girl love enthusiastic, I wanted to believe that it would be, well...girl x girl. But let's focus on the story and not my confused little mind. It has a simple story, as I said. At times it got more deep and at others it was just evolving around basic school things. Was the story bad?...Emm...I wouldn't say it was good. It was alright. Although at the beginning I found it quite nice and interesting, later on I found most of the story boring. The only interesting part was for me, the reason why he was crossdressing. That was the part when it actually got my attention. But it was mainly focusing on simple school everyday life. It had romance, which was not really my cup of tea, because I wanted to watch shoujo-ai. And that is not exactly what you describe as shoujo-ai. So, I guess my overall opinion was negatively affected just by that fact. And I tried to let that aside while watching the ovas, but I just couldn't. It was a major turn off for me. Lastly, I found the ending, disappointing and pointless. I felt like it was missing something.


Art
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I really liked the art style. Bright colors, nice animation. It was good.


Sound
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The opening and ending didn't do such a big impression on me. They were ok, but nothing memorable. As for the soundtrack, it was nice. The voice actors did a great job. I really liked Chihaya's feminine voice. I felt like it fitted her as a character, set aside the fact that he was actually a boy...How do you even do such a feminine voice when your a boy?...


Character
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I don't know what to say about the characters. For a 3 episode ova series, I feel like the development they got was fair. There was of course more development to the main character, Chihaya, which was satisfying. Kaoruko, a very important character as well, also got nice development. From all the characters, I liked her the most.


Enjoyment
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So, being completely honest, I'll say that I did not enjoy this anime. The main reason behind this is that I didn't get what I expected. While I was expecting shoujo-ai, I got boy x girl, set aside the fact he was in a girl's form. And maybe if it was truly a shoujo-ai anime, I would have enjoyed it much more, but sadly, right now this is my honest opinion about it.


Overall
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"Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru: Futari no Elder" is not a great anime. It is rather a mediocre anime. I did not enjoy it but that does not mean you will not either. Maybe it will be a turn off for girl x girl fans, just like it was for me, and maybe it won't. Its all up to your taste. I would not really recommend this anime, but then again, if you are interested in its unique nature, maybe you should check it out. After all, since it is only 3 episodes long, you will only spend an hour with this ova series. Now, if this hour will be worth it...I wonder...


Story - 5/10
Art - 7/10
Sound - 6/10
Character - 6/10
Enjoymen - 3/10
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Overall - 5/10

Alright, I just finished watching Kuttsukiboshi and decided to write a review and express my thoughts on it. Let's go!


Story
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A girl named Kiiko gains some sort of powers after an accident we know nothing about. A new classmate of hers figures out her secret, and the two start having a relationship where they make experiments and test the girl's abilities and powers. But for Kiiko, her classmate, Aaya, is much more. She seems to be deeply in love with her. Well, their relationship progresses and they end up having a much more intimate relationship. The story revolves around this relationship of their's. There are very ... ecchi moments, and one unnecessary and disturbing to me incident of incest. That's pretty much it. Don't expect crazy development or a very deep and meaningful story. It is exactly the way I described it. There are cute moments, and funny ones too. To be honest, maybe it was just me who found some parts hilarious...AM SORRY, THEY FRICKIN DID IT IN THE BUS, WHEN PEOPLE WERE THERE, ALRIGHT?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THAT SERIOUSLY?!...Anyway, I feel like the story is decent and alright for a 2 ova series (Lmao, I said that the story was decent right after I said that they did it in the bus)...So yeah, I don't know if I am judging it too harshly, maybe. Let's just say that the story is from decent to fair, considering that it was a small series and the main part it wanted to emphasize on was their intimate -you know what I mean- relationship.


Art
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The artstyle of this anime was very interesting. Quite unique I would say. I have seen it only in few anime and I am always fascinated by it. Great animation, and overall very nice art!


Sound
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So, I don't really remember giving attention to the soundtrack while watching the anime...I don't even remember if it actually had music on most of it...Some songs were pretty memorable to me though. I thought that the ending tracks on both ovas were great, with much dynamism! Giving the soundtrack a second listen, I have to say, its really nice! The voice actors did a great job too! Overall, I believe the sound was very good.


