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*Spoiler-free section.*

I took Senpai wa Otokonoko off of the metaphorical shelf because I had a free slot in my seasonal anime, and the title sounded interesting. It was pretty far down on the seasonal popularity list, so I expected to find an alright show I could at least enjoy my time with. What I wasn’t expecting was a show that carefully, respectfully, and tactfully portrayed topics such as, LGBTQ people, gender non-conformity, and various forms of child abuse. Senpai wa Otokonoko isn’t a new favorite of mine, but I really respect and like the way that it handled its characters, story, and themes. Along with ... very good animation, music, and VA work, this anime has become one of my favorites this season. 9/10

*Spoilers beyond this point.*

Senpai wa Otokonoko has three main stories. Makoto, Saki, and Ryuugi, and all of their arcs are a coming-of-age story about being yourself. The anime starts as a simple Party A falls For Party B, but then Party C discovers their feelings for Party A. Is this generalized plot entirely unique to this show? No, because many anime follow this format for their stories, so, this show does lean on the LGBTQ and gender non-conformity point a bit to make the story unique. However, the story quickly becomes more complicated. Party A can’t express themselves because of an abusive parent. Party B is abandoned and neglected. I believe that a secondary theme of this anime is breaking the cycle of hurt. Makoto and Saki are very kind, friendly, and caring people. All of these are qualities their homes lack. I also like how Makoto is a deep character and is not a typical objectified anime femboy archetype.

One of the reasons that Makoto is more than just that archetype is because he comes from a pretty difficult living situation. You see, his mother is, no exaggeration, obsessed with him being gender-conforming. So obsessed in fact that Makoto keeps all of his cute/girly outfits and objects in a locker in a storage shed on school grounds. Well, that just seems like a controlling parent right? Well, that’s not all because Makoto brings Saki over to his house. She meets his mom, and she acts like a normal person. However, a few days later she finds a pink handkerchief in Makoto’s room. Instead of assuming that the handkerchief is his friend’s who was over a couple of days ago, she assumes it’s his. She then sits at the dining table, for an unknown period of time, with all of the lights off except for one, literally STARING at this pink handkerchief like a lunatic. Later, Makoto tries to tell her that he wants to control when he gets his hair cut instead of her telling him to. She then begins to breathe heavily and has to be left in a separate room to “recover.” Poor baby. What is interesting is that his dad isn’t in absentia. He drives Makoto around while they talk about his gender identity. His dad basically asks if he wants to transition into a girl, or just likes dressing as one. Later, we see that his answer is neither. He wants to be himself. His dad seems at least passively supportive, and that’s better than what his mother offers. He also gives Makoto his grandfather's address and tells him to go and make a visit. His grandfather enjoys more feminine things, so obviously he is supportive and understanding of Makoto.

Saki also comes from a difficult living situation. Being neglected by her father and abandoned by her mother for 10 years isn’t just something brought up once or twice to explain why her parents aren’t around when her friends come over, or why she lives alone with her grandmother. She is genuinely affected by her parents being bad people, and it’s shown through her actions. She craves love and attention from others. When she was younger, she tried to be friends with everyone, but that freaked some of the other kids out, and then they distanced themselves from her. In high school, she is friends with quite a few people, but now is looking for someone to be her “special someone” to make her feel happy. She is trying to fill the hole left by her abusive parents. On a side note, I do not trust her mother trying to come back into Saki’s life.

On the note of her parents, Saki’s dad loves his whale-studying job more than her, therefore, she learns a lot about whales just to try and make him pay attention to her, she texts him all the time even though he never answers her, and the only reason he comes back into town is when his mother is in the hospital after becoming light-headed and falling. After that visit, he leaves right for the whales again. He didn’t even realize that she was wearing a large band-aid on her knee. Her mother is no better. She walked out on Saki when she was little. Leaving her with an absent father and an aging grandmother. To me, there is no wonder that Saki is the way she is, and why she feels the way she feels.

Ryuuji doesn’t come from an immediately hostile environment like the other two mains, as a matter of fact, his little sister seems to know, and support, that he has a crush on Makoto. Now, this does not mean that his story is any less interesting. He starts the story by being friends with Makoto, and, with Saki’s help, he realizes his feelings for him. His feelings are shown in a, mostly, realistic and sympathetic way, and anyone who has developed feelings for a good friend would agree with me.

Everyone’s VA work is good, but the standout is Saki’s. She brings a type of excited, goofy, funny energy, but she can also be serious and nervous when she needs to be. The animation is great too. I’m not a huge fan of the art style drastically switching to simple and chibi-like art style for the funny parts. It pulls me out of the story a bit and makes me think that the creator wanted there to be a clear switch between the serious parts and the funny parts. As if they can’t coexist.

I have other small problems with the anime too. First of all, Makoto gave up on dressing like a girl, throwing away all of his cute stuff, and then getting over giving up on all of that stuff is done fairly quickly. I wanted to see more of his mental struggle. Secondly, Ryuuji doesn’t seem to struggle too much with his newfound sexual understanding. In the beginning, he was like “No, I don’t like Makoto” to, “No, I don’t like Makoto, but what if?” to, “Yes, I do like Makoto.” It was too straightforward for my liking. Thirdly, I would have liked to see more of Makoto’s current school situation. We see a few students acting weird around him in the first episode, but after that, everyone treats him no differently than anyone else. Also, most of the school problems we see are flashbacks to his first year. Also, I think that the first few episodes don’t set the tone for the rest of the show. I think that they come off as more like “A mostly unserious comedy about how this guy dresses like a girl.” Finally, I don’t like how the abusive moms are going through a type of redemption arc. Listen, it’s not like bad people can’t be redeemed, but these two are really bad people and I just don’t buy it.

Is Senpai wa Otokonoko the best show ever? Did it make it into my top 10? 20? No, no, and no. But, what this show IS is a well-done look into what life can be like if you identify as an LGBTQ person, a gender non-conforming person, and/or a person that has suffered one of, if not various forms of, child abuse. This show is tragic, comedic, thoughtful, and great all around. The characters and story get a 9.5, and the enjoyment, sound, and animation all get a 9. I can’t believe that a show I originally pegged down as a mid-7 was able to become a low 9. Quite the surprise, and what is even more of a surprise is that this show is my second favorite this season. 9/10.

Final words? The mains should get into a throuple.

*Spoiler-free section.*

I have quite a few hobbies outside of anime and manga. Including, but not limited to, paleontology, teaching, reading novels, camping, video games, and watching YouTube. One of the 50-odd channels I'm subbed to on YouTube is a book-tuber named Daniel Greene. During a weekly news video, he says that H.P. Lovecraft’s famous story The Shadow Over Innsmouth has a manga adaptation that will be released in November of 2023. I, of course, went, “A what of huh? Is this real?” Not only is it real, but there are, at the time of writing, 10 manga and 1 anime adapting Lovecraft’s works. I was ... truly at a loss for words. For more reasons than one.

Now, I have read all of Lovecraft’s works and can tell you that all of his stories revolve around the horror of the unknowable and/or incomprehensible. So, how do you translate something that is meant to be beyond the point of human comprehension, and make that into a drawing on a page? The answer is, not as bad as you might have expected. Gou Tanabe does a pretty good job of conveying the strangeness of the creatures, and he was able to translate some of the atmosphere of the original story into this manga. Minimal changes have been made to the story, so it’s very good, however, the characters have always been weak in Lovecraft’s works, and it is no different here. 7/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point.*

The story starts with Robert Olmstead looking to do some genealogical research, and this leads him to the town of Innsmouth. Turns out the ancestors of the people of Innsmouth made a pact with the Deep Ones who have ties to Dagon and Cthulhu. Therefore, the people of Innsmouth begin to resemble these Deep Ones the older they get. Robert gets attacked and flees from these half-fish people and makes it home. Then it is revealed that Robert’s ancestors are half-fish people, and so he also begins to change.

