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Jan 12, 2025
Villainess Level 99 had and idea, a good one too... but around the half way point it got ditched to follow the well traveled generic road instead.
Our "villainess" is the usual /I got Isekaied into an Otome game and I'm the villainess/. As the title suggests she's the hidden boss of the game so very much post game content rather than the final boss... why would an Otome have that?!?
The hook here is that she's indifferent. She's not trying to change the route, be the number one villainess, hack the game...etc. Her focus is literally just leveling up and being strong, That's it. The
...
Otome game can play in the background for all she cares with it's cardboard cutout characters.
At first this is interesting as the tropes of the genre are thrown to the side as "boring" and our MC simply does her own thing, which in this world takes things to funny extremes.
Around the midway point however the allure of the well traveled road was too much and the whole thing gets ditched so as to follow the generic beats of the otome game, with said boring cardboard cut outs, only with the addition of the super OP MC that can easily one punch the final boss to make it easy.
It's rushed, the side characters get the depth of a teaspoon, the 3D is distracting.
Overall it's a fun little show but I wished it carried through with it's promise instead of shifting attention away from the MC to characterless NPCs.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 11, 2025
In a parody of the power rangers we have one of the evil bosses of the invading aliens. He is fierce, he is evil, he is dark, he is... off the clock.
The show follows Mr. Evil on his down time. He decided to separate work from leisure so even though he runs into the power rangers from time to time he does go out of his way to avoid confrontations.
His favorite pass times include:-
- Visiting the pandas in the zoo
- Trying different snacks in 7-11
- Watching vids of pandas being cute
- Petting fluffy animals
...
- Buying Panda merch
- Panda
- Panda
- Did I mention pandas yet?
The show has the appeal of batman eating a hotdog. It's the cool guy doing everyday things. Because he's an alien it's all new to him so it does dip to the absurd sometimes.
Overall a cute show. I just wish the main cast was introduced from the start instead waiting until the very last three episodes! Yes really, two main members got introduced as the show was ending... It also had a weird habit of jumping around in time a lot. In the span of the show Sakura season, aka spring, came and went three times in a row.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 9, 2025
A Handy man got Isekaied and now he's the party Rogue.
Both the idea and characters are rather cute. I like that MC-kun doesn't go from zero to OP in the blink of an eye. Instead he just uses the same skills he had in a different setting while the other party members cover his flanks so to speak.
Oddly enough the one to shine in this show was one of the side characters, Morlock the senile mage.
My one critic is that around the midway point the sound is... odd. There is a high pitched sound in the background of the major fight scene
...
that gave me such a headache. I honestly though I had tinnitus and paused the show a few time to check.
Aside from that the show was cute and charming if a little basic. Overall a pleasant quick watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 8, 2025
This show started with a bang. The first 3 episodes were strong and interesting... but after that the show literally had nothing more to offer.
CONCEPT = 5/10
Normally this would be "plot" but Zom 100 doesn't really have one. What it does have instead is a concept, what if the apocalypse happened and you were now free to do all the things you never made time for before as a working adult.
Because our MC-kun here was a timid office drone his wants are rather benign and generic. Confess to the girl you like, eat high end sushi, visit hot springs..etc. All of this done
...
with the threat of Zombies as background noise.
What's interesting about this was that the manga released in 2018. Two full years before the pandemic and yet it accurately portrays how a lot of people started to act once we left the state of emergency with a little bit of a cash overflow to burn and a thirst to scratch things off their long time Wishlist.
It does get rather boring after a few episodes though as there is nothing to keep you invested. 9/10 for originality but 3/10 for the execution.
CHARACTERS = 4/10
Weak.
MC-kin is someone having a midlife crises. It's clear he's acting as a wish fulfillment insert but for an older crowd.
The side characters are very one note, I'm not sure what that note is.
One character insists on stripping at random moments and the show acts like this is the punchline to the joke.
Another is a weeboo Gaijin (a foreigner obsessed with japanese popculture) and the minute she shows interest in anything traditionally Japanese the show, again, acts like this is the punchline... If there's a joke it's still airborne as they never landed for me.
ART / ANIMATION / SOUND = 9/10
Very creative, no cost cuts noted and everything looks great. The show is very stylized and the OP is fire.
Sadly in this case it did end up as style with no substance.
FUN FACTOR = 4/10
Ok so this started out as a 9/10. Had the show ended after the first two or three episodes it would have been a memorable OVA and one of a kind, but it kept going. The longer it did the less fun it became with cheap tactics like establishing characters and killing them off the minute they have a bit of an arc or character moment. Focusing on fart jokes. dehumanizing their own MCs by making him borderline suicidal. It just kept getting worse and worse ending on a rather odd note.
SUMMERY = 4/10
It had an idea, a good one too. It also had the animation and art style.
