As an opening statement, I would like to declare that reverse harem has become one of my least favorite genres over my many years of experience watching anime. With my growing age and less tolerance for bad anime, I'd recently given up on even trying to watch any type of reverse harem for the sole reason of saving my time for better things. Despite this, something was compelling me to give Hanasakeru Seishounen, and anime that had been sitting in my PTW for years, a chance. Was it the good rating? The good reviews? The fact that I wanted to watch a romance after seeing
...
so much action/thriller anime? Who knows. But once I started watching Hanasakeru Seishounen, my god, I could not stop.
Story | 10/10
The main plotline of Hanasakeru Seishonen tells the story of Kajika Burnsworth, the daughter of a very well-respected and wealthy man, who is told by her father that she will be participating in a husband-hunting game. During this game, Kajika must find and get to know three men that her father randomly appointed as potential husbands, then choose one to marry. I actually really liked the uniqueness of this idea! It's very different from other reverse harem regarding the fact that the female MC is the one who approaches the love interests rather than the other way around. Moreover, she doesn't meet the three men in only a single episode, but gradually over time, meaning that Kajika gets to spend a good bit of one-on-one time with each love interest before the next one is introduced. This allows time for a natural bond to be formed between Kajika and the men, and because of the kindness Kajika shows to them, she becomes an important person in each of their lives. It didn't feel like any of these relationships were forced or poorly paced at all, so when it came time for these men to start realizing that they loved Kajika, I thought it to be perfectly timed out.
Before going too deep into the anime, I was a bit concerned on how the story would stretch over a 39-episode time frame considering Kajika had already met two of the three potential husbands by the 10th episode. I was initially worried that the plot would end up revolving around a jealous battle between the men to see who could get Kajika to fall in love with them first, since that's usually what reverse harem turn into once all the love interests are introduced. However, my assumptions about the direction of the story were instantly nullified once something stepped in that made me adore the story even more: the subplot.
The problem that seems to plague most reverse harem is that the romantic focus of the MC's relationship with the love interests almost always overpowers the focus of the plot that the anime tries to go for. Hanasakeru Seishounen is very different from this. It has a subplot that revolves around the kingdom of Raginei, which runs for almost the entirety of the second half of the anime. This part of the anime adds in politics, drama, danger, and suspense alongside the romantic aspect, which forms the purpose of the story into something more than just a husband-hunting game. It shifts the anime's focus from finding love to helping friends, and I feel like these friendship elements have always been crucial to the anime due to Kajika's supportive and empathetic personality. Not a single time did I feel like this subplot was irrelevant to the main plot, because even though Kajika becomes involved with bigger events, the fact that she has to choose someone to marry is never forgotten.
Once all conflict dies down and it's time for the story to near its end, Kajika finally makes her decision on who she wants to marry. This isn't an anime where the choice is left up to speculation, or even one where Kajika decides that she doesn't want to marry at all. The fact that she follows through with what she was instructed to do in the very first episode brings satisfying closure to the story, and as someone who had been eagerly awaiting for the results of this decision since the beginning, I was overjoyed when I saw that the person of her choosing was exactly who I wanted it to be!
Character | 10/10
Character depth and development is an attribute that consistently remains strong and well-paced during the entirety of the anime. Hanasakeru Seishounen takes place over a 3 year period, so as the characters grow older, the development works perfectly in transforming them into more mature and well-mannered people over time. Along with that, all five of the main characters were each given very respectable personalities that I quickly fell in love with.
Kajika is a phenomenal female lead. She's strong, assertive, and willing to do whatever she can to help those in need. The most attractive part of her personality is her kindness to everyone, even to those who weren't particularly fond of her, and her ability to forgive those who wronged her. Kajika is a genuine role model character who wishes happiness for all, and who will tackle conflict head on to find a solution. Her independent problem-solving skills were probably some of the best I had ever seen come from a female main character in a reverse harem story, and for that Kajika has become one of my absolute favorite strong female leads. It was so fun watching her character in action.
I won't cover all the men specifically - them being Eugene, Rumaty, Carl, and Li Ren - but I want to cover them as a group. Throughout the anime, all of these men fall deeply in love with Kajika. For them, the kindness Kajika has shown to them has shaped them into the people they are by the end of the anime, so she's a very valued and important person to them. Despite their love for her, and their wishes for her to feel the same way toward them, not a single one of them EVER try to force themselves on her. This!! This is a HUGE thing for me! Though it is so obvious these men want so badly to embrace Kajika, they don't because they respect her boundaries and don't want to put her in an awkward or uncomfortable situation. Not only that, but they also don't wine, complain, or even try to give her reasons why she should choose them instead when Kajika finally decides on who she wants to marry. Hell, the guys she ended up turning down even HELP her reunite with the one she chose when a problem had them separated. Though Kajika's feelings for them were only platonic, they didn't let their love for her stop her from being with the person that SHE loved. That's respect, and I loved this part of these men!
Art | 9/10
I truly can't deny the fact that I love me some bishounens! The style of this anime DEFINITELY caters toward a female demographic with its abundance of pretty boys, but honestly I expected no less. Romance stories are told best when the characters are attractive, in my opinion, and Hanasakeru Seishounen excelled in presenting a beautiful cast of both male and female characters (Li Ren especially, lol).
In all seriousness though, I try not to judge an anime based on its art, but when the art and animation are attractive, that's definitely a plus. Complimenting the gorgeous art style is animation that is without mistakes and smooth. The animators also did a great job making younger characters like Kajika and Rumaty appear older after the one year time jump as well as keeping this slight change consistent throughout the rest of the anime.
One thing that put me off though - and it's more hilarious to me than anything - was that you could tell the difference between a main/heavy supporting character and a mere background character just by the shape of their noses. The main characters had pointed noses, which is a feature that somewhat adds to the attractiveness of an anime character, while the background characters had round noses, thus making them less attractive. There's nothing more to it than that, I just thought it was a funny little detail.
Sound | 9/10
Despite being an anime with 39 episodes, Hanasakeru Seishounen only features one opening and ending theme, both of which I found to be super cute, catchy, and hard to skip. If the previous episode had ended on a cliffhanger that left me impatient regarding what was to come, I may have been guilty of fast-forwarding through the themes. On the other hand, if I wasn't totally dying to know where the story would go, I happily let the themes play all the way through.
Instrumental soundtracks in anime usually aren't memorable for me. However, I can definitely say that the music within this anime did an amazing job capturing the mood of each scene. Whenever the emotions of a character changed, there was an orchestra right behind it, enhancing those feelings so they could reach the watcher. This made the atmosphere of character emotions feel more realistic to me, which created a watching experience that was all the more entertaining.