Character
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Alright, I don't know what I am supposed to say here. This anime had 2 episodes, 20 minutes long each. I don't know how much development a character can have when given 40 minutes (xD, I am talking like the character has the choice). The thing is, as I said in the beginning, there isn't much development. The characters have a certain personality that doesn't really evolve or progress as the story goes on. The only thing that happens is that they acknowledge and express, let's say, their love to one another. This is the only thing that changes in matter of character. I feel like the characters overall were alright.


Enjoyment
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I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It wasn't something that I will forever remember and adore, but for 40 minutes it wasn't bad.


Overall
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It is definitely not the best or even one of the best anime I've ever watched. BUT, it is not bad. Is it worth watching?...emmm...I mean why not. In the end you are not going to get a remarkable story or a new and unique experience, but if you are bored and have 40 minutes of your time, Kuttsukiboshi is a great choice! If you are into girl x girl romance i guess you won't be disappointed, and perverts could also easily enjoy this...Yes I just said that because its true. This wouldn't be the best choice for people who don't enjoy girl x girl love, because, as I said, it is full of it.



Story: 5/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 5/10
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Overall: 6/10

I am a proud shoujo-ai lover...And as I was searching for anime of this genre to watch, I found "Maria-sama ga miteru"
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I don't really know how to start or what to say (its kinda late so that's not really helping...xD).
I am going to be straightforward with my thoughts.


Maria-sama ga miteru, has a simple main story, that goes in much depth. That is one of the things I admire about this anime. Although it could have been like the many slice-of-life, school comedies, it covered many issues. It doesn't only talk deeply about love...It talks about religion, friendship, depression, trust, growing up and soooo many other ... things. It gets very emotional...To me, what this anime has done with the story is unbelievable. I am truly amazed by the depth. It gets in general the needed and even more development which I appreciate a lot. So, the fact that it covers many themes etc made me admire it.

-Story- 10/10

As for the art...
That was the main "turn off" before watching it. I was for so long avoiding watching this anime, because I found the artstyle really bad. And I am not proud of that, as one of my favorite anime ever has a very old artstyle as well...Months after finding this anime and "rejecting" it (xD), I watched a cute video with the relationship between two character and well...THAT'S SHOUJO-AI FOR YOU - I decided to watch it! After having watched half of the first season, I actually started liking the artstyle. THE IRONY ;-;. -Well, before you think I am telling you the story of my life, emmm...what did I want to say?....dammit...I should really go to sleep... OH WELL, the thing is, I feel like even if the artstyle doesn't seem appealing to you at the beginning, you will probably appreciate it a lot more as you move on with the series. And right now, I actually am a fan of this artstyle and I do love it! (Although maybe that's just my general love for the series...). I did find some differences in the artstyle as the series moved on, but they were minor and in general they didn't bother me.

-Art- 7/10


The music was really smooth and definitely fitting the plot. It was calm but suspensfull and more "out-going" when needed. In general, Maria-sama ga miteru had a very nice soundtrack.

-Soundtrack- 8/10


THE CHARACTERS
emmmmm...I LOVED THEM. ALL OF THEM. -except from that stupid Touko, she can be hit by a car for all I care- BUT...I loved mostly all of them. To be honest, since I just finished the second season and I still have two more to go, maybe I will have a different opinion about some of those characters, but since right now I am mainly talking about the first (and second) season, the characters are amazing. They are all unique, some more fun, others more loving and caring etc etc. If you watch the series you will probably love Sei the most. That is my case. Sei is one of the most strong I would say and developed characters. At the beginning we see her being simply being funloving, out-going and troublesome in a cool way, but later on...OH MAN...THE DEVELOPMENT IS MORE THAN ENOUGH. THERE IS SO MUCH DEPTH ITS HARD TO EVEN...she is gay btw xD. This anime is a shoujo-ai, as I previously said, but to be completely honest, the shoujo-ai in the relationships is mild. Some of the girls are said to have a boyfriend and between others you will be confused because you won't really know if this between them is friendship or love. The characters are definitely very close to each other but in general this is the only thing I would have prefered to maybe be more clear. Sei is definitely gay though xD. Wait - is that considered
a spoiler?...Nuhhhh, I would say its more like a statement xD. Well, each character gets its own development which is very nice because we see the inside of almost every and each character, and similarly, we get very good development between the different relationship that are formed throughout the story. By the way, there are a lot of ships, so be ready ;)!

-Characters- 10/10


In conclusion, I enjoyed this series very much, and came very close to the characters. It was definitely worth it. It is if not the best - one of the best shoujo-ai out there, and I would recommend it not only to shoujo-ai fans. I recommend anyone to watch it. Cause its not simply girl x girl romance. As I said, it covered many different areas. It is deep (I have already said that like 1000 times...) and a great and precious anime to spend your time on.

-Enjoyment- 9/10


Story - 10/10
Art - 7/10
Sound - 8/10
Character - 10/10
Enjoyment - 9/10
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Overall - 9/10


It is a GREAT anime...WATCH IT.

"Yuri Kuma Arashi"
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The story focuses on a gril named Kureha and her forbidden love, a...bear?
INDEED. This is a story about the relationship between a human and a bear.
You might think: "What de hell? Am outa here"...BUT. Surprisingly, this is a quite good show.


Main summary

The story beggins with a gril named Kureha who shares a relationship with her best friend, Sumika. They love each other and they say that they will forever protect their love. BUT- This isn't an ordinary love story, in an ordinary world... Because of some stuff that happened to universe that I - and probably everybody else- can't really explain, bears ... have the will to attack and eat humans. So the world is seperated into two parts. The human world - And the bear world. The humans created a wall so that they could protect themselves from the bears and well they had been in general protected. Two bears with the names Ginco and Lulu crossed the wall and entered the human zone with the form of humans, after they made a deal with the Judgements holding the Yuri trials. -Confused already? cause this is just the beggining...- Well the two bears seemed to be there for a reason. They seemed to be wanting to eat Kureha. Well, a lot of things happened, a lot of people died and a lot of plot twists and history revelations took place. BUT-guess what. THIS IS ALL SUPPOSED TO BE SYMBOLIC. There is the theory -which is probably true- that supports that the bears and the discrimination towards them symbolizes the LGBT community and the discrimination towards the people that belong to it. To be honest, this is quite easy to understand, since exept from the yuri relationships inside the story (girl x girl) most of the girls' names have the word "Yuri" inside of them and you can see the Yuri flower (Lily) in so many places inside the story, and for fuks shake, even the name of the anime has the word "Yuri" in it.


Personal opinion

I personally found the story to be very interesting. I love watching new things...Different things. And this- was a completely unique thing. The story was like a fairytail. It was shown and narrated in such a unique way. Since it was so confusing and odd, it hooked me and made me want to watch more. The characters were quite interesting. The main ones are Ginco and Kureha but Lulu also plays a very important role. I enjoyed the fact that the story provided us clear images of the characters' history. I was mostly interested in Lulu's character. I was moved by her story and by her ,later on in the show, actions. Kureha's and Ginco's perseverance in love was admirable. Some quotes and main phrases from the anime were also pretty memorable..."Is your love the real thing?"..."Shaba-da-doo"...The artstyle is something different. It is again not as usual, but I feel like it portrays and shows the deeper meaning excellently. I don't really know why, but I feel like although the artstyle is quite cute and not maybe as deep as others, it is perfect for the story. Sure, this story could have had a pretty dramatic and kind of more realistic artstyle like "attack on titan" but this one...makes the difference. I don't really know how to explain that though...Now, about the soundtrack, it is a masterpiece. I found the music so appealing and so meaningful. It fitted every moment, and gave each scene the atmosphere it needed. The opening was great too, although I do strongly believe that the video coming with it is very misleading. The opening video shows more nudity than the actual show has. I mean, watching the opening only, will create a false idea of what this story is about. And yes, there is some mild nudity here and there throughout the show but to be honest, it didn't really bother me that much. I do believe it would have been better without it but - ok...All in all, I enjoyed this anime very much. It was a different experience and with a theme so beautiful, it's hard not to keep and remember. I feel like it could have been better, in terms of development, and especially at the end, because I feel like in the end, everything just happened too fast but if you see it in total I feel like it is a great anime, cute and with meaning, with its funny and its more emotional parts. It is a great anine for its purpose, with an overall of 8 / 10 in its kind.

Give it a shot!


Story - 8 / 10
Art - 8 / 10
Sound - 10 / 10
Character - 7 / 10
Enjoyment - 8 / 10
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Overall - 8 / 10





Review by Mk-the-potato