Sadly the author didn't have the skills to build on that initial elevator pitch. The story was over after the first few episodes, it just shuffled along after that like a zombie, ironically.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 6, 2025
The Apothecary Diaries centers around Maomao, an apothecary in ye old timey China that got sold off to the imperial court and now uses her knowledge to solve medical (and other) mysteries.
TL'DR = I'll be honest and say during the first half of the season I was charmed by Maomao's gremlin vibe. It was nice to have a heroine that depends on her talents and brains... then... yeah the author couldn't help themselves and it dipped way to much in bad troupes and poor writing that it started to take away from the show.
CHARACTERS (Main) = 7/10
Maomao starts as an interesting little gremlin, she's
...
plain but has a good head on her shoulders.
Unfortunately that doesn't last as she turns into mary sue before mid season, they even did the "remove glasses and she's a hot girl" thing... She honestly started out as a 9/10 but ended up a 5/10 so taking the average.
Her future boyfriend is a sexy lamp. I love the interactions between them but really that's all he is.
CHARACTERS (side) = 4/10
One word, Classism.
The side characters are seen as either above Maomao, which means she needs to endear herself to them so they'd elevate her status. Or they are below her in which case they are to be intimidated into "fearing her" because obviously people who are scared never retaliate or harbor resentment.
It's a very childish view that paints anyone of high enough status as practically saintly while the servants/advisers must be the ones at fault.
PLOT / STORYLINE = 2/10
it's divided into two parts. One where Maomao is bought and sold to the palace and now works it off in the women's court where they discover her talents.
The second half is where Maomao is bought, sold and now works it off in the court where they re-discover her talent.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaah they did it twice. They keep repeating the same beats in both halves as well from Maomao being bullied and her white knight coming to the rescue to him being super duper ultra sexy rich and refined but Maomao not noticing... because Shoujo.
The mysteries are episodic in nature and rather simple. They fall into crater sized plot holes however because someone in that time period wouldn't know the solution, only someone from this one would.
ART / SOUND = 8/10
Artwork and sound are nice, the animation budget for this one was probably generous. It also effortlessly went from bishoujo style to slapstick animation to match the mood which is why a lot of the jokes landed for me.
PLOTHOLES / ISSUES = Negative 5/10
I don't usually include this section but I had to in this case. Maomao is supposed to be studying medicine, we never see her study or show any interest in acquiring knowledge be it through books or training under someone. Her one and only interest is hoarding ingredients.
In one episode she claims to have a cure for Syphilis, the very next episode she is drooling over OX Bezear. You can't have it both ways, she either believes in medicine or is into alternative medical nonsense!
Syphilis can NOW be cured because we have penicillin. Back in ye old china the cure was to feed them mercury so they can hurry up and die rather than embarrass the family.
Ox Bezear is what happens when you find an undigested lump of hair and other organic products in a cow's stomach solidified by the digestive fluids. It was used in alternative medicine as a cure all. You can see why the two aren't meshing.
Another one is that ye old whitening powered contains lead, a piece of trivia most in the modern day know but back then was common practice right up to the late 18th century. The only reason Maomao would know this is "plot". Actually, lets place this everywhere in the series because there is no investigations or search of answers. It's just that Maomao has an isekaied soul or something and her answer to everything is "trust me bro!".
FUN FACTOR = 8/10
I rag on the show but that's because I was having fun with it. I like Maomao and her interaction with mister sexy lamp. I like the setting and the sense of humor the show has. hell I liked it enough to overlook the horrible writing when it came to actual medical history! I just think it missed the mark by falling into shoujo traps like having Maomao do the (hot girl when glasses removed) thing and focusing so much on the side character's status.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 6, 2025
Delicious in Dungeon, a cooking show where mythical dungeon critters are used as ingredients for real world recipes.
There is a sub genre on the rise recently called "cozies". Cozy mysteries is the oldest one going back to the 1940s but more recently it's started to infect other genres.
Dungeon Meshi is a clear cut example of a Cozy Fantasy, dungeon crawler subtype. Instead of exploring, plot or character development the focus instead is shifted to the food aspect with actual recipes included for the dishes per volume (yes, most publishers require that for a cozy series)
On the surface it's an ok idea, it combines two
...
popular genres and the 8.6 score on MAL is a testament to it's success.
Personally though, I have mixed feelings about this. The cooking portions break the build up tension way too often. The show has a story and is good about create a sense of urgency... which is thrown to the wind because it's a cozy so obviously everything needs to be slowed down to a crawl.
The characters are paper thin, they have exactly one role each:-
Laios = Monster! yay! can I eat it?
Marcille = ew! Yuck! ew ew ew EW! ok, I'll eat it... yum.
Senshi = Cooking mama
Chilchuck - Ugh, don't treat me like a kid! So annoying.
In the second half of the show Marcille becomes the designated butt of the joke character for some reason, that's about it.
There are a lot of inconsistencies as well. In one episode the group is introduced to a new monster type, the very next episode Laios is an expert on that monster's eating and breeding habits... how?! This includes monsters never seen before and have moved to the realm of myth. How does he know everything about them including their anatomy and behavioral patterns? Aside from an exposition dump for the viewer I mean.
Dungeon Meshi is two shows forced to share the time slot. The cooking aspect ruins the adventure pacing, the adventuring is too dark and morbid for a cooking show.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 4, 2025
It had a promising start... but later...
Undead unluck has an interesting premise. "Negaters", instead of having a super power they Negate an existing concept. Undead, doesn't die. Unluck, project bad luck. Unstoppable, goes roadrunner and so on.
Interesting concept, fun powers with a bit of mystery added as the viewer has to guess at them.
Had the show stopped there it would have been a serviceable action/comedy Shonen.
Sadly as the season went on we ended up with poor pacing, leaps in logic, lack of consequences and main character syndrome... oddly from the female lead of all people.
It had an idea and the battles were
...
fun. The plotline and character interaction (with anyone other than each other!) needed some fine toning. The relationship between people made zero sense considering their actions and current circumstances.
Example:-
Our MCs are fighting a group and kill one of their opponents. His partner's reaction once they subdue them is:-
A. Kill them.
B. Beat them up to vent before capturing them officially.
C. Hand them over to their superior.
D. Give them a pat on the back for their spunk, leak out info about one of their group members and instruct them to kill them as well so they can all be on the same team!
The anime has so many head scratching moments where you wonder if an alien wrote this. It does follow the shonen beats but because of these odd choices the plot seems rather janky, more so in the second half of the season. Quite literally an author self insert arc!
Overall the show has it's moments, I just wish it stayed as the dumb action Shonen it was meant to be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 3, 2025
Maou 2099 has an interesting and unique premise.
A classical sword and sorcery demonlord was defeat by the hero to be resurrected in 500 years, aka the year 2099.
So, lets take that guy and wake him up in... blade runner world! Not only is Tech everything but magic itself fused with it to where a child can wield it.
broke, powerless and hopelessly unemployable he turned to the one career path open to someone like him. A streamer!!!
I feel like there is some social commentary there but the fact is after covid Vtubers were all the rage so... yeah.
The show is fun though I do recommend
...
the Dub as the Maou's voice actor (Ian Sinclair) adds a lot to the show elevating it compared to the sub.
On the con side though the villain, at least for the first arc, is a let down. Also the budget cuts REALLY start to show in the animation at around the 7th episode.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 2, 2025
Osamu Dazai, author of "no longer human", One of the fathers of modern Japanese literature, chronically depressed, women magnet, talked four different women into committing couples suicide with him, they all died but for him it only took on the fifth attempt where he tied himself to his lover and both jumped into the river in 1948.
Take that guy and throw him into a trashy light novel isekai. It sounds like it shouldn't work as Dazai is a very gloomy, suicidal kind of guy. His famous novel /no longer human/ is not something you can read if you're not in a good head space...
However the
...
author made it work, all without the story losing it's edge.
It starts off as a typical Isekai with all the tropes but the addition of that one odd element, Dazai, shifts the focus away from said tropes to the lives of the people in it. Their stories, their struggles and the difficulties they had to face.
It's A manga about stories. About what lurks in the human heart. About prejudices and how we treat each other.
What elevates it for me is that the story doesn't revolve around MC-kun like your typical light novel. He is there as a story teller, his job is literally to drag the story out of the other characters and allow them to write their own endings to it. The direction these stories take differ each time but I really appreciate that the manga never went for the low hanging fruit.
It would have been easy, in fact the manga hints at using said low hanging fruit a few times but instead it commits to one principle. That each person has their own story, how they go about it is up to them NOT "the MC" .
I don't hand out 10/10 scores easily. Actually this is the first time I score a manga this high, it was well earned.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 1, 2025
Osamu Dazai, author of "no longer human", One of the fathers of modern Japanese literature, chronically depressed, women magnet, talked four different women into committing couples suicide with him, they all died but for him it only took on the fifth attempt where he tied himself to his lover and both jumped into the river in 1948.
Take that guy and have him get hit by Truck-kun's grandpa just before he could make that fateful jump.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaand Isekaied!
It's actually fitting that literally 30 seconds of being in a typical Isekai world his first action was to attempt to kill himself out of
...
sheer annoyance.
There is a clash here as Dazai seems to belong in a dark, rich human drama from the 20s while the world and its characters are straight out of a trashy light novel but somehow they made it work.
Most of the time Dazai, or sