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Last review written by me : Dec 30, 2019. A lot of great shows - especially those I call "hidden pearls/gems" - deserved a review but... I never felt the motivation to do so in the last couple of years. Therefore, you must understand that this review is exceptional, for an anime that really really pleased me. It isn't impartial at all and actually fully biased : the realistic & rational "me" perfectly knows this show (and its first season) should be rated around 8/10. Yet I stand by my ground and both seasons will remain rated 10/10 for me.

You might ask what was so ... amazing about it ? A perfect mix between several topics that no one should mix up : a shonen golf anime which uses techniques you would see in a fantasy show, while bringing mafia and assassination to the table, on top of using "cute anime girls" as its protagonists.

I did play golf when I was younger, and expected something both funny and instructive. Birdie Wing is definitely funny but surely not instructive : if you do not know a thing about golf, you won't know anything afterwards (unless you made some information digging yourself). It's both a weakness and a strong point, because the anime doesn't care too much about golfing. It could have been any other individual sport, the result would be identical : it's a story about 2 girls following the common objective of beating the other one. They're both geniuses and the anime decided to make them radically opposite : the obedient, calm, polite and privileged golfer, against the wild, furious, disrespectful underground golfer. The second season brings more to that although, things that I will spoil in the next paragraph. If you would like to stop your reading before spoilers, it's the right time. I just loved this show since it mixes several themes that are constantly in opposition, while keeping its serious and delivering an enjoyable story.

If you decided to keep reading, fine by me. The second season actually brought a twist at the 2nd episode, being that Eve is actually the real daugther of Kazuhiko, aka Aoi's father. In fact, her real father is Amuro, the golf coach and former lover of her mother. We quickly learn that both men were rivals and each of them had his own technique which was transmitted to their respective daughter. Is it important ? It is treated with the most seriousness actually, as surprising as that can be. In fact that's what I loved : everything is treated extremely seriously even though you perfectly know it can't be serious. The characters name their swings with words that ressemble an attack from a video game or a fantasy anime ("Shining Rainbow Burst" for example). The backstories are very serious too, they really wanted to create a solid background for the whole universe.

Season 1 was more focused on golfing and the rivalry between these 2 girls. Season 2 was focused on bringing a lot of information. Season 3 should have been the final showdown, but unfortunately it won't happpen. This is a regret that I have, which is also the reason why this anime cannot objectively be rated 10/10 (can't stop me though). It's a shame they decided to rush everything in the last episodes : both protagonists started their pro careers and were suddenly up to the top, facing each other, even though we almost saw nothing in between. In the very last scene, they're back 3 years after their previous tournament, facing other (climax basically) but it just feels too sudden. It is however logical to understand, when you eventually understand that this anime is about the relationship of its two protagonists, golf being a simple tool towards this goal.

As a conclusion : I loved both seasons and I regret there won't be more (most likely). It's golf mixed with mafia at first, then it's just the story of 2 geniuses who dream about beating the other. Probably fair to call it a golf shonen anime, which seems weird but doesn't disappoint.

After watching an important number of Gordon Ramsay's famous show called "Kitchen Nightmares", a few words dug their place in my memory : bland, dreadful, disgusting.

Well Keishichou Tokumubu Tokushu Kyouakuhan Taisakushitsu Dainanaka: Tokunana was bland & blank by its universe, dreadful by its abnormaly long title which I never dared to pronounce and... not disgusting, this one is just a bonus. Contains minor spoilers.

Let's get straight to the point which I disliked the most : the universe and its logic. A modern world where different species such as vampires, "homonculus girl with blonde hair", dwarves and any type of magic users live in harmony. Found ... this part attractive ? Hell forget about it because the main plot is centralized around a serie of terrorists attacks who eventually had the resurrection of the dragons who disappeared from Earth. And no, all these terrorist attacks and all the cases seen during the 12 episodes barely involved magic, like a very tiny bit of magic. Quite disappointing for a universe which includes a lot magic users.

Now what is the biggest disappointment for me, is the absolute lack of originality for the 7 main characters. If 2 are humans, the rest are non-humans which looks interesting on the paper, at least it caught my interest. However this show could have 7 perfectly human characters, it would be exactly the same : what's the point then to build a unit made of "on the paper" complementary members ?

Great question I couldn't answer after 13 weeks, including the very useless recap (how ironic that all the greatest 24-episodes animes this year, such as Dr. Stone, Vinland Saga and Kimetsu no Yaiba didn't EVEN have a single recap/week break...). The characters are absolutely non-interesting and we hardly learn anything about themselves besides the real MC and his partner/superior who are... humans. The dwarf is a basic sniper eye-patched man, the vampire is basic katana warrior, the "blond imp" is just a electronic master, the sort of elf is just a basic detective with long ears and their boss is purely an old magic user who stopped using magic (a regular human ? Kinda)?

If we swap to the other side, aka the villain side : is it any better ? Oh god no, there are only 2 villains who don't get any interesting afterall. Classic thema of "wannabe master of the world so let's start a ritual to proceed". Their whole plan is absolutely boring and instead of giving any sort of emotions (horror for example, especially with a terrorism thematic), it just gives yourself a dose of anesthetic.

Is there any positive point left ? Well I didn't drop it so that means it is not horrible enough. Actually I desire every Sunday that the weekly episode would eventually bring life to this universe, I wished it would explain me how come non-humans and humans can coexist and what the hell is the goal of this special unit. I first thought this was a unit made to deal with magic users but the only enemies faced were low-skilled/amateurs terrorists with MP5 and a video-game intelligence (no, that's not a compliment). Only a few moments just reminded me it was a magical/supernatural show and not your average police show.

So to summarize my global opinion : disappointing, the universe itself fails to have its own identity and I could only see a blank green background where a bunch of non-natural things were thrown to appetize. Honestly the mix of police thema with supernatural can be interesting, at least I appreciated something a bit similar : Mayonaka no Occult Koumuin which succeeded to give consistancy and life to its universe. Actionless globally (unlike this show I wrote about) but much more captivant and interesting. Talking about action, Keishichou[...] was not a catastrophe with its decent fights but they were nothing but lifeline instead of a strong point.

Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO, which I will actually rename « Kono Yuno » was a really good show mixing very different genre such as supernatural, sci-fi, school or even drama.

I won't be spoiling the main plot since it represents the core of what makes the anime interesting. The story itself looks easy & simple to understand if you read the synopsys or take a quick look at one of the previews. However, I have honestly rarely seen such a complex and surprising story in a show. Indeed, each mysterious part gets resolved progressively but then, you discover than it delivered 2 ... new mysterious roots which are themselves going to be resolved later. As the main thematics of Kono Yuno, here are the words that came in my head first : temporal distorsion, temporal travel, parallel worlds, temporal cycle, dimensions, dimensional travel, etc.

You probably understood it : Kono Yuno treats some very serious thematics that require a certain concentration to clearly get. It does not turn into a very complicated show, meaning there won't be such an enormous plot twist that'll blow your mind. Nevertheless, you will be surprised or even astonished as things advanced episode after episode. In fact, the original work came as a video game about 20 years ago and receives a remake tomorrow, the 2nd October 2019 (I will definitely look forward since it is sold on Steam ! ). This information has its importance because it signifies that the rythm was originally meant to be either quick if you played the game in a single run, or either long if you decided to take your time. The anime version respects the second rythm and makes sure you don't get lost each week after each week, which remains a great thing. Still, I must warn you that it can be very complicated on some points.

About the other positives points besides the rich story : most characters are enjoyable. Actually the main one Takuya isn't as dumb as he may look like. However, there is something a lot of viewers disliked and this is the presence of ecchi scenes. To summarize this point, you have to know that Arima Takuya, the protagonist, is a high-school teenager and has a certain talent to say some perverted jokes or to make some nice suggestions. I don't find these points vulgar or too numerous and instead of adding some sort of fanservice, I'd rather think they tend to provide a realistic character. Although, except for 1-2 characters who are very special, all the other ones remain normal and could cross your path in real life : there's no overpowered or powerful character except for the antagonist but this is part of the story.

I don't really have many remaining words for a non-spoiling review. Just know that if you look for a rich story with many surprises and mini twists, you are welcome to try it. I just loved it and it totally got my attention after a few episodes. I don't think I grew deceived by any episode, to be honest. And know that episode 1 and episode 26 are connected, but don't even think you would fully understand why by watching only these 2 (it would be such a waste actually).

17-sai is based a true story that happened in Japan decades ago. However, when the reality was extremely shocking and violent, this manga only keeps the beginning, meaning the kidnapping of a 17-year old girl.

To quickly summarize the real life event : a group of thugs/delinquents kidnapped a high school girl after her part-time job, brought her to one of the guy's house, raped her, tortured her and eventually murdered her. In this fictionnal story, only the kidnapping & raping elements are kept. To clarifiy things up : no, there is not too much sexual violence (scenes are extremely censored) or physical violence (some characters ... get beaten up and one eventually finds death).

Here comes my first negative point : I expected a really dark story, giving me some chills making me afraid of human nature. 17-sai did not, or at least, I could read it without having many emotions. To give another example : Metamorphosis/Henshin/Emergence (same manga, different titles) also tells a very hard story, but it gave some real feelings / emotions. For some people, they cry and lie down in their bed, for some other, they unzipped their pants & start fapping or for readers like me, they stop their chapters with a very huge anger and only wish to beat the culprits up.

Sadly, I only felt a bit like "I'd like to do this stuff to these f$cking scumb$gs". It didn't break me or shock me, especially because the number of rape scenes was very low compared to the synopsis. This is obviously a very grave story and I wish it never happens to anyone in our world. If I were to use keywords, hum, disgusting, horrible, terrible should be the ones coming in first, naturally.

What I think was good about this manga, is that it gave a fictional story which could happen in real life. It clearly shows how human nature can variegate : from a regular high school boy looking for some adventure, to a disgusting person who cannot even look himself in a mirror. But eventually, what's terrible, is that none of the culprits in the story (it is not shown but supposed) have any regrets for what they have done. Evilness level is really high, scary on some points.

But 17-sai never truly scared me, as I could not be emotionally involved in the story (it has nothing to do with the fact the victim is a female while I'm a male). The author - in my opinion - fails to attract by force his reader, you only stay as a spectator of a story, instead of breaking the fictional wall and entering the story at 100%.

So my personal recommandation : if you are too sensitive, avoid this manga, it will only give you nightmare. If you are curious, it should be a "decent" introduction to a dark manga with rape thematic.

Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai started like a BANG for me but finished airing on a very different atmosphere.

Without summing up the plot, let's just say it presents a kind of forbidden love story between 2 teenagers. It was honestly closer to real situations than I expected so it is fair to claim that the fiction caught up reality.

I absolutely need to cover one major point : the first episode clearly features a kind of ecchi show, which makes you think that the whole anime will be some sort of cute & perverted comedy with a background of love story. It won't... ... unfortunately the love story takes the role of major element while the sexual/pervert thema gets relegated to the very secondary elements. So basically if you wanted to watch it for all the sexual allusions or the perverted situations, please think twice.

Though Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai is not a complete love story show, it keeps the tiny ecchi mood and leaves some embarrassing situations or misunderstandings. But they all serve a purpose : demonstrating how it is easy to figure out things in your head while the reality in much more different.

It somehow proves that your mind aren't as strong as your heart, despite all your efforts to restrain what you think is right for yourself.

I honestly recognize that the love story meets a satisfying ending for the viewer but it still leaves me a taste of frustation. Indeed, most episodes are quite similar in their progress, with Ao-chan (the female protagonist) refusing that Takumi dates her despite his very positive aspects (a patient person, really heartful, honest etc). Claiming studies are her priority, she always rejects him & then regrets or hesitates about her own actions or feelings.

The ending was really expected but the whole show always makes you wondering "when do they finally kiss each other". I mean, you know from the start that it's going to happen, but during 11 episodes you see Ao-chan denying the reality, hiding her true feelings, claiming her high-school studies are more important that real life events... I have met people like that and their lives looked so blank despite the studies. It is respectful to desire a very great & hard job that requires to be within the best, but it doesn't mean you should entirely close yourself to everything external.

Let's get straight to the point : there is an uncensored version (6 minutes per episode) and a censored version (3 minutes per episode). You don't want to see the cut version but the full one.

Araiya-san!: Ore to Aitsu ga Onnayu de!? doesn't have the "Hentai" tag but it quickly turned into an hentai show. Though the main part of the plot remains centralized around a love story between 2 high-school teenagers (boy & girl) who have hard times confessing to each other.

However, if a love story is the heart of everything, its main interest resides in the high number of censored (genital parts ... only, not breasts) sex scenes. I was actually surprised, considering that MAL only considers this anime as an ecchi show. So when you witness such scenes, you feel a bit surprised. Nevertheless, they ain't bad and mostly represent teenagers' fantasm (or adult fantasm, of course !).

I found the episodes a bit similar in the sex scenes, the differences came from the change of places but most likely, it was the same.

Globally, it ain't a 'must-watch' anime but if you have 1 hour to spend AND if you are alone in a private place (where no one can notice what you're doing), this is a decent show. I wish I had known it when traveling by train, would have been cool to spend my time hehe.

Seoul-yeok / Seoul Station is clearly not a must-watch movie but represents an average movie for zombies fans and a bad movie for Last Train for Busan's fans.

If you have never watched the live-action film Last Train for Busan, please go ahead and watch this masterpiece of modern zombies films. I watched many films with this thema, going from classics (George Romero's fims such as Zombie, Night of the Living Dead, etc) but also modern ones (Resident Evil saga, World War Z, 28 Days Later, etc) and Last Train for Busan can easily enter my top 5.

So for those who have not watched it yet, ... Seoul-yeok takes place in the eponym Korean city where you will follow a woman & her boyfriend, being separated at the beginning. They both have to survive the debut of a zombie apocalypse, with regular humans turning into bestial creatures who only desire to bite/eat non-infected livings. The story is basic to follow and has nothing exceptionnal. In fact most viewers watched it because they appreciated Last Train for Busan?

And it was disappointing... indeed, this film does not add anything to the original work, it is actually totally canon. There is no common point, not even a train that seems to go somewhere. Well ok, some scenes take place in the underground, on the metro/train rails but that's it. What frustrated me the most was the total absence of any relation, any easter egg or anything that indicates a relation.

I was not asking for a very obvious point but for example, in REC 3, you have a 10 seconds scene where a TV in the background shows a scene from REC 1/2. This little detail was totally missable for someone who did not watch the previous films but acted as a related element for those who did. Easy, short & gives you a smile. Seoul-yeok did not even fulfill its role to be a sequel for Last train for Busan.

Disappointing overall with horrible tearing scenes (I mean, characters crying, not something heartbreaking) that made me laugh like crazy. An animation correct at the best, even a bit mediocre on some points. The story was... skippable, even if the conclusion tends to be more dramatic than expected (however I did not care much about it). Very shameful that they did not EVEN give a single hint reminding the original film. Also, extremely ironic that it was called "Seoul Station" but most scenes took place OUTSIDE of a metro station...

Girly Air Force was not a "must watch" anime but a decent one for those who like air fights, jets and colorful haired girls.

At first, let's cover the negative points that contributed to GAF's low popularity. Hum, the thema itself was quite basic, with aliens named Zai coming on Earth with their very high technology which totally outmatched humanity's current one. Forced to fight, every national armies & research (at least Japanese, American & Russian as we know) managed to create their own weapons, based on alien's jets they somehow destroyed.

These researches lead to the creation of Animas, aka girls with very colorful & non-conventional ... hairs (a shiny blue, pink, a shiny green, purple and a shiny yellow : you could not miss them in the street). They actually are the only ones able to pilot "Daughters", aka modern fight jets which are efficient against Zai. However, one Anima is unable to pilot alone, until she discovers a human named Kei with whom she suddenly became able to. Yes, the plot totally looks like Darling in the Franxx, before you ask.

However, contrary to DitF, GAF had in my opinion a huge lack of background, everything seemed blank or empty behind the main characters and the airport. You could think that they gave every part of their budget in huge and spectacular air battles but... not really. In fact, there were not many battles, I think 3 that were decently noticeable. Quite sad for an anime that has no real or strong plot and a small number of characters (count ... 9 characters who are named in the show, plus other unnamed extras).

I think this point was the one which displeased most viewers. Indeed, if you don't really like planes in anime or if you don't really feel attracted by these colorful girls, then you couldn't appreciate Girly Air Force.