There is a reason why this story is one of Lovecraft’s most well-known works, and that’s because it is amazing. There is mystery, and horror, and fishiness oozing from every pore of the story. The town of Innsmouth itself is extremely off-putting, and you can almost feel the slime of conspiracies and sinister intentions that coat the town. The action scene is pretty well done and tense. I never would have expected Lovecraft to write such good action. My final bit of praise for the story is that it ties so well into the Cthulhu mythos.

The story isn’t all good though. First, if you dig into the story beyond the basic level you find that it is a story about miscegenation. Who knew Lovecraft was a frothing racist? Also, there is so much exposition it hurts. Lovecraft could have found a better way to deliver this information than a drunk old man talking at the main character, and therefore the reader, about Innsmouth’s history. He is not above splitting a story into a dozen parts, so why not do that here and make it flow better? Honestly, his racism probably got in the way. Finally, if I was Robert, I would have left when I saw my first fish person. Nothing could keep me around those Fishmen.

I really like the art. I know that adapting a Lovecraft work must be difficult at least, and impossible at most, but Gou Tanabe did it. Also, the level of detail in the wide shots is fantastic. The fish people look rightfully off-putting, the town looks appropriately decrepit, and the page-turn reveals are well done when implemented. My final point on the art is that the cover is amazing. Having it be almost all back and white, but then have the green eyes of the priest shine back at the reader as if the moonlight is glinting off of them like in the story. Genius and well-executed move.

Almost nothing can be said for the characters in this manga. The old man is for exposition, the Innsmouth people are hateful Fishmen, and Robert acts like you expect anyone in a horror story to do. That being, of course, inexplicably staying around danger for the sake of the story. You should read this manga if you want to get into Lovecraft, if you have read the original story, or if Lovecraft’s writing style gives you a headache. With all that said, Art and Enjoyment gets an 8.5, story a 7, and Characters a 6. For a final score of 7.5.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn. Iä R'lyea! Iä Cthulhu ftagn! Iä! Iä! 7/10

*Spoiler-free section.*

Are you real? Am I real? Does what we perceive as real actually exist? Does our observation of an object and/or event change its result? I think the answers to all the above are, probably. I don’t know I don’t have a degree in philosophy. Shimeji Simulation seems to have one, however, and the answers it gave me to all of the above were, probably. Great. Thanks.

Okay in all seriousness, Shimeji Simulation does ask these questions while not directly about me or you, but about its cast of characters. Mostly the two main characters Shimiji and Majime. These two come up with their ... own answers, and I think that they are satisfactory. I like the characters, although, some of them could have been more fleshed out. I love the art style and the panelwork, and honestly had a really nice time with Shimeji Simulation. I look forward to Tsukumizu’s next work. 8/10.

*NOTE* I read this as it released over the course of a few years, so, I might have forgotten parts of the story, not connected some themes, or missed some entirely. Given that, I skimmed through the series to refresh my memory, and so I could, in good conscience, write a review. Maybe my score(s) will change with a subsequent reading or just more thinking on it. However, I am comfortable with an 8/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point.*

At first, Shimeji Simulation is your normal Slice of Life story. A girl going to a new school, meeting new friends, and joining a club. However, things are a bit off. The items on most people's heads, Big Sis fishing in the grass, and blocks standing in the middle of nowhere. However, the “Incident” that really changes everything is when Big Sis makes a perpetual motion machine, and the Hole Digging Club falls in. After that, The Simulation really begins. People can think of anything and it will appear. Food, items, houses, and so on all apparate in the world with something as simple as a thought. This is when the theme becomes apparent. That, of course, is the classic existential crisis of everyone and everything around you exists only in your mind. As Shimeji goes about her days in this new “reality” she, naturally, becomes better and better friends with Majime. This, of course, leads to less and less time for other people, and so, they start to disappear from her mind, her reality. Until it is her and Majime alone.

The ending is what most people remember, and it hits hard when Majime disappears from Shimeji’s reality. This makes her try everything in her power to find Majime again. Including going around during chaos cycles, sitting around for, what she perceived as, years, and putting her life in danger. At least, what she sees as dangerous. This all ends with Shimeji finding herself on Majime’s personal planet. On this planet, Shimeji finds countless depictions of Majime, but not the person herself. Until her pencil pouch, Yoshika, appears and escorts her to Majime who is sitting in their classroom. There they reconnect and become Gods of Majime’s planet together. This ending is very fitting, and I was worried that we would have to deal with a GLT ending.

A thing I really like about the story is that as the manga goes along, the world becomes more and more abstract. For example, at first, it was as simple as words and items appearing from somebody thinking about them, but eventually became periods of chaos, represented by shapes and lines. It feels really well built up and has a good sense of going down the spiral. People also show up less as the story goes on. This provides a nice sense of isolation along with the existential crisis plot. The last thing I like, or at least respect, is that Tsukumizu ends their manga. Girls’ Last Tour and Shimeji Simulation could have been dragged out for many more volumes, but Tsukumizu has the sense to end it.

There are two major things I didn’t like about the story. The first one was that there were some chapters about 2/3’s that felt like a “and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened.” Another thing I didn’t like was that there was an attempt to explain the more complicated things going on in the world. I understand if you like this, however, I think it explains things that don’t need an explanation because it’s just another example of the world going downward.

The story can’t be as good as it is without Shimiji and Majime. Shimiji especially has such a good character arc. She went from a girl who shut herself in her closet (an interesting phrase given chapter 43) to a girl who travels from personal planet to personal planet trying desperately to find Majime. She has experienced real personal growth, and this growth feels natural too. She starts off using mostly short sentences or reactions, but then by the end uses full sentences. I don’t think she ever carried a conversation, but she held her own, and for someone like her to get that far is great. Majime doesn’t have as big of a character arc, but seeing her relationship with Shimiji developing throughout the manga is really good. Unfortunately, only these two characters really matter. Sure, Big Sis, Mogawa Sensei, The Gardener, Sumida-senpai, and Yomikawa-senpai. They all do things, and sometimes very important things, however, they are still pretty flat. Especially when compared to Shimiji.

I really like Tsukumizu’s art style. It’s simple when it can be, but detailed when it needs to be. On top of the art being great, is the use of the panels themselves. Take chapter six page nine for example. Shimeji is large in the top right corner, and then the next panel is a shot of her imminent surroundings. The cacti are so big that they are growing out of their panels. I could go on about this one page, and many more, but there are other things to write about. One of the things, and my only substantive problem, with the art is I have a hard time understanding what is going on spatially during the more abstract parts. I have to stop and think about what is where, and that takes me out of the story.

This isn’t my favorite manga I’ve ever read, and honestly, it won’t ever crack the top ten. This is because, while it is flawed, this manga just didn’t jell with me like Girls’ Last Tour, or Bloom Into You did. If Shimeji Simulation did jell for you, I’m thrilled, and I’m happy that you found something that you love. However, I still really enjoyed my time with Shimeji Simulation. Yes there could have been more done with the side cast, and yes the story and art were a little confusing sometimes, but this manga is still worth a read. Just as Tsukumizu wrote in the first volume of Girls’ Last Tour “Even if it's [life] meaningless...sometimes nice things happen.” Sometimes, that nice thing is finding a friend that you would fight through hell and high water for, and sometimes it’s reading a nice manga from an excellent author. Art is a 9.5, Characters are an 8, Story is an 8.5, and enjoyment is an 8. For a score of 8/10.

*NOTE* I read this as it released over the course of a few years, so, I might have forgotten parts of the story, not connected some themes, or missed some entirely. Given that, I skimmed through the series to refresh my memory, and so I could, in good conscience, write a review. Maybe my score(s) will change with a subsequent reading or just more thinking on it. However, I am comfortable with an 8/10.

*Spoiler-free section.*

Danmachi Season 4 part 2 is a masterclass in parody. Unfortunately, I don't think that parody was the intention of this season. Everyone makes awful decisions all the time, stands around instead of making decisions, argues over any decision made by someone else while they stand there being indecisive, speeches about how friendship is the key to victory during a fight, and a couple of other spoilers topics that I won’t say here. The animation, music, voice acting, and sound effects are all serviceable. The CGI is looking pretty rough. The characters have gotten so much worse, and can now be summarized in one ... or two words. Have I enjoyed this season? No. As a matter of fact, I will probably drop Danmachi because I just can’t be asked to continue with this nonsense. 5/10

*Spoilers beyond this point.*

Just above I said, “everyone makes awful decisions all the time.” So, I will talk about some of these decisions. The first one is Ryuu healing Bell after they fall to a lower floor. They both have cuts, scraps, and bruises, but Bell has a broken arm and Ryuu has a broken leg. Who gets healed first? Ryuu because Bell can still walk, and even fight, with a broken arm, but Ryuu can barely move with a broken leg. Simple, right? Nope. Ryuu heals Bell first. Not only is this brainless, but Ryuu’s actions have immediate consequences when a Skull Sheep attacks Bell reinjuring his arm. If she healed herself they could have ran, or she could have fought since she could see through the Sheep Skull’s camouflage. Not only did she waste her healing on Bell, but she also healed herself a few episodes later. So, she could have healed herself, killed the Skull Sheep, and then heal Bell. On top of that, she keeps letting Bell use their healing potions instead of using one herself to make the fighting less of a strain on Bell. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

Of course, the bad decisions don’t start and end with Bell and Ryuu. The rest of the Hestia Familia also make terrible decisions during their fight with the Water Hydra. The first, and most glaring one, is how they fight the hydra. They attacked the hydra all over its body. Up and down the faces, the necks, and they even try the body. However, it would be far more effective if the familia would focus their attacks on one of the heads. Preferably, the one that does actual damage instead of nullifying magic. That’s not the only problem with the way they attack though, because they attack lengthways down the neck instead of trying to go through it decapitating the hydra. At first, I thought that wasn’t possible because hey, if seven seasoned advertisers didn’t think of that attack they must not be able to right? Wrong. When the plot decides that they have spent enough time on the fight, Ouka just does it.

On top of the constant bad decisions, everyone argues all of the time over everything. Seriously, not an episode passes without at least one argument. It doesn’t matter if they are standing around in the open, during the fight with the Water Hydra, during the caving after they beat the boss, or in the middle of running away. I understand that this is an incredibly high-stress scenario, but all this arguing during every moment is ridiculous. Don’t think for a second that this arguing is only for the Hestia Familia because Bell and Ryuu argue too. Except, somehow, they are even worse. For example, Ryuu tells Bell to leave her, but after a few encouraging sentences, she is fixed it right up. A little later, Bell has a mental breakdown, and you guessed it, after a few encouraging sentences, he's right back to normal.

Finally, we reach Cassandra. I saw SO much cope online about why nobody is listening to Cassandra. Oh, she has mythological origins. Oh, nobody fully understands her power. Oh, it’s this or that. I don't care. It is a terrible character trait. If I was tasked with coming to you and I said, “Let's have a character who can roughly see into the future, but nobody ever listens to them.” The only correct response is, “That sounds absolutely infuriating for the viewer. Now get out of my office before I tell the security officers to roughly see that you don’t have a future.” Also, why does everyone always marvel at her for healing? It’s her one job. Finally, if she is so easily scared by monsters then why is she in the dungeon? I am sure there are other jobs that would suit her better.

That’s enough about Cassandra how are the other characters? Unfortunately, they have gotten worse. Instead of being kind of interesting, they have all fallen into a one-word descriptor. Asisha is the motivator. If the others are feeling a little bit down, stressed worried, or upset, she is right there to talk about the power of friendship or something similar. Daphne is the bad friend. I mean honestly when the cave-in started and they were all standing around arguing a huge crystal fell from the ceiling. Daphne jumped back but left Cassandra in the path of the crystal. Of course, the crystal missed by, let's be generous here, a couple of feet. Bell is the super awesome and amazing Main Character. Something similar could be said and done for all of the other characters.

Honestly, I'm struggling to think of things that I really liked. One of the things was when Welf used his last magic weapon to forge a newer, stronger, one was really smart. Also, this felt like a do-or-die moment for the characters. Secondly, the animation, music, voice acting, and sound effects are all good. However, the CGI is looking pretty rough. Thirdly, I really liked seeing someone as distant as Ryuu emotionally, and physically, reach out for Bell when he is under stress is heartwarming.

It is time for my favorite section, “Things that bother me, but even I can’t stretch them into a full paragraph.” Ryuu can fight with a broken leg? I never broke my leg, so I don’t know from experience, but that doesn’t seem like something you can do. I'm sorry, but I just don’t care about the Astrea Familia. They are dead, and they have no importance in the current situation. Please stop showing them as if I care. Bell has no right being as far down in the dungeon as he is. He is very strong, but he is so inexperienced it is dangerous for him and his party. So, with the Unicorn Horn knife Bell is immune to poison? Great, he really needed that. “You can’t outrun the big indestructible boss no matter how hard you try!” Oh yeah, where is it then? It’s been gone for like four episodes. It off taking a poo?

With all that said, and some left cutting room floor, I probably will drop this series. If there is one more, maybe even two more, season I might watch them just to say that I finished off the series. But any more would be too many. I don’t like dropping series, but if my favorite moment from most of the episodes is when they end, it’s time to let it go. I’ve seen people online saying that this season is the best so far, but I fervently disagree. If they are right, and this is the best, then I dread to see the worst. In the end characters and enjoyment get a 4, art and sound a 7, and story a 3. For a final score of a 5/10.

*Spoiler-free section.*

This review follows my second rewatch of the Girls’ Last Tour anime, and my first rereading of the manga.

Every time I write a review I have some difficulties. Sometimes it's finding the proper way to organize my thoughts, and sometimes it’s condensing all of the things I want to write about into a, not overly long, review. Let me tell you, reader, I have never had such difficulties with the ladder before. There is so much I want to talk about, from the symbolism to the atmosphere, from the themes to the impact this manga had on my life. I want to write about ... so many things because Girls’ Last Tour is very interesting, deep, unique, and just so wonderful. I laughed, I cried, I was scared, and I was in awe. It was very difficult, but I managed to whittle down all of my feelings into a review and not a book. Yes, this is, in fact, the shortest I could get this review. Girls’ Last Tour isn’t perfect, but the story, characters, and art are all outstanding, beautiful, and one of a kind. 10/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point. Seriously, Girls’ Last Tour is fantastic, so go read/watch it.*

For the sake of space, I won’t talk about every part of the story in every volume. Instead, I will talk about the general story volume by volume, and then talk about my favorite part(s). After that, I will discuss the ending, and how I felt afterward. However, before I do that, I want to go over some points regarding the whole story. The story delivers all of the emotions at the right times. It is funny, sad, heart-warming, and profound when it needs to be and not a moment more. It takes really good writing and characters to go from “Oh my god I can’t find Chi. What if I never find her again!? To then change to “Chi is a god!?” The whole story is very well put together, and it feels like not a single page is filler. Only 100% of what needed to be there is there. I could go on and on, but space and all of that.

Volume one is where we meet the two girls Chito (Chi) and Yuuri (Yuu) driving a Kettenkrad (or what I like to call it, a T H I C C motorcycle). We see that the area that they live in is wartorn and close to, if not completely, devoid of life. They flap about the area shooting cans, eating food, taking a bath, messing with tanks and planes, and doing laundry. At the end of the volume, they meet Kanazawa who gives them his camera and then leaves them after losing the maps he made. The best part of this volume is the first chapter. This is because we are immediately shown, through excellent show don’t tell storytelling, that Yuu is the more carefree and Chi is the more serious, and that they live in a war-torn area.

Volume two is where we see some statues and a temple showing us a common religion in this world. Yuu takes photographs with the camera, gives the two of them a severe concussion, and becomes a god within the first two chapters. While Chi takes a nap and then nearly kills the aforementioned god by putting a rock in her mouth while she sleeps. After this, they find Ishii flying a model plane. Her goal is to escape this city and go to another one after she builds a working plane. Chi and Yuu help Ishii with her plane because their T H I C C motorcycle is broken. After she gets the plane going, it breaks apart in the air. But, Ishii has a parachute and she floats gently downward. Also, Rain Song is magical in the anime. Go watch it.

Volume three starts with the girls going to the rations factory and making themselves more food. After leaving that facility, they find these tall black boxes and more statues. In a wonderfully drawn image, Chi tells Yuu that those boxes are a type of grave. The two girls then get drunk on “the moon,” but really it was some type of alcohol. Then they nearly die after traveling up a spiral staircase. In the final few chapters, they meet a fish and its robot keeper. They have a deep talk about what makes a life a life right before a larger robot tries to tear down the building the fish is in. The girls blow it up in order to save the fish. This part of the story was the best part of the last three volumes. What is life? Does it matter? Is a life for a life a real/good philosophy? I don’t think that the girls even come to a conclusion. The best thing I could say that they could come up with is “No matter what is alive or “alive,” one day death will come.”

Volume four begins with the two least memorable chapters in the entire series, Train and wavelengths (but the song Owari no Uta used in the anime slaps, so go listen to that). After getting her hair cut, Yuu finds another living thing, Nuko (or Ket in the manga). Nuko is a white wormy-dealie with stubs for legs that eats bullets. After firing off a giant robot’s laser, they find a forest of windmills and a nuclear submarine. Upon going inside, and finding actual active nukes, Chi tries to take a picture of Yuu, but instead, the camera connects to a display where the girls see the countless pictures and videos that were saved on the camera. After a nap, Chi watches as gets eaten by a big wormy-dealie. Chi chases after it down the halls and up to the outside top of the sub, where she sees Yuu’s head poking out of the big wormy-dealie. It turns out the big wormy-dealie only wanted the camera that was around Yuu’s neck. It also turns out that the big wormy-dealie was in fact a mushroom wormy-dealie and Nuko was a youngster. After a light conversation, they fly away leaving the girls alone once more.

Volume five starts with the girls finding water and eating canned fish. Chi gets a minor injury to her ankle but heals with time and rest. Afterwards, they talk about art, make clothes, smoke cigarettes (or weed depending on your interpretation), and then meet a suicidal AI god. The chapter with the AI is my favorite outside of the final volume because of how real it feels. Yeah, you would be lonely too if you spent countless years alone and unable to do anything about it. Forced to live on the backup backup backup backup power supply. They probably spent decades thinking about death, about oblivion, with no way to reach it. Having infinite memories, infinite loss, infinite sadness, and infinite yearning for the end. Chi and Yuu don’t quite understand it, but I do. It is simultaneously sad and understandable.

Volume six is where everything was lost. Their Kettenkrad broke down, and Chi tried everything in her power to fix it, but it was no use. Every time one thing is fixed another two break. Covered in oil and gunk, Chi asks Yuu If she wants a bath. They fill the back with snow and use the fuel to heat it up until the water is at a good temperature. And then in the second hardest moment in the entire volume, Chi breaks down, and Yuu comforts her the best she can. Afterward, they have to carry the rest of their stuff. So, in order to lighten her pack, Yuu throws her gun away. Chi then burns her journals so they can be able to eat and drink. After all of that loss, they finally reach the top. However, they find nothing. No one is up there. The two stand and look at the snow and sky, and Chi wishes they could have stayed somewhere else with food and warmth. Yuu begins a bittersweet snowball fight ending with a long stare into the night sky. After watching the sunrise, they eat the last bit of their food and snuggle up together to go to sleep. Sometime during that sleep, they die from hypothermia. The last pages we see are of the world that they left behind. A world now devoid of human life.

After finishing the final chapter, I was left a weeping, hollow shell for days afterward. I wanted to think of a way for the two girls to survive. “They woke up and found more food.” But where? “They found food in their bags.” No, they didn’t. The bags are empty. “But they could…” Honestly, this is probably the best ending possible. Imagine, one woke up without the other, or they both woke up, but then they would starve to death, or they tried to go further but then died from exhaustion or hypothermia. Going peacefully in their sleep was the best way to go. This shows how great the characters, story, and writing are. When the reader attempts to theorize ways to keep them alive, but every answer they come up with, ends the same way, or worse. This ending is perfect. It is neither a happy one, nor is it a nice one, but it is perfect.

The reasons why the ending was perfect are numerous, but the two biggest ones are our two main characters, Chito and Yuuri. They are complete opposites. Chi is a survivalist, she drives, reads, writes, and is very serious. Yuu eats food, shoots, is light-hearted, and calms Chi down when she needs to. Having these two opposites in your story not only gives each reader a character to connect to but also forms a dichotomy that gives the reader different perspectives on a situation. Out of the two main characters I relate to Yuu more. I have never been the type of person to write in a journal or a diary. Nor am I the type of person to cling to hope. Nor am I the type of person to ask, “where did I go wrong?” I’m the type of person who would try and save a fish from a robot destroying the building that its tank is in. And, I’m the type of person that lives day by day and enjoys the simplicities of life. And, I’m the type of person to ask, “how can I make it better?”

I also ask myself “how can I make the art in this manga better?” But, I have no answer to that because I think the art is incredible. It is so expressive, cute, and squishy. But also it is also harsh, rigid, and brutal when it needs to be. It also easily shows the scale of the environment. The two-page art is always amazing. So amazing in fact that I have some of them in my wallpaper folder. Also, the last few pages of the final volume are all so excellently done I think that if they were not done, the ending would have suffered for it. Also, it always drives the emotions that I am feeling home. The art also has a lot of easter eggs and small details that one might miss. For example, there are a few Shimeji Simulation references in chapter 31. Finally, I love the pre-chapter art for chapters 1, 6/7/8, 10, 14/15/16, 18, 19, 21, 27, 28, 34, 36, 37, 41,43, 44, and 45/46/47. Quite a list I know.

Despite the praise I have previously mentioned and the more I could give, this manga still has its problems. One of these issues is with the art. In many cases, the art looks like a sketch for a rough draft, and not for the finished product. For example, piles of rubble are hastily drawn shapes, buildings are rough around the edges, and the maps are all barely defined scribbles. This issue is very obvious in the first volume, but it’s also present later in the series. Now, I am willing to bet that this is just Tsukumizu’s style, but I do not have to like that aspect of their style, therefore, is criticized. When they try and make something look great, it looks amazing. I also don’t like the placement of the last chapter in volume five. Not because it was a flashback to when the girls were young and they set out on their adventure, but it is because it came after Oblivion. Oblivion should have been the ending of the volume. This would not only end the fifth volume with a bang, but also set the final volume nicely.