Enjoyment | 10/10
I'm so happy that I caved in to the urges and decided to give this anime a chance! Unlike most other reverse harem I've seen, Hanasakeru Seishounen delivered a beautiful and charming start-to-finish story that I absolutely adored. There was never a dull moment in the plotline, which constantly gave me a desperate feeling of eagerness to find out what would happen next, and I fell in love with each and every character. The ending was also extremely satisfying and was a great closing to a remarkable story. Nothing about what was delivered made me sense that things could be improved if something else was done. Overall, Hanasakeru Seishounen left a very warm place in my heart. I truly wish other reverse harem were as ambitious as this one.
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Jun 25, 2020
Hanasakeru Seishounen
(Anime)
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Recommended
As an opening statement, I would like to declare that reverse harem has become one of my least favorite genres over my many years of experience watching anime. With my growing age and less tolerance for bad anime, I'd recently given up on even trying to watch any type of reverse harem for the sole reason of saving my time for better things. Despite this, something was compelling me to give Hanasakeru Seishounen, and anime that had been sitting in my PTW for years, a chance. Was it the good rating? The good reviews? The fact that I wanted to watch a romance after seeing
...
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 1, 2019
Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi
(Anime)
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In recent years, the romance stories within the shoujo genre have become less unique and more generic. The characters are cliché with hardly any likeability, and the stories tend to throw all logic out the door to ensure the two main love interests become a couple by the end. Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi (Bed and Breakfast for Spirits), sadly, falls into this category. But the end result for this one is much worse than you'd expect.
There's a lot to this review, so please bear with me. Story | 2/10 Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi sets itself up as a story about an orphan girl named Aoi Tsubaki who ... is unexpectedly swiped into the "Hidden Realm" - a realm where ayakashi live - by an ogre god named Oodanna. When she arrives, she is told that she will become Oodanna's bride as collateral from a debt her grandfather owed but was never able to pay off before his untimely death. Aoi immediately refuses this proposal and decides that instead of marrying someone she hardly knows, yet alone loves, she will alternatively pay off her grandfather's debt by working at Tenjin-ya, the inn that Oodanna is the headmaster of. Oodanna hesitantly agrees to this new plan, though with his approval, he gives Aoi the condition that she only has a certain amount of time to pay off the debt. If she fails to complete the task, she will become his bride, and if she still refuses, she will be devoured by him. The first episode proved to be very promising, and I had high hopes for the rest of the anime. Right away, I really liked how Aoi gave off the impression of being assertive and clever. She didn't appear to be the kind of girl who would cave in and submit to the demands of a man, so having a strong female lead was refreshing to see considering in most other romance shoujo I've seen, the female main characters are usually the ones who will do anything and everything to make their crush like them back (Itazura na Kiss and Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji are some examples). I also loved how Oodanna's character was introduced. His demeanor was threatening, impatient, and unforgiving, which was a perfect arrangement for character development. For a few episodes following the first, the story continues exactly as planned: Aoi begins her work at Tenjin-ya in a small restaurant she called Moonflower in order to earn money to pay off her grandfather's debt that he obtained while he spent his own time at Tenjin-ya. With how well the plot was going so far, I was eager to see what was to become of Moonflower, and how a romantic relationship would eventually bloom between Aoi and Oodanna - since this anime IS tagged as a romance, after all. However, as the story further progresses and more characters are thrown into the mix, the initial intentions for the plot completely falls apart and are nearly forgotten all together. I first noticed hints that the story was going to creep away from what was settled in the first episode when Aoi would frequently serve food to people at her restaurant without charge. This was quite odd to me because it was clearly stated that Aoi had a time limit she needed to meet if she wanted to return back to her home in the human world. Sure, most of these ayakashi she fed were either out of pity or for a special event, but if she was fine with giving out her service for free more than with a charge, then what's the point of setting up a plan to pay back the debt in the first place? She's not earning any money this way. Perhaps it was meant to show the audience that Aoi is a kind person, but this was already determined after the first ayakashi she fed for free. The fact that Aoi continued to serve without asking for payment only pushed her further into a direction that was completely out of character from the beginning where she was wholly adamant on not wanting to marry Oodanna. If she really felt this way, it would have made much more sense for her to be constantly reminding herself about her deadline and picky-choosy about who gets food for free. Maybe even have her offer discounts to those she deems as friends rather than just handing out meals because they showed up to talk to her. That way, her character could still be showcased as kind to others while also keeping a bit of healthy selfishness in favor of her goal. Regardless, only a few episodes in, Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi quickly started down a path that was losing focus on the whole setup of the anime, and from here on out things only seemed to get worse. As more characters are introduced into the plot, Aoi's goal to get home is put so far on the back burner that the importance of this objective evaporates entirely. For real, I mean it when I say that the debt and her time limit are NEVER mentioned again. Instead, the story of Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi turns into a Kamisama Hajimemashita and Shokugeki no Souma hybrid where the sole emphasis is on Aoi's ability to cook food for the ayakashi. Alongside that, we are also given half-episode long useless backstories for characters that have miniscule importance to the plot other than what was happening in that current episode. This results in almost every single episode to follow this layout: ⇒ A problem arises in Tenjin-ya (first arc) or Orio-ya (second arc) caused by either an employee or a customer ⇒ This problem causes an over-dramatic fight between characters ⇒ Aoi decides to meddle and try to solve this problem herself ⇒ One of the characters tells their backstory/how they started fighting the other character ⇒ She cooks food for said characters in disagreement ⇒ Eating her food magically makes everyone happy; the arguing characters make up and become best friends ⇒ Roll credits If this layout was only used on characters who ended up being vital to the plot, I would have been okay with seeing it once or twice by means of story development. However, this is the generalized structure that is seen episode after episode with characters that are introduced as soon as the episode begins, and are never seen again once it's over. Thus, Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi spirals down a never ending mess of repetitiveness and predictability. Aoi in particular also loses her determination to work hard so she can get out of an unwanted betrothal, and instead she works more toward solving the problems of other people over her own. The most annoying part about all of this is that every single problem is resolved immediately once the characters eat Aoi's food. She makes no effort to try and get these characters to overcome their differences on their own by giving them advice and whatnot. Literally, her FIRST idea to help with every problem is to head toward the kitchen. I get it, food brings people together, but this is taking it a bit to the extreme. I know if I was fighting with my friend or sibling over something like the characters in the anime were, food would NOT help with the process of making up with each other. The solution as a whole is just lazy and unrealistic. Now, where's Oodanna during all this? As one of the three main characters in the anime, we surprisingly don't see much of him once the anime turns into a cooking show. The only episodes where he receives the most screen time are the ones where Aoi ends up kidnapped by an ayakashi for absolutely no reason at all, meaning it's up to Oodanna to save her. These episodes attempt to disguise themselves as ploys to develop the romance side of things, but to me it felt more like an unnatural and cliché way to force the two love interests alone together. Not to mention, with the addition of Aoi's continuous stubbornness and disinterest toward the dude, there isn't much advancement in romance at all. Hell, the two don't even end up together by the end of the anime, so that was a disappointment. Sorry for the spoiler. I should mention that there's also a small subplot that runs throughout the anime where Aoi is trying to find this masked ayakashi in the Hidden Realm who saved her from starvation and loneliness when she was a child. This was definitely something that piqued my interest in the midst of the main plot falling apart, because it could've definitely worked well as a motive regarding why Aoi doesn't entirely look eager to rush back home anymore. However, the subplot is only mentioned from time to time, and after it's randomly brought up that Aoi starts to think she's getting closer to the ayakashi she's looking for, the subplot drops off the face of the earth for another few episodes. For example, in the transition between the two arcs of the anime, Aoi begins to suspect that a certain character is that ayakashi. Yet, even after throwing a whole-ass tantrum making it a big deal that she "HAS to know if it's true", she never even bothers to mention it to them the next time she talks to them. She even seems to completely forget that this character could be who she's looking for until the LAST EPISODE of the anime. It doesn't make sense. If finding that ayakashi was something that was so important to her, why would she wait to see if what she suspected was true? Yeah, problems arose and things got in the way as soon as she thought that ayakashi from her childhood could be this character, but it really doesn't take that much effort to ask someone, "Hey, by any chance was that you?" Like come on. Stop dragging the subplot out and reveal who it is already. There is absolutely no need for suspense. Character | 2/10 As I stated before, new characters are added to the story from left and right. Consequently, valuable screen time is used to explain the history of these minor characters rather than expanding on characters that already exist. In other words, the anime both massively lacks character development for some, and forces others to change way too quickly. I was so frustrated with this, because the actions of Aoi and Oodanna portrayed in the first episode were PERFECTLY set up for strong character development, yet this wasn't taken advantage of at all! First, we have Aoi, the main character whose point of view we follow. She is introduced as a kind-hearted, strong-willed, independent woman. As a female watcher, these are all wonderful traits to see given to a female main character! I love it when these girls are given the abilities to solve problems on their own and act without male influence. Unfortunately, the way Aoi uses these traits ends up turning the initial attractiveness of her personality into one that is extremely unlikable. Let me elaborate. Aoi's "kindness" makes her a serial meddler. She will one hundred percent put herself in the middle of any disagreement between other ayakashi she comes across to solve the problem for them. On most occasions, Aoi isn't even doing this because she wants to see everyone happy. She has ulterior motives, ones where solving this problem means that she'll get something in return, like an object or simply the characters' approval. If anything, that seems less benevolent and more manipulative to me. Moreover, Aoi's independent mindset makes her extremely stubborn and rude. She will not stop until she gets what she wants, and she won't hesitate to lecture or even downright insult a character if they set her off. The victim of her stubbornness in many of these cases is Oodanna. I can understand why there would be tension between the two during the first half of the anime, but because of Aoi's disinterest, the tension continues to be present up until the very end of the last episode. For an anime tagged as a ROMANCE, I expected Aoi to undergo some type of development around the halfway mark where she realizes that Oodanna isn't as evil and threatening as she thought he was, and instead notices that he's actually very sweet and gentle. But this didn't happen, so the absence of development with Aoi's character proved very irritating to watch. Oodanna, on the other hand, went through development that was so rapid, I almost thought I had missed a couple episodes. In episode one, he is depicted as intimidating and cruel, and he does not hesitate to tell Aoi that if she decides to go through with her plan to work instead of marry him, he will treat her as nothing but an employee. This means she also won't receive protection from him should she find herself in a dangerous situation. Like I said earlier, I loved this! It set the story up nicely for Aoi to be on her own and do what she needed to do. However, flash forward to only a mere TWO episodes later and Oodanna is taking her out shopping, buying gifts for her, and giving her nicknames like, "my lovely wife"; behavior that continues throughout the rest of the anime. Not only that, but he also invites Aoi to his room for dinner, says he wants to cuddle and fall asleep with her, rescues her when she's in trouble, and takes special requests in buying materials for Moonflower for her, all of which is the complete OPPOSITE of treating her as just an employee. Of course, by giving her attention more than he said he would, it only means that he truly was starting to fall for her and wanted her to feel the same way, but the fact that he went from threatening to eat her if she doesn't want to be his wife in one episode to happily heeding her every request in the next makes absolutely no sense. There's no logic or realism in this development. He hardly knew Aoi before bringing her into the Hidden Realm, so why is he so quick to fall in love? I would have ADORED seeing his development if it was at a more natural pace, but it was delivered so quickly and poorly that I seldom had time to even understand that this transition was happening by the time it already happened. Lastly, for being the final main character of the trio, Ginji hardly contributes much to the anime other than being Aoi's moral support. There isn't really much explored with his character beyond him being the person she talks to most when Oodanna isn't around, and him being a friend who helps her run her restaurant. He only seems to be on screen when Aoi is too, but not vice versa, with only a few exceptions. I feel like so much more could have been done with his character instead of just him being there for "friendship" purposes, because his character felt more like a heavy supporting role rather than a main role. He also doesn't get much development either due to his limited performance, which again, was aggravating. Art | 1/10 With the animation technology and talent that's out there nowadays, my expectations for the art showcased in an anime released during modern day are much higher than anime from the 90s/early 2000s. I won't necessarily say art styles and animation that aren't executed at an exceptional level are a real bother to me so long as the story itself is good, but when you pair an unsatisfactory story with lousy art, that's when I really start to judge. In Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi's case as an anime released in 2018, oh my god, the art was horrendous. Let's start with the style. It's boring. Though I like how the outfit choices and architecture of the Hidden Realm are geared toward the more traditional side of Japanese culture, the character designs themselves are super bland and generic. What I mean by this is that there's not really anything about these designs that pops out and sets the style apart from other anime. On top of that, the color saturation for the characters in Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is extremely inconsistent. In some episodes, the color of the characters matches well with the vibrant scenery surrounding them, and in others the characters are so pastel that they look like ghosts. I could also easily tell when the pen was handed off to a different artist, because the characters looked different in nearly every episode. Sometimes, their facial appearances would even change in the middle of an episode, which doesn't look good at all. The movement of the characters is where the art fails the most. While talking, besides the obvious opening and closing of the mouth and occasional tilt of the head, there is hardly any animation for the characters beyond a still image. They don't move their arms around, mess with their hair or clothing, and sometimes they don't even blink! By heavily restricting the movement of these characters, they are also stripped of any kind of body language and emotion that isn't already shown through words, resulting in a cast of living beings that look like soulless dolls. Then, when the characters ARE moving around, the animation is agonizingly choppy and lacks any type of smoothness that even an anime as old as Cowboy Bebop was able to create. Should I even mention the horrendous CGI animation used for the background townsfolk? The animation as a whole was an atrocious mess that just screamed laziness and low budget. Sound | 5/10 The music given to us through Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is the only redeeming quality this anime has. Even so, there is still a mix of substandard within the favorable. Starting with the former is the instrumental soundtrack that played while the episodes were running. The energy given off by what's happening in any TV production really depends on the instrumental soundtrack. This is where Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi failed. This soundtrack was so weak that I didn't even notice there was music at all while I was watching. Dramatic scenes or even comedic scenes in the anime felt so dry and boring to me because the right type of music wasn't there to match my energy with that of the anime. On the bright side, I really enjoyed the many opening and ending themes. They did a great job capturing traditional Japanese music while also keeping up with modern music. My favorite song in particular was the ending theme "Toki no Suna," and it ended up being one that I would listen to quite often when I wasn't torturing myself with shitty anime. Enjoyment | 1/10 I wouldn't necessarily say that I enjoyed this anime at all. In fact, I dreaded pushing through to the end so much so that it took me nearly a year to complete all 26 episodes. Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi had SO MUCH wasted potential. The story could have been great, it could have done so many things differently, and I could have had so much fun watching this show. Instead, what could have been, and what it was literally set up to be, was thrown off a bridge into deep waters never to be seen again. From the forgotten original plot and repetitive storyline to the unnecessarily large number of useless characters that crowded over any chance of character development, Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi is one of those anime that I regret watching and hope to never return to.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Oct 12, 2018 Not Recommended
My favorite part about anime is when music, specifically singing, is a main focus. Japanese voice actors work tremendously hard to deliver their lines as realistically as possible, so it's a real treat when I get to hear their characters sing on top of that. That's what I was most excited about when I happened across an anime titled Lost Song on Netflix one day while I was cooking. The narrative told by the synopsis proved to be very intriguing as it described a setting in a fantasy world where two women are blessed by the power of song in a land where war is
...
about to break out. Captivated by the apparent uniqueness of the story, I pressed play without hesitation. Across the twelve-episode journey, I quickly found that the anime wasn't as great as I intended it to be.
Story | 2/10 Lost Song tries and fails in many aspects that are more successful in other popular anime. It plays with drama, comedy, and suspense. The problem Lost Song has with these tropes is that the story is so poorly configured that the tropes hardly work together in a seamless manner. Plot twists are tossed around from left and right in the midst of dramatic moments, each with an introduction that acts as if they're these huge, surprising discoveries that should be completely unexpected to the audience. I, however, found each plot twist to be entirely predictable due to the fact that the foreshadowing of events was less subtly hinted and more obviously thrown in your face through character interactions and expressions. For example, when I heard a line such as, "Don't ever sing the Song of Mortality," it became detectable to me that the song would be sung anyway at some point, because why mention the song and how dangerous it is if no one is going to sing it in the future, right? That kind of dialogue, while sometimes can work in favor of foreshadowing, is used a lot in this anime, making it too easy to guess what will happen later on. This is a problem I noticed as a recurrence throughout the first half of the anime, and I was extremely disappointed because being able to predict future events in a show takes away the excitement involved. It also proves that not much clever thought was put into the story as a whole. On the other hand, the various bits of comedy that were included only seemed to be added as a means of preventing a moment of awkward silence, or as a means of slowing down a scene that was becoming too dramatic. The delivery of these jokes also felt forced instead of natural, and none of them really made me laugh either. Having a character scream out, "There's food!? Where? Where's the food!?!?" ever so often when another character randomly mentions food is not funny. Having a character attempt to explain why something isn't scientifically correct while the other characters interrupt him with, "We don't care," isn't funny either. If anything, these types of lines are childish and cringy, and there's nothing funny about an adult or teenager acting like a child. Plus, I've seen these exact same jokes before, so these aren't even original. I know comedy isn't a huge focus within Lost Song, since it isn't even listed as one of the genres, but there are hundreds of other anime that EXCEL in delivering good comedy when the focus also mostly revolves around drama and suspense. The story development in general isn't the best either. Pacing fluctuates between harshly rushed to push out as much information as possible and agonizingly slow as a consequence. Rinse and repeat. On top of that, the anime takes a drastic and questionable turn at the halfway mark where the story becomes way less predictable and a LOT more confusing. I can understand that the creators of this anime wanted to inflict shock within its audience by making such a sudden change in the story, but to me this change was too much for the type of setting presented in the beginning and felt as though the same idea could be accomplished with a change that was toned down a bit. Essentially, it seems like the story presented in Lost Song is trying too hard to achieve a ground-breaking plotline. By attempting to wow its watchers with such drama, heartbreak, and unexpected events in its twelve-episode time frame, the anime ends up tripping over itself and instead showcases a chaos of ideas and characters that aren't deeply explored. A last point I would like to mention before moving on is that Lost Song tries desperately to appeal to all audiences. On the surface it looks as though the anime is aiming for a younger female demographic with its shoujo-like art style and lack of raunchy themes, but with added gore, profanity, and a female character with breasts so big they look like they're about to spill out of her clothing, it seems like the anime is also trying to bring in an older female and male audience as well. This desperation to create an anime worth watching by all was so obvious that it was infuriating and distracting to the narrative trying to be told. Character | 2/10 Throughout Lost Song, the story switches point of views between the two main characters: Rin and Finis. Besides their ability to control the elements with their songs, there's nothing about these characters that really stands out. Rin is optimistic and kind-hearted, and Finis is a naïve damsel in distress. For the two characters that are supposed to carry the whole story on their backs, the types of personalities they were given are ones that are extremely overused and boring. The goals they have are also entirely lackluster, and they give off the impression that the only reason these motives exist is only to advance the story. Rin's character in particular wants to find her true purpose in the world, which isn't a goal that encourages character development. Thus, Rin doesn't really develop at all due to the fact that she's already a "good guy" who has almost no reason to change or redeem herself. Finis, on the other hand, goes through a rapid development once her goal is hindered by the enemy of the anime. If done correctly, I might have thoroughly enjoyed Finis's sudden change in character considering it was probably the most interesting thing that happened. Unfortunately, with Finis's development came the unsatisfactory warping of the plot. The added confusion alongside her change really made it hard for me to appreciate the only piece of character development that was delivered. As for the abundance of supporting characters, it was easy to see not much thought was put into them either. This part of the cast is one full of stereotypes; the glasses character is the smart guy, the knight is the savior, the ugly guy is the villain, etc. so there's not really anything interesting about them. Over half of these characters are added with zero purpose to fulfil the plot other than using them to make conversation when things slowed down. All of these useless characters could have been cut from the anime entirely, and their screen time could have been replaced with scenes that explained the plot better or improved the pacing. Some anime do a great job managing a large cast of characters, but this isn't one of them. Art | 2/10 I really hate judging an anime for its art, especially the older ones, but the art presented in Lost Song is utterly amateurish for the era of its release. It's 2018. Earlier this year we saw Violet Evergarden, and only a few weeks after Lost Song ended came Banana Fish. Compared to those two, the art style and animation of Lost Song looks as though it was released in the early 2000s. Multiple times throughout the anime, the movement of the characters felt really choppy and the least bit smooth. This was especially a problem when the characters were walking. It's clear to see that the animation budget was almost entirely spent on the animation of the characters singing, because it was only during those moments where it felt like the animation was somewhat up to par with other 2018 anime. It hurts me to say this, but I also didn't like how the character designs looked at all. Besides the villain being purposely made unsightly, I didn't find the rest of the cast to be pleasing to look at either. Sound | 2/10 The music within this anime was what I was most excited for and most disappointed with. Lost Song features several insert songs that each represent their own power. There's a song of fire, water, Earth, wind, healing, and mortality. Some songs were more catchy than others, but none of them really stood out to me as exceptional compositions. Though the characters looked like they were having a blast singing their songs, I couldn't say I felt the same way while watching them. Rin's voice was tolerable since her character is a bit younger, so it makes sense for her voice to be higher pitched, but I wasn't particularly a fan of Finis's voice. Her singing was extremely nasally, and it was clear to see that she was trying to hide the fact that she couldn't really hit the high notes by making her voice go softer. The softness in her voice also takes away from the power of the song, which is incredibly unfortunate considering Finis is the one who sings the most powerful song in the anime. Moreover, when both Rin and Finis sing together, their high-pitched voices tend to blend in with one another instead of being distinctive. I really think that they should have cast a VA with a bit of a deeper voice for Finis, like Saori Hayami (VA for Yunhua in the anime Kanata no Astra, she also sings in this anime on two occasions) for example, not only because she could probably hit the notes better and make the songs more powerful, but her voice sounds a lot more mature for someone like Finis. Either way, for being the selling point of the show, the songs in this anime failed miserably at meeting my expectations. Enjoyment | 1/10 This was not a fun anime to watch. The plotline and characters are packed full of generalizations and stereotypes, and the whole premise of the story just jumps all over the place. Honestly, if someone told me that a child wrote the script, I would believe it. As a female approaching my 20s, I saw no appeal for this anime beyond what I read in the synopsis. So much could have been done to improve everything we were given, but with the evident low budget this anime seems to have, I can see why it turned out this way. Lost Song was a one-and-done for me, so I have no plans of ever coming back to it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Apr 30, 2017
Death Note
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
This review was first written back in 2017. Now in 2021, I think it's time for an update. Way back when, I originally decided to watch this anime because a friend of mine was practically begging me to. I was a high school student at the time who had ambitions on majoring in criminal justice once I entered college (a plan I did start, but have since changed), so I was intrigued upon reading a synopsis that pretty much described a battle between serial killer and police force. It was right up my alley.
When I first watched the anime, I was completely blown away. ... But now after coming back to it four years later, I'm thinking otherwise. Story | 3/10 Initially, I found the story to be quite unique as it adds a supernatural twist to a seemingly normal human universe. Light Yagami, a high school student who constantly excels in his studies, comes across a mysterious notebook one day, and he soon finds that it has the power to kill anyone so long as he knows their name and face. The story set up was unlike anything I had ever seen before, so I was really excited to see what would happen as the plot unfolded and the police got involved. L's character was especially one that was hyped up by both watchers of the anime, and even other characters within the anime. When it came time for Light and L to go up against each other in a metaphoric "fight to the death", I will admit that I was entertained! Though after a while, the plot fell from thrilling and suspenseful to boring and predictable. One thing I noticed right away as the story progressed was that the realistic value portrayed in this universe took a drastic decline. Sure, the idea of a notebook that can cause the death of a human being holds little realism in the first place, but it was the character actions and interactions that held that realism together. Specifically, Light, L, and Misa once held some sort of relatability in the beginning, with Light being a high school student trying to get into a good college while also intentionally keeping secrets from his parents about a certain part of his life, L being an investigator just trying to do his job, and Misa being a lovesick naïve girl who's willing to do anything to make her crush like her back. However, with more advancement to the plot, the story kind of tip-toes away from the realistic human side of things where people can make mistakes and only focuses on the intelligence of the two main characters. The situations that they put each other in appear to be carefully thought out with seemingly no possible way for the plan to catch the other to fail. Yet, the audience is quickly and repetitively informed that the defending side in fact DOES have a way out, and that this way out was determined before the character was even put in this difficult situation in the first place. Because of this, not only is the realistic value of human error taken out of the picture, but so is the thrill. Also, the story told in Death Note is one that is heavily intricate. This isn't an anime that you can just throw on in the background while you do something else. Leave that for an episodic slice of life anime. You have to give your full, undivided attention if you don't want to miss an important detail. I personally don't mind abandoning all responsibility for a little while so I can focus on the screen. The problem I have with the amount of detail in this show, though, is that all the important information seems to come in large chunks that are just thrown in your face with little time to form an understanding before the scene rolls into the next. For example, the time between Light being just an ordinary student to him becoming a mass serial killer who developed a god complex and created a plan to cleanse the world of evil is literally not even the length of a whole episode. Not only that, but the audience is also given an explanation on how the Death Note works, and what a shinigami is. Again, all this happens within like 15 minutes during the FIRST episode. By clumping all this information together and delivering it on a single plate, it becomes overwhelming to the viewer which may cause them to forget a point that will be mentioned later in the story. There were many times when I found myself unable to comprehend what was going on because of the lack of gradual revealing of information. Light's goal of cleansing the world of evil begins with killing prisoners via heart attack. I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent here. This might be a huge stretch, and I might just be pissed off about this for absolutely no reason, but bear with me. As a former criminal justice major in college and a current avid true crime watcher, the anime completely ignores the fact that it is entirely possible for people to be wrongfully convicted of a crime. Light does absolutely no research on the prisoners he kills. He just sees their names and writes them down. For all we know, a few of those prisoners he sentenced to death could have been innocent people. Obviously, because this fact is never mentioned, it should just be assumed that he IS killing people who actually committed crimes, but that just further proves my point about there being little realism to the anime. It just shows Light's mindset of, "You're wearing the orange jumpsuit? You deserve death," with no rhyme or reason at all, and it also promotes the idea that all prisoners are evil. Seriously, I'm still confused where this plan to kill off all evil even came from in the first place. Lastly, after falling on its back during a major event in episode 25, the anime tries to pull itself back to its feet for the remainder of the twelve episodes by introducing new characters, some of which are there to serve as a complete replacement of those who died along the way. This causes the pacing of the last arc of the anime to tremendously slow down and drag on an unnecessary amount, with the only truly important part of it being witnessing as Light loses his sanity more and more. However, if the new characters were just never included in the first place, this same thing could have been accomplished in six or less episodes with better pacing. Character | 2/10 Both Light and L are advertised throughout the story as exceptionally intelligent individuals on opposing sides. This is why many people may have found it entertaining to watch as they go up against each other for a majority of the plot. My issue with this is that the story takes the idea of "playing with smarts" to an extreme level that, as I've stated previously, completely eradicates any type of chance for a mistake to happen, thus also eliminating the suspense in the process. Starting with Light, his character was one that high school me used to respect. Of course, I was younger and more easily impressed back then. I only looked at the dude for his intelligence, and didn't really think deeply about what he was actually doing. Looking at it now, I will say without doubt that Light is a terribly written character. I know it was intended for him to take on the anti-hero persona, but part of me just feels like his development from ordinary student to psychotic serial killer was paced way too quickly. I think his character would've been so much better if his reasoning behind using the death note started on a more personal level. For example, have his first kill be someone who once caused him harm, like a bully from secondary school who continued to bother him in high school. That way, it gives him a logical reason to test out the ability of the death note through vengeance instead of him just using it on a random prisoner he saw on TV because he wants to see if it actually works. In my opinion, it would make the feeling of having killed someone more satisfying for him, which then could build a bridge over to him becoming a serial killer. The reason I'm saying all of this is simple: Light has absolutely no motive behind his goal. It feels completely empty, like the only reason he decided to start killing criminals was because he could. Things would make so much more sense if the original intention was to get rid of someone who hurt him in the past, then have him start to believe that, "Well, I was able to kill one bad person, why not kill them all?" as a means of protecting people who also have been hurt like he was. Then from there, have him start to lose his sanity in his newly found god complex. Then we have L, a weird, independent investigator in the Task Force who comes to work in a crewneck and jeans. I didn't particularly enjoy his quirks. You know, the ones where he for some reason sits with his knees to his chest like a child and only likes to hold things with his pointer finger and thumb? But that's a small annoyance that does not compare to the bigger issue I have with his character. The way L was written completely insults how police investigations actually work. There was no research, no interviews, and no evidence analyzation involved. Almost as soon as L is introduced, he immediately calls Light out for being Kira. How does he know that? Where's the evidence that points in Light's direction? There's literally no explanation behind why Light is L's suspect, and the audience is just supposed to accept that because, well, L is really smart after all. Another problem that I have is that L doesn't share his suspicion of Light with any of the other investigators. He completely disregards that he sits with a whole team of people who want to catch this killer while knowing that they are going in the wrong direction. However, instead of helping or even dropping hints that Light should be looked at more clearly, L makes probably the worst decision by allowing Light to join the Task Force so he can keep a closer eye on him. At this point, since Light knows the names and faces of everyone on the team besides L, getting the rest of the team involved is no longer an option. It makes absolutely zero sense. If L was having trouble waiting for Light to show signs that he was the killer from a distance, why not ask for help? Why bring the suspect INTO the investigation? When these two characters are pinned together, we are given a never-ending game of tag. Both characters each try to get the other to slip up; L wants Light to reveal he's the killer, and Light wants L to reveal his real name. Yet, these battles are always met with unsatisfying victories for the defending side. Like I said before, as soon as either character is put into a situation where there is seemingly no possible way to avoid the inevitable, we are given their, "I planned for this to happen," speech followed up with what they did beforehand to make it easier to get out of said situation. As these elements begin to repeat themselves, it almost gives the impression that both Light and L can see the future and pinpoint all the loopholes in the other person's plan. This then stirs up predictability, making the interactions between these characters become boring because there's no longer any suspense. We don't get to see the characters freak out because they're put into a difficult place and need to figure out how to escape, or that they made a mistake that they have to try and cover up. It's just the same lazy-way-out excuse every single time. Art | 5/10 Unlike the story of the anime, I enjoyed the art style. The character designs were more on the average level, though I did like how the characters were drawn to have human-like features rather than the iconic moe eyes and pointed noses that are usually associated with anime. Ryuk and Rem's designs, on the other hand, were probably the best out of all the characters regarding the overall appearance. As for animation, it was clear to see a lot of care was put into making sure movement was delivered smoothly and realistically. That I can appreciate. Unfortunately, this anime is struck with main character syndrome, meaning that the main characters seem to be the only ones with distinctive characteristics, while everyone else looks almost identical to each other. Now, I know that this anime is supposed to take place in modern Japan where the characters resemble that of actual Japanese citizens instead of taking place in a world like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure where each character is given their own unique design, but when you have a large cast of side characters who all wear suits and have short black hair, there's bound to be some confusion. Sound | 4/10 The music was okay. I tolerated the first round of theme and ending theme songs and enjoyed the cinematics that went with them, but hated the screamo songs that rolled in during the second half of the anime. Looking at it from a story-telling point of view, I guess the new songs can be compared to Light's growing insanity as the story progresses. But I might just be taking a long shot on that one. Whether that was the reason those songs were chosen or not, the screamo was not the best. And this is coming from a screamo fan. Enjoyment | 2/10 Overall, I'd say this anime is a hit or a miss with its watchers. As someone who now has some experience with the criminal justice system, it's clear to see that the anime is all over the place and the least bit realistic. From the overly-smart characters to the dumb choices made to the repeating storyline, Death Note has become an anime that I no longer enjoy, and will leave to rest here with my review. Even so, I will give the anime credit for at least being better than the absolute train wreck of a live action adaptation that Netflix pushed out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Apr 20, 2017
NHK ni Youkoso!
(Anime)
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Recommended
Who would've thought watching a show about a guy never leaving his house would be so entertaining?
To put this on simple terms: I loved this anime. There is definitely not another one out there like Welcome to the NHK. I feel like this anime really touched on a emotional subject that most other anime don't. Given that I used to be like Satou myself, and having experienced social anxiety like he did in the anime, I must say it really does a good job showing how social anxiety affects a person's life. Social anxiety isn't the only mental discourse represented either. There are characters that ... suffer from depression and thoughts of suicide as well. We really get to see how these real life situations affect people and what they drive them to do, and I found that very interesting. The character development was outstanding with everyone, especially our main protagonist. We get to see Satou as he first comes out of his shell, falls back in, and comes out again... several times but with all different causes. It is shown phenomenally and realistically how his life is impacted by the people and things around him, and how his presence in the world impacts and changes those people as well. Watching this anime shows a true visual on how people like Satou deal with the problems he is faced in life and how he overcomes them. Looking at the art style one could say that it isn't the best in the world, and believe me, it isn't, but it does justice on the environment portrayed throughout the series. It's not eye-catching, and in some episodes, you can really tell when the animators got lazy. However for me, I believe it gave the perfect feeling for the type of anime this is. Rather than focusing too much on the art style, it makes the watchers become more intrigued with the plot, and that is what makes this anime perfect. The music was also amazing. It really captured and expressed the emotional view of the anime. No matter what type of scene was playing, whether it be depressing, funny, determined, whatever, the music did wonderfully at making me put myself in the shoes of the characters and know exactly how they were feeling and what they were going through. Music is always a major part in any show or movie out there. It sets the mood, and makes the watchers connect with the characters, and Welcome to the NHK did an astonishing job with it. Overall, Welcome to the NHK is an anime you do not want to miss. Anyone who has ever suffered from social anxiety, depression, or obsession will find this one extremely relatable and will have a great time watching it. Even those who have't suffered from these mental disorders will find this one intriguing to watch. This has been one of the best psychological anime I have ever seen, and will gladly watch it again some day.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 24, 2017
Ai no Kusabi (2012)
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
Five words: A complete waste of time.
If you're into yaoi like I shamelessly am, you've probably heard of Ai no Kusabi or even watched the original. Yes, Ai no Kusabi (2012) is a remastered version of an adaptation which was released in 1992. When the words "remastered" or "rebooted" are thrown into the mix, one might expect that this new version would either tell the story better, or pair the same story with better art. Due to the fact that the entire duration of both adaptations are relatively the same, with this one being four 24-minute episodes and the original being two hour-long episodes, ... I honestly didn't think the story would be altered that much. Unfortunately, I was crushed to learn that the story I fell in love with was heavily mutilated. The reason why I loved the original so much was because it took a different route most R18+ yaoi anime seem to take, one where it focuses more on developing a start-to-finish plot rather than simply adding in spicy sex scenes when things get slow. It was literally an anime where I could say, "I only watch this for the plot ;)" and ACTUALLY mean it. In this new version, only half of the plot is delivered, meaning that those who haven't read the light novel or seen the original might be confused about what the hell is happening in this fictional universe. Also, remember that intense, tragic ending that was shown in the original and gave closure to the story? It's nowhere to be found. Not only that, but the plot elements that WERE saved from the cut and weren't replaced with sex scenes were placed completely out of order as well. Character backstories are shown in the final episode, when they should have been shown in the first episode, etc. This new plot that we're given just seems to be all over the place and horribly configured. I almost see it as an insult to the original anime, because what Ai no Kusabi (2012) does is that it completely erases everything that made the story stand out from other animated yaoi and seems to only serve as a thirst trap for fans who watch these types of shows for the sole purpose of the more intimate scenes. There's no longer anything special to be appreciated about this anime, making it easy for it to blend in with all the other yaoi out there. The only redeeming quality this anime seems to have is its art style. Having been made 20 years after the original's release, the art does a great job modernizing the overall look of the characters and scenery. I don't want to say that this version necessarily has BETTER art compared to the original - because there's no denying that they were released during two different eras of animation styles - but it was definitely not an eyesore to say the least. Unfortunately, the positive change in art does not overpower the negative warping of the story. In general, watching this anime was a huge let down. The whole story was laid out perfectly once before, so having it drastically changed in the way that it was makes me feel like I was robbed. If you're the type of yaoi watcher who cares more for plot rather than intimacy, I would strongly suggest using these two hours to watch the original instead. However, if you're not too keen on seeing a story develop and only want to see the intimacy part, then this one might be perfect for you. When compared to other 2-4 episode yaoi anime out there instead of comparing it only to the original, I definitely will agree that this is one of the better ones.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Mar 24, 2017
Diabolik Lovers
(Anime)
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Not Recommended
Reverse Harem is a genre in the anime world that can never seem to tell a romance story correctly. Sure, the idea of being a single female surrounded by attractive men who are all head over heels for you is a dream that girls like myself have once had, but somehow when these stories are transferred from otome game/manga to anime, the entire romantic universe portrayed in the original source gets severely messed up. Diabolik Lovers is no exception here. In fact, this was such a catastrophe of a show that I have deemed it as the worst anime I have ever seen.
Story - ... 1/10 In the first episode we are introduced to Yui, the female MC, and quickly learn that she was told by her father to live in a mansion-like home with six brothers who, unbeknownst to her, are bloodthirsty vampires. Right away, the problems with this anime emerge as any information that might be useful in explaining why Yui was given this fate is next to non-existent, so I guess that task was left to the imagination of the watchers. From then on, all plans to deliver a story-driven plot seem to completely vanish up until the climactic ending, which also doesn't entirely make sense in terms of character motivations because it also fell victim to poor explanation. To put it simply, Diabolik Lovers lacks any type of story progression and development, and these are elements that are crucial to telling a story about romance, especially when it starts out with the girl meeting the guy(s) for the first time. However, one thing that this god-awful anime never fails to deliver is the consistent, episode-after-episode torture of this girl. In each episode, Yui is attacked by at least one of the vampire brothers and forced against her will to have her blood sucked from her body. More often than not, these vampires will bite her multiple times and continue drinking until she is on the brink of passing out. Not once did Yui consent to this, nor did she ever purposefully offer herself up. It is so obvious to see that she Does. Not. Want. To. Be. There. because every single time a vampire sinks their fangs into her skin, she screams out, "Stop it! That hurts!" and not in a playful way. On top of this physical abuse, Yui is also met with verbal abuse in the form of various ugly nicknames these vampires have come up with. She's called "Pancake" due to her flat frame, "Masokitty" in reference to the word "masochist", and other times she's just straight up called "Little Bitch." If Yui was even the SLIGHTEST bit into all of this stuff, I would let these actions slide. But she's not, which is what made this whole watching experience extremely uncomfortable for me. Admittedly, Diabolik Lovers is not for those who are only into light-hearted fluffy romance. The target audience definitely caters more toward a group of people that enjoy the more forceful side. Even so, I'm not sure if I would call this a romance at all, considering the fact that the content within this anime seemed less like a story of blooming, twisted love and more like a vampire snuff film. Character - 1/10 Usually when I watch a reverse harem, there's always at least one of the love interests that I tolerate more than the others, though this doesn't necessarily mean that these are characters that I love like Kyo Sohma and Ash Lynx. Be that as it may, the six vampire "love interests" in Diabolik Lovers proved to be so unlikable that I couldn't find redeeming qualities in any of them at all. Starting from oldest to youngest we have Shuu, the music junkie; Reiji, the glasses character; Ayato, the narcissistic ginger; Kanato, the creepy one who carries around a teddy bear; Laito, the one who wears a fedora; and Subaru, who likes to punch holes into walls when he's mad. The only difference between these vampires besides their appearances is their one single personality trait which I listed alongside their names. Other than that, these vampires are all exactly the same. When it comes to Yui, these vampires have the same goal of draining her of her blood, the same way of coming onto her, the same way of using verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, and the same way of treating her as nothing but livestock. Now you would think that because this is tagged as romance, the vampires would slowly start to realize that they actually care about Yui as the anime progresses. Sadly, this isn't the case. There is absolutely ZERO character development whatsoever when it comes to these low-lifes. Even when there's a hint that there might be development, things just revert back to the same at the start of the next episode. From start to end, nothing changes. I can understand that the intention was to create a group of sadistic vampires who were more realistic to their folklore rather than the ones seen in other vampire stories like Twilight. Despite this, the way Yui was tossed around between the six was not romantic or cute at all. If the plot would have taken a different direction and focused more on the story of a girl who was trapped in a home with sadistic vampires and had to find a way to escape, maybe I would have enjoyed the story a little more and accepted the fact that the vampires remained the same. But, again, this is supposed to be a romance, so the lack of development was widely disappointing. In spite of all I've said so far, this does not mean that I am sympathizing with Yui. This girl had her own fair share of being poorly written and lacking any sort of development. In fact, when being compared to all other reverse harem female MCs I've seen, she was the most agonizing to watch. I want you to picture yourself in her shoes for a moment: You just found out that your father basically delivered you like a Christmas present to six hungry vampires who have established that they don't care about you and are threatening to kill you if you try to escape. What do you do? You'd probably be terrified and try to stay away from them with every chance you get, right? Well, that's not what Yui does. When she's not being tortured by these vampires, she willingly puts herself in their presence to talk to them, and this ALWAYS results in her getting attacked. Her poor attempts at trying to become friends with these monsters are completely idiotic for someone in such a high danger zone like she is, and it just seems like she's completely unaware of what she's getting into when she decides to converse with them even though she's never left their side without teeth marks and blood stains on her body. You'd think that after the third time in a row of her being jumped when she just wanted to have a nice conversation that she'd develop some type of self-awareness, but she never does. Much like her vampire costars, Yui's character also fails to undergo any type of change. Art - 1/10 The art style in Diabolik Lovers twists itself around the dark aura portrayed by the narrative. We are given a warm color scheme that includes dark reds, purples, blues, and blacks, which is honestly perfect for this type of setting. However, the art is overshadowed by the horrible characters and their actions. If the story told by this disastrous failure of an anime was painted in a light where the main focus was more than just the torture of a girl in different locations - one of them being a literal church btw - during each episode, I might have been able to admire the art more. I will say one thing though, the art did an excellent job making these vampires look as ugly as they act, and making Yui look as pathetic as she reacts. Sound - 1/10 There's not much to say about the music. The instrumental soundtrack during the episodes was forgettable, and I never actually listened to the ending theme all the way through. As for the opening theme, at first I thought it quite catchy and, again, fit the premise of the show pretty well. Unfortunately, I quickly found out that it fit the events of the anime TOO well, as the English translated lyrics disgustingly correlate with the words of the vampires as they encourage their unsuspecting victim to weep, scream, and submit as they are sucked completely dry of blood. The fact that the singers of this song are also the voice actors for two of the vampires makes the idea of this even worse. Enjoyment - 1/10 Enjoyment is the wrong word to use here. When I think of Diabolik Lovers, the words that come to mind are repulsion, abhorrence, insulting, and exasperation. Enjoyment is the last thing I would think of. After watching this 12-episode torture fest, I want to throw up. While I do have my issues with the reverse harem genre, I can confidently say that every other one I have watched in the past has had at least SOME romantic elements included, like hugs and kisses, even though most don't end with a definitive couple. I know the otome game where Diabolik Lovers originated from does eventually develop on the romance aspect, however this part of the game was just completely forgotten about all together when it came time to turn it into an anime. This anime is NOT a romance. Not once did the male or female side feel any sort of connection with each other, and not once did Yui agree to satisfy the needs of the vampires by willingly letting them touch and feed on her. Diabolik Lovers is a deplorable piece of work, and I sincerely hope that nothing like this will ever be created again in the future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Mar 5, 2017
Gugure! Kokkuri-san
(Anime)
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I have never laughed so hard watching an anime in my life. Oh my gosh the creators did an amazing job with the humor in this anime. There wasn't a single dull moment in this show, or a moment where I didn't find myself holding my stomach from laughing so hard. It was definitely time well spent and this was one of the few anime that makes me want to come back to it one day.
There isn't a set plot in the anime, as something different happens in each episode that doesn't correlate with what happened in the last - except the addition of new ... characters. Each episode is special in its own way which really makes this short series different from what I'm used to. The extreme randomness of whatever was going on really made the show a lot funnier than you'd expect. The art was adorable and really well done. I enjoyed all the colors that were displayed. They really gave off a feel-good and silly environment which is exactly what the show is about. While on the topic of the environment of the show, the music also did an amazing job with fitting in. That theme song! Oh my gosh, it was so cute! This was one of the few theme songs I didn't dare to skip because I enjoyed it so freaking much! Character interaction was what really made the show as good as it is. Between Kohina's poker-face humor and Kokkuri-san's bubbly personality along with his small rivalries with the other characters, I couldn't get enough of it! There aren't that many characters in the show, so character development was a great quality this show contained. If you're having a bad day (or even a good day) I strongly suggest this anime. The adorable characters and hilarious jokes will bring a smile to anyone's face.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 19, 2017
Re:␣Hamatora
(Anime)
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I'm super happy that the second season was successful instead of it being a total dud compared to other second seasons I've watched. Right away I can say the animation definitely matured since the first season. The colors are a little more dull, giving the show a more ominous atmosphere, which played perfectly with the plot.
The plot was amazing. I loved how we got some more of Art, Nice, and Hajime's backstory. Even though I hated it, Art was a great villain. His motives were legit and understandable, unlike villains I have watched in the past. I really don't want to spoil the ending, so I'm ... just going to say that it was FAR better than the first season's ending. THIS was the ending I was waiting for and I am so happy that the show ended the way that it did. As for the music, I specifically liked the theme song. It always got me riled up for the episode because it was so upbeat and catchy. I always found myself dancing in my chair or slightly bobbing my head to the beat. That's when you know a theme song is good. Overall, this short series has really touched me and I'm very happy to have watched it and come to love the characters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Feb 19, 2017
Yuri!!! on Ice
(Anime)
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Wow... that's pretty much all I can say. Never in my life have I heard of a love story like this one and I'll go ahead and say that it was probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed.
This anime was truly moving. It was such a pleasure to watch, and I'm so sad it's finally over. I can't express how beautiful the storyline was and how lovable all the characters were. From the beginning of episode one to the end of episode twelve I had a blast watch it. Not once was there a dull moment whether on the ice or ... not. The concept of this show was unique and original, not like a single one I have seen before. Not to mention the LOVE between Yuri and Victor. Seeing their relationship as it grew was absolutely beautiful and heartwarming. Music is a big part about what makes an anime enjoyable for me. The music in this show was outstanding. From the theme song to the skating programs, I loved all of it. The creators did an amazing job bringing out the emotions of the characters with the music. Much like music, animation is also a major thing for me, and oh my gosh this show did GREAT at that. The art style of the theme song was beautifully done, I loved all the colors and the little skating program done by the three main characters. Speaking of skating programs, the animation was so charmingly done, I was speechless. The accuracy of how the skating programs played out was astonishing. I really hope that a second season will be made. I loved every bit of this show and would love to see more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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