To be honest, I appreciated these girls who all aren't humans and have a different vision of humanity. They are fighters in their "blood" (or should I say in their components ?) with a programmed personality. The whole anime is basically telling the story of Gripen, a curious, childly, naive and cute Anima who discovers human nature and human mores with Kei. Ah talking about this guy... saying he is a bit dumb and quite irritating sometimes seems right.

Instead of presenting a Michael Bay's vision of aliens vs cute girls piloting jets, Girly Air Force showed a semi-romance semi-drama anime with a pinch of battle, a bunch of attractive girls you'd desire to meet (not gonna say why you'd desire such thing) and a fund of technology. It wasn't very popular this season and probably won't become later. It's either you appreciate it or either you hate it, since the background / plot is very weak and most battles aren't memorable.

The worst point of this anime was enlightened by Kei himself during last episode. Who are Zai & why do you they fight ? I hereby present you the main question that remains unsolved yet. During 12 episodes we learned how Zai was powerful and it conquered many parts of the world : appearently it was THE enemy for humanity. But as we noticed, this enemy, despite its destructive technology, wasn't such a threat since it left national armies finding a way to counter its plans (if it ever had some). Kei himself wonders why it fought for all this time.

A very skippable episode which was supposed to be the 25 & latest of Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken season 1. However, it became a summary instead of a regular episode.

Although, this episode showed some new scenes and obviously totally new dialogs between Ifrit & Veldora. Basically, they play a Shogi game while talking quickly about their stories. During these discussions, we can rewatch a few moments (sort of highlights but very very restricted) that appeared during the whole season.

To be honest, it's not even a recap since it does not explain much stuff and selects scenes which don't really have a logical line ... (for example, we get to see for a few minutes, parts of episode 1 where Rimuru meets Veldora ; then there is a huuuuge time skip that leads us to his meeting with Shizu, etc).

I think the only appreciable point was to hear Veldora & Ifrit, the first one being unheard for literaly 24 episodes and the second... did he even speak before ? Another point of view I won't remember in a few days. Ah we get to see Milim for a few seconds, so that gives the episode an additional point.

Manaria Friends, also called "Mysteria Friends" can be described as the perfect illustration of a "fantasy highschool slice of life with soft romance genre".

Indeed, it features an extremely calm, peaceful and magical world where humans, elf, semi-humans and other ferric creatures. They are all students living in the Mysteria Academy which teaches them how to use properly their powers and classical subjects we could study ourselves (such as literature, history, biology, etc). The anime will focus on Anne, a human princess and Grea, a wonderful and attractive semi-human semi-dragon. Talking about dragons, I'm currently listening (for a few days actually) to Skyrim's Theme... is that ... a sign ?

Well, we will follow during 10 episodes, 10 of their student days. It fits the slice of life genre by its simple but magical scenes, going from a lecture to a city trip between girls. The man characters are catching and attractive, especially Grea who has a certain originality of being a semi-human/dragon. That includes her having a tail and horns, some body parts which particularly attracts her best friend Anne, and she won't hide her desires.

I don't think there is a global plot, each episode could be taken in any order (except for the last one which ends Manaria Friends) and features a different scene. Actually, every episode is extremely different : for example, one focuses on a beach trip when the previous one focused on combat training. Basically, we get to follow how we would study if magic existed in the world.

How I felt watching this anime can be summed up with a few words : peaceful, relaxed, calm,... This is what it brings, a very chilling atmosphere without any sort of violence or darkness, just the crossed story of 2 young teenagers living in a fantasy world. They will also discover love & disappointment in their lives, though their friendship won't break ! Testifies the latest episode which represents also a school break. Indeed, both friends agree to spend more time together, sharing a room for the next semester. Ah god, the very awaited moment where our favorite dragon girl would spend a night (she accepted Anne to sleepover in her place) with her best friend... won't actually happen. Well, we know it WILL, but we won't get to SEE it. Meh, I was waiting for this scene which would have been very funny and lovely to watch : guess it will but in my own imagination.

I still decide give it a 6/10 mark, 'cause every episode had a shorter than usual duration (+/- 14 minutes, including credits with artwork backgrounds and classic credits with a back screen), a total absence of ending or opening and also a lack of plot. It was a choice to bet on a very beautiful art and a magnificient atmosphere (I can't avoid mentioning the songs used were really accurated and gave each episode such a calm and fantastic vibe) but it - in my opinion - lacked on a more solid story.