Finally, my biggest problem is with the “mushroom” creatures from volume 4. The hurt all aspects of the manga. From the writing, to the art, to the story. These creatures hurt the story because they are meant to symbolize the city, and presumably, the world, having lost all life. This idea was the whole point of the story, so I fail to see why they were needed to begin with. Do the publishers and/or Tsukumizu trust the reader to understand the whole point of the manga? Or were they added in because Tsukumizu likes their “What is even going on?” moments not realizing they really hurt the story. These creatures also hurt the characters of Chito and Yuuri. They pop up, and tell the girls that “Currently, you two are the only surviving humans that we are aware of.” What does this do? Nothing. It doesn’t change the girls in any positive or negative way. It’s just filler I guess. The last issue with them is that these “mushroom” creatures clash visually with the rest of the manga. You see, the whole environment is metal, concrete, and snow. The only life we see are the two girls, Kanazawa, Ishi, the fish, and the potatoes. But, here are these “mushroom” creatures. When they were put into the world they do not jell visually with the setting, established life, or the story.

These criticisms bearly make a scratch on the massive mountain that is Girls’ Last Tour. This manga is not only my favorite manga, but probably will keep that title until I die. Girls’ Last Tour is filled with philosophy, emotions, and symbolism. The girls died in the end, yes, but that’s how it has to end. Is it sad? Yes, but that’s how loss feels. Anyone can try and rationalize and calculate the odds any way they want. But what would that prove? The girls survive another few days or decades to be taken by something that is possibly less kind. As with all of my reviews, I don't do this for the “___ people found this review helpful” number to go up, and I don’t do this to influence anybody to read the manga or watch the show. So, who am I doing this for? Well, the only person left is me. I do this for myself. I want to transcribe these thoughts, these feelings, into words the best I can. These words won’t live on forever and neither will I, but that’s okay. Because no matter what is alive or “alive,” one day death will come. 10/10.


“This world is so massive and complicated that many things pass us by without us ever even knowing. But no matter what, Chito and Yuuri believed that the joy of living would never pass, and I want to believe that too…I think that’s what I had in mind as I drew (wrote in my case) this...probably.” (Tsukumizu, Girls' Last Tour, Vol. 6).

RWBY? Now, that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. A long time.

I haven’t seen RWBY since season six in late 2018, and nothing, in particular, has turned me off the series. My interest just kind of petered out after I began to make, and listen to criticisms of the show. But, when I saw a new anime called “RWBY: Ice Queendom” the long cold fire that was my interest in RWBY began to smolder anew. However, the smoldering waned a bit after I watched the first few episodes, and by the last episode, the fire was as cold as it always ... was. Not that RWBY: Ice Queendom was bad. It just captured very little about what I liked in the original show. The animation, music, and character development that the original show had (to varying degrees I might add) just weren’t there in the end. Don’t watch this if you are a RWBY mega fan because you will just get mad. Also, if you are not a fan, don’t watch it because this won't get you into, or back into, RWBY. So who is this show for? I don’t know, children? 4/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point*

I immediately knew I was going to be in for something when the first three episodes are pretty much all recaps of the show, but they condense two hours of the show into one hour for the anime. This caused a lot of pacing issues in those first three episodes. Like when the students are tasked with finding a chess piece in order to make teams. The entire thing was here and gone in a few minutes. And this was one example of things being cut out and left worse for wear. There are many more I can assure you. And because of the amount cut out, the dialog has to pick up the slack, and oh boy does it hold your hand. It holds your hand so hard in fact that your bones will powderize after the first episode. One of my favorite examples is when Weiss says, “Hello Father and older sister this is my final test right?” Now the dialog in the original show wasn’t very hands-off, but it was leagues better than this!

Two of my favorite moments from the first season were the open fight at the dust store, and Blake's reveal as a Faunus. But of course, both of these moments are way worse in the anime than in the show. For example, in the show, Ruby turns the music off on her headphones after going outside. That was a small detail, but it sold the scene. Also, there was no cut to Yang in the middle of the chase going “Ruby? What are you doing little sister?” Who thought that would be a good decision? Also, who thought rushing through Blake's revel as a Faunus was a good idea? So in the show, Blake’s revel had (mostly) proper buildup and payoff, but in the anime, it is like, “See Blake? Wow, she is a Faunus. Anyways, moving on…” Very little setup and even less payoff. You would have guessed?

After the first three episodes, comes the meat of the season. That of course being that Ruby, Blake, and Yang have to save Weiss from the Grimm that is keeping her in her dreams. Does that sound confusing and misplaced? Well, reader, I can assure you that it is even worse in the show. It comes out of nowhere and makes very little sense. The Grimm has always been a real, and physical, threat, but this one is not and not. Why? Couldn’t tell ya. Actually, I can. It is the same reason why they did not send as many people as possible into Weiss’s dream to begin with, the reason why there were so many relics, and the reason why Ruby didn’t just use her semblance to get inside and help Weiss right away. We needed a 12-episode show, and without these poor story decisions, and others, we wouldn’t have that.

The story isn’t all bad though. For example, I like how the characters have relationships prior to the show starting. It shows planning and an idea of where the show will go in the future. Also, I like the airplane scene because it takes all the nonsense from the first season of the show, and condolences it down to a (mostly) logical scenario. It was a nice step up from the original. Also, Wiess’s dream had good symbolism. Weiss’s father's hologram has bright blue eyes as if that's the part of him that she remembers the clearest. There were also some funny jokes. Like when Ruby thinks that Weiss remembered her weapon, but then it shoots from the end of the handle instead of the tang. Lastly, The visuals when Blake’s and Weiss’s dreams collided looked nice. Even though it made no sense narratively. I will finish off this paragraph with a recommendation. Because it doesn’t make sense for Pyrrha to be sinning Mirror Mirror, so what should happen is to have a hologram of Weiss pushed into an alleyway singing it. You get the song and the symbolism. Bam.

Also, I suggest people stop ragging on the animation. Listen man it’s not good, but I have seen so much worse. When you delve into the rabbit hole as often as I do, you know it can get really bad. Honestly, the worst parts about the art are the chins that can cut diamonds, and the character redesigns. All of the characters look bad except for a couple like Adam and Penny which are just okay. Additionally, the redesigns remind me of the “drawing characters from _____ in my art style” thing that occasionally occurs on the internet. Also, on the character designs, hate Blake’s dream clothing. I know that that is how Weiss really sees her, but could it be any more on the nose? The final criticism of the art is that I hate it when an anime is edited like a manga. Like when the screen is cut in half and Weiss’s eyes are staring straight ahead at the viewer, and Ruby’s are on the bottom staring at the viewer too. Like you are making an anime. You can have more creative and dynamic shots than that.

There are a few things that I do like. For example, I like Ruby’s, Weiss’s, and Yang’s dream clothes. They fit the characters very well, while still feeling like they fit the environment. Also, I liked Shion Zaiden’s design, but she is so different than the others that she really stands out.
Another example is that there are a handful of scenes that look good. Like when Weiss crushes the golden chess piece with the vines growing out of her hand. This scene made me sit up in my chair and go “Oh wow.” But then I slumped back down again after I remembered that there were probably many other relics just kicking around.

I have so little to say about the characters. They were already ill-defined at this point in the show, and the anime doesn’t do much to combat that. The only thing that the anime does is take out moments that I liked, and were needed for proper character development. I have almost nothing to say about the sound too. I prefer the original music and go back to listen to it sometimes, but the music in the anime isn’t that good. While some of the music in the anime is good and fits well and others don’t and don’t. Some sound effects are good, and others are not. The VAs did a passable job. That’s it. Moving on.

So, did I enjoy RWBY: Ice Queendom? No, because clearly this anime was made for the current fans of the show, but I can’t see any RWBY fans liking this show because of all the things it does wrong. It looks, on average, worse than the show, it has worse music than the show, it has a worse story than any season of the show, and it has worse characters than the show. So what does it have for a current fan? Past fan? Non-fan? Of course, the answer to all the above is that I don’t know at best and nothing at worst. Unfortunately, all of these problems leave me unable to recommend. In the end, the sound gets a 5 while the story, animation, characters, and enjoyment get a 4. For a final score of a 4/10.

Is my review biased because I’ve read the Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai! manga before watching the anime? Yes. Alright, now with that out of the way let’s continue.

I am not the type of person to get hyped for things. I have only ever felt minor excitement for new or continuing, video games, anime series, book series, manga series, albums, or nature documentaries. However, I felt a moderate amount of hype for Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai! Upon reflecting on why I felt this way, I concluded that it was because this was the first time I have ever read the manga before watching the anime. An unimportant ... detail for you maybe, but a new event for me. Now I understand how dangerous hype can be, if I allowed myself to expect too much, I would have been let down regardless of how good the final product would be. However, level-headedness prevailed. So, I can safely say that this is a good adaptation. Sure the animation could be better, but, I can still recognize that the story and the sound in Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai are lovely. You might not like this type of iyashikei anime like I do, but if you do, you are definitely in for something special. 8/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point*

The story of Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai! is about pain, suffering, bills, and half victories.

From struggling to grow a tomato plant, to paying rent, from finding mystic gems in the ocean to getting lost in the wooded area behind her apartment. It just makes me happy. Watching every week to see The Marvelous Misadventures of Jahy really warmed my heart this summer and fall. Even though I liked the story, there are problems. Including one of my biggest pet peeves, a character being physically different and others having no comment about it. Jahy, Salwa, and Druj ann have pointy ears, but all of the humans don’t seem to mind. It would be one of my first questions. “What’s up with your ears there small child? Why do they remind me of Legolas?” But that’s only a pet peeve and not a major problem. A real problem I have with the story is that the magical girl and Jahy becoming (very) fast friends make no sense. Yeah, Jahy sees part of herself in the magical girl (pain, suffering, half victories, and so on), but she still destroyed the demon realm. I would still be absolutely furious if someone destroyed Earth and then wanted to be my friend. Another thing I really did not like is the rushed ending. The entire climax took only one and a half episodes, and it was also anti-climatic. It’s a real shame because it could have been a better one given proper time. Finally, I am in two minds about skipping the whole “Hi, I’m Jahy, the Deamon Realm’s number two, now give me a job and a place to stay.” On one hand, it is nice to get right into the show without the introductions, but on the other, I think it would be nice to see the introductions.

One of the things that might upset the Jahy-sama manga readers alone is that the anime is not a shot-for-shot remake of the manga. Some parts are added, or removed, or changed from the manga. Most of these changes don’t really bother me, but the one thing that did was the fact that they took out some of the meme images that the manga spawned. This is disappointing not only because they would be funny to see in motion, but also they could make people want to watch the show. A thing that bothered me, and maybe nobody else on this planet, is that the anime showed Jahy at the bathhouse, but then waited to show Salwa’s perspective in the next episode. It should have been one after another to help the flow.

When this adaptation was announced in mid to late April, I hoped that Kyoto Animation would be behind this adaptation. But, instead, we got Silver Link. Now, I have seen some of Silver Link’s work before, and I found the animation ranging from very good to okay. And I can safely say that the animation in Jahy-sama lands considerably in the good section. Not okay, not very good, but good. The colors are nice and vibrant and the color pallet is nice and consistent. So, this leads to a very nice comedy anime adaptation. The colors and some of the animation looks good in both OPs and EDs. However, I do have serious criticisms with the animation. When a person moves, the arms, legs, head, or the whole body moves either as a blur or in a snap motion. Now a lot of anime do this, but what really gets me is when these animation problems are in the OP or ED. These are critical animation parts of the anime because it is what the viewer sees at the beginning and end of every episode. Also, it is the same 90-second loop. Silver Link really should have put more effort and time into these OPs and EDs. I would have scored the animation lower, but I really enjoyed the good parts of the visuals in both of the OP and both EDs.

Not only did I like some of the visuals of the second OP and both EDs, but I also loved the music in all four of them. All four songs were upbeat and catchy. They fit very well with the bright and vibrant colors of the show. The voice actors chosen to portray these characters are all fantastic too. The voices of all of the characters fit very well, and when I read the manga, I thought that they would have very similar voices. However, I also believe that there was room for improvement. I would of have had all of the voice actors go a bit further when voice acting their characters. For example, I believe the store manager should have leaned a bit more into the motherly “ara ara~” archetype. Also, I would have made adult Jahy’s voice a little deeper, a little more commanding, and a little more confident than it is. Since this is a comedy anime, I don’t think the voice acting quality would be compromised by these slight changes.

Watching Jahy go from “For the love of the Dark Lord, why do I have to be around all of you moronic humans?!” to “Yeah. I guess you guys are my friends.” Seeing her slowly change throughout this season is not only better done than quite a few other anime, but also really fun to watch. The magical girl also has some character development. Although, it is not very extensive. She goes from foe to an obsessed friend. Her interactions with Jahy are fun to watch too. While only Jahy and the magical girl are the deepest characters, the other characters are fun and/or interesting.

Honestly, even though I have criticisms with all aspects of this show, I still loved it. Watching Jahy and her band of colorful friends fumble about daily life, really warmed my heart. There were days when I really looked forward to Saturdays because I knew that a new episode of Jahy-sama was waiting for me at home. Now, not everyone has the same taste as me. So, this anime won’t before everyone. However, if you like this type of iyashikei anime like I do, you are in for something special. I walked away from this anime feeling satisfied, happy, and hopeful for another season. Overall, the characters, and animation get a 7, the story an 8, and the sound and entertainment a 9. For a final score of 8/10.

“I don’t agree with writing reviews before the season/series is over because that review would only cover the first few episodes, and these may not be an accurate representation of the rest of the season/series.”

I remember writing these exact words for my Sing "Yesterday" for Me review, and these two sentences were all I could think about when watching the second half of Shiroi Suna no Aquatope or The Aquatope on White Sand. While the story and characters in the first half were good, all be it a bit forgettable, the story and the characters in the second half cycled between boring, frustrating, and confusing. ... The animation was good, but the music was utterly forgettable. I was so frustrated and bored when watching the second half of this show that it took a tremendous amount of effort to press the play button on every episode. This anime was so uninspiring, that even writing parts of this review were an absolute chore. Its only saving grace was the animation and the good first half. 6/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point*

As I said above, the characters in the first half were good. This is because the characters from Gamagama all had distinct, all be it stereotypical, personalities. The bubbly one, the old wise one, the dad, the newcomer, so on and so on. However, at the new aquarium, everyone fits into one of three categories, mean, mean but then they become nice later, and start nice. During the whole “getting to know the new workplace” part of the second half, almost everyone is unlikeable and openly hostile to the newcomers. Of course, not just behind closed doors, they are openly hostile in front of coworkers and in front of the public. This should be 100% unacceptable from “Japan’s best and largest aquarium.” I could go on and on about Chiyu Haebaru, but that wouldn’t be interesting to write or to read. So, I will stick to the larger points. The first one is, why is she so hostile to the people from Gamagama? Does she hold a grudge? If so, why? They didn’t do anything bad to her. If anything, they were nice to her when she came to Gamagama. In fact, she started messing with Kukuru first. When we see her again in the second half, she is working as the lead attendant at the penguin exhibit at the new aquarium. Despite that, she comes and goes as she pleases, pushes her work and responsibilities on to her coworkers, and seems to care very about them and what they have to do outside of work. I understand she has a young kid, but that does not justify and/or nullify all of the abuse and disregard she gives to her coworkers.

Another employee at the new aquarium is Kaoru Shimabukuro. Most of the time she ranges from fine to good, but during the sea slug episode, her character reaches disappointing lows. In a confrontation with Kukuru, she says something similar to, “We use aquariums so people can fall in love with the animals in and out of nature.” This implies that she wants to take care of all the animals the best she can so the public can see the best side of them, right? No. Because soon after saying that, she says that the sea slugs don’t need to eat because finding their specific type of food would require work. Also, in this confrontation, she said, “We can’t return them to the sea because that would be unethical.” Why is that? They are sea slugs that were in captivity for 14 days max. They aren’t domesticated. The last thing I want to say about her is that she calls Kukuru, narrow-minded for wanting to find the correct food source for the sea slugs and not letting them starve to death. This should be the bere minimum required of all attendants, including herself. The final thing I really don’t like about the characters is that there was an attempt at redemption for Chiyu and the director of the marketing department. It’s not like we spent at least nine episodes seeing how abusive they are towards Kukuru and the rest of the Gamagama people. Despite Fuuka being one of the main characters, she takes a backseat in most of the second half. The only time the spotlight is on her again is the last three or so episodes. The rest of the cast is either written to be good or forgettable.

I have nothing to say about the story in the first 12 episodes because the story is good. I get the feeling like most of the characters care about the aquarium, and are fighting to keep it alive. And after it is shut down, all the characters really care that it is gone. The second half however goes downhill very fast. I could write hundreds, and maybe thousands of words on how the second half is not only bad, but also fundamentally flawed. But, as above, that is neither interesting to read nor to write. The first one is that Kukuru is a high school graduate who worked at an aquarium as an attendant and as the temporary director at Gamagama. So why is she assigned to PR? I understand that her grandfather suggested that she should be hired in that position, but any self-respecting employer should say, “What is wrong with you? Her experience and skill set is perfect for a high-up attendant position.” Of course, that couldn’t happen though because then we wouldn’t have a second half.

The management might, and in fact do, defend themselves by saying, “A lot of people work there not everyone gets what they want.” This is where a normal person would respond with “Right, but you should get what you know. Therefore, Kukuru should be an attendant.” Of course, it’s not just management that makes no sense because Chiyu gets to tell her what to do with no pushback. This makes no sense for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that even though she is the head attendant, there would be, at an absolute minimum, six people above her that she would have to answer to before giving a yes or no on Kukuru’s request. The final baffling decision of the management is to have a single person in PR create whole event plans by herself, and then get mad when the plans are not perfect. The final thing I will say is that from a character and story perspective Kukuru’s decision to stay in marketing makes no sense from a character, or story perspective for obvious reasons.

The thing is that the second half could have been done well. There are a few ways to accomplish this, but this would be my plan. First, Kukuru is hired as an attendant. It makes no sense for her to be in PR. Episodes 13-15 would show how different life is from Gamagama at this new aquarium. The new characters would not be openly hostile, but just doing things a different way. This, of course, would be the conflict for these few episodes. 16-18 would be all of the characters becoming friends, so their friendships all feel as natural as possible. 19-21 would be small, self-contained issues. This would provide more depth and deepen the character’s friendships. 22-24 would be the setup, climax, then pay off not only for the Hawaii study trip but also the whole series. I just came up with that on the fly, so tell me why the writers could not think of something better.

I have little to say about the animation because it is good. It has nice shading, color pallet, animation, and attention to detail. The aquarium in the second half feels more alive and well put together than Gamagama. This not only provides scale, and a sense of awe, but it also works well from a story perspective. But, it does have its problems though. The biggest problem is the first half is the main Gamagama tank. It has no plant life, decorations, or anything besides fish. Another example is the use of CG. While not unforgivable, it is a bit overused in my opinion. I get it. Drawing countless fish is not the way I would like to spend my day, but sometimes it needed to be done. Especially in the empty Gamagama tank. There was nothing in there besides CG fish, and it really looks bad.

I have even less to say about the music. Not because it is good like the animation, but because all of the music, from the first track to the last track, are all so okay it hurts. Honestly, it’s as if I fed the blandest, the most uninspired, bog-standard music to a machine and told it to give me an anime OST. Literally, nothing stood out to me after watching the show, and honestly, I don’t even know if I could hum the song that I heard less than ten seconds ago. The only good part of the sound is that the voice actors did a good job.

I catch a lot of crap in my real life for not liking shows like Re: Zero and Log Horizon, but I can at least see why people like them. Their worlds are well built, some of the characters are interesting, and the stories have twists and turns. However, I can not see why people like the second half of The Aquatope on White Sand. The sound is forgettable and both the characters and story are bad. The only good thing about the show is that the art and animation are really nice. With only one of the four main parts of an anime being good, it leaves me unable to recommend. Since the first and second halves are basically different shows, the score breakdown is as follows:

Episodes 1-12:
Story an 8
Art an 8
Sound a 6
Characters a 7
Enjoyment a 7
For a total of 7.2/10

Episodes 13-24:
Story a 3
Art an 8
Sound a 6
Characters a 4
Enjoyment a 4
For a total of 5/10

An average of 6.1/10.

Hello everyone, and welcome to me screaming into the void part two. In all seriousness, the broad strokes of my Re:Zero season two, part one review can be applied to this part too. However, there are some unique criticisms of this part, so if you want, stick around and read. So, part two is technically better than part one and the first season. For example, the story has improved, but this uptick in story quality is temporary I assure you. I also think that the music is better here than part one. However, the art took a minor dip in quality. Even with this dip, ... it is still a very visually pleasing show. Unfortunately, none of these good things can compensate for the bad writing, and part two has to be stuck at a 6/10 along with part one.

*Spoilers beyond this point*

So much of my part one review can be aptly applied to part two, but there is one new development to discuss. You see, instead of the story flowing like a tin of cold grease, it now follows like a dump truck filled with gravel. Smooth from far away, but rough and jagged up close. For example, the Subaru and Emilia confession. Subaru took four times as long to say something that Rem said, but with less flow, more insults, and more repetition. A new realization I came to while watching part two was that Subaru does not really think over his actions. He develops plans, yes, but he doesn’t expect bumps in the road, or at least he doesn’t attempt to work through them all that well. Finally, a pet peeve of mine is when a show shows a character from the present in the past and they are in danger. This comes in the form of Emilia reliving her past when she met a witch and a Sin Archbishop. Emilia will be fine. She won’t die, get injured, or save her mother because we know that in the present, she is fine, and her mother died.

I write reviews for other anime, not just Re:Zero, and in my Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi review I said, “Many unfortunate realities in anime came to light due to the pandemic in 2020. One of those being that some anime don’t look as nice as they arguably should have.” I thought that Re: Zero had escaped this generalized statement, and it had, for the first part. In this second part, however, small cracks begin to show. Less detail in faraway objects and people, camera angles being less dynamic, the dynamic ones are done quickly to make the animation a little easier, and shapes of eyes, scars, and heights change. The last strange thing was how bright some characters are. Take Emilia for example. There was a shot of her standing out in the sun, and I found myself squinting at my monitor because she was so bright compared to her environment. None of this is a deal-breaker of course, especially for fans of the series, but they are worth noting and critiquing.

All my problems are the same as part one, except for two updates on Emilia and Beatrice. Because, ladies, gentlemen, in-betweens, and neithers, I am thrilled to announce that Emilia has finally found her character! It isn’t all that interesting mind you, but it is better than nothing! Not only did Emilia find hers, but Beatrice did too! Again, in all seriousness. Beatrice’s conflict is that she is being pulled in a few different directions that all require diametrically opposing, or at least very different, actions. Her love for her mother, her desire to live, her search for “that one,” and her love for her friends all have very conflicting ideas and outcomes. This makes the last three or so episodes not only watchable but legitimately good. It was so good in fact, that I wanted to see what new development would happen with her in the newest episode. This was a feeling I had only once or twice before with Re:Zero, and it took me by surprise. Something else that surprised me was how good this OP is. It’s a real shame that it only appears in two or three episodes.

Again, all my problems are the same as part one, except for two updates. The first one being that there are quite a few stock sounds used, and I don’t recall them being used at all in season one or part one. The second, and more serious reason, is that the music is so loud. There are times when I had to focus on the dialogue, or it would have been drowned out by the music and/or the surrounding sound effects. I have my theories as to why this is, but they are too complex, speculative, and difficult to explain over text, so I won’t do that here.

I don’t hate Re:Zero. I’m just disappointed. Re: Zero frequently threatens to become good, and honestly, all the pieces are there and ready to be dropped into place to create a show that’s entertaining, philosophical, clever, funny, emotional, and heart-touching. But, unfortunately, it never has. I will still watch Re: Zero in the hope that it gets better soon. And honestly, I am happy that other people can find enjoyment in this show, but I just can’t. And that is why I will continue watching this show. In the, possibly vain, hope that it gets better. In the end, the story, sound, characters, and enjoyment get a 6, while art gets a 7 for a 6/10.

I may be in a rare position to criticize Hanyou no Yashahime because I started, and finished, all of InuYasha in 2020 before Hanyou no Yashahime was released. Because I watched InuYasha so recently, I do not have fond memories from years past to cloud my judgment. I am able to compare and contrast these two shows rather easily. Given that, I can safely say that if you are looking for an adequate sequel to InuYasha you may be disappointed. I say you “may be disappointed“ because if you can look past the problems with the story and only look at the good parts such ... as the art, then you are in for a good, and perhaps even a great, ride down memory lane. I, however, was not looking for this. I wanted a worthy sequel to InuYasha and I was left rather disappointed. 6/10.

*Spoilers beyond this point*

Quite a bit of the story of Hanyou no Yashahime is rather similar to InuYasha. A few examples are, a girl from the modern-day has to live in a new era killing demons while learning that she has powers, there are jewels that increase the owner’s power, the first demon that the girl from the modern-day has to fight is a warped Ōmukade, and the group of friends has to travel and kill demons, all be it for a different reason. Like in InuYasha, the pre-episode flashbacks are unnecessary, intrusive, and flow-breaking. The flashing of previously introduced character’s names is also unnecessary, intrusive, and flow-breaking. These similarities could be called references to the original, and I wouldn’t have too many issues with that statement, but where I do have irrefutable issues with the story are the plot holes. A plot hole for example such as Kaede still being alive. Canonically about 15 years have passed between the end of InuYasha and the start of Hanyou no Yashahime, and Kaede was 63 at the end of InuYasha, so she would be about 78 now. That is rather old for someone living in that era. Similar maths could be used to work out how old Rin was when she gave birth to Towa and Setsuna. The last plot hole I will cover is the plot hole of Towa not losing her demon powers on the new moon. My immediate reaction to seeing this was “Surely this happened in the present day, right?” Well as it turns out, she “Is originally from this world, so the new moon did not affect her in her world.” Wich I shouldn’t have to tell you, make very little since. Getting off the topic of plot holes, let me discuss the few other problems I have with the story, such as, the story lacking a main villain. Naraku was iconic. He was smart, intimidating, cunning, and strong. He also posed a constant threat to the main and supporting cast. In Hanyou no Yashahime who is there? Riku? Kirinmaru? Both options are unexceptional.

Many unfortunate realities in anime came to light due to the pandemic in 2020. One of those being that some anime don’t look as nice as they arguably should have. Hanyou no Yashahime could be one of those anime. A few times in the series is have noticed small to moderate seized flaws in the animation, but, is this due to the pandemic, or is this the way that it is supposed to look? Are the simplistic sword slashing animations an unfortunate outcome, or are they purposeful? Are the sometimes stale-looking backgrounds a time-saving trick, or are they true to the vision? I will leave those up to the individual to decide. However, something that I shall not leave up to the individual is the character design, and more specifically, Kohaku. His design is rather different from the other demon hunters, and even other characters for that matter. He wears a high collared half cape arrangement that looks very inefficient and unnecessary for such an efficient group as the demon hunters. He also has a cliche scar across his dorsal base. This not only makes him one of two characters with a scar in the whole series but also the only one with a permanently on display scar, which then furthers his visual clash with the other characters. On a similar note, if Rin has brown hair, and Sesshomaru has white hair, then why do Towa and Setsuna have a red streak in their hair? My theory is that the character designers were told that the main cast had to have a similar color scheme, so they added a red streak in Towa‘s and Setsuna’s hair to make them match Moroha’s red robe.

While on the subject of the characters, they are fine. But, I am not really connecting with them. None of the new characters feel as fleshed out as the original ones. This comes to light when the new characters interact with the old ones. The old ones are still fleshed out from the original series while the new ones look flat when compared. Similar to this, Setsuna doesn’t care about Towa, but as soon as she has a vague flashback to her childhood she is caring and protective. This would be wonderful character development, but it happens too quickly and comes off as the plot needed Towa to be saved and this was the most efficient way that it would happen. On a similar note, Towa has a very good grasp of her powers for someone who has just found out that they had them.

My opinion on both of the OPs and both of the EDs are rather similar to the characters. Just replace “connecting with the characters” with “liking the Ops and EDs” and that would encompass my opinion rather nicely. That covers the OPs and EDs, but what of the rest of the music and sound? Well, a lot of it is reused from the original. The flashback music, the fighting music, and others are all extremely similar, if not the same. This is where I have to question if this is an homage, or is it just blatant laziness? A similar thing could be said for the other sounds in the anime. What isn’t reused for the original is generic sound effects found everywhere else. Really, reusing the music from InuYasha would be a nice callback, easter egg, or reference to the original, but the reused music is implemented too frequently for me to believe that it is either of the previous three options.

I enjoyed Hanyou no Yashahime when it was being Hanyou no Yashahime, and not when it was being an InuYasha mimic. Villains that manipulate space-time, mutualistic pond monsters, and magic rouge all create a sense that this is the world we once knew, but with new aspects and challenges that make it feel refreshing. Easter eggs like Moroha being given the same Kappa foot that was given to Kagome is one that I remember off the top of my head. But, the similar story, reusing the music, and the lackluster characters really bring the whole anime down. I will continue watching because maybe the show will become more of its own in the future. That is a 7 for art, a 6 for the characters, enjoyment, and sound, and a 5 for the story. Coming out to a 6 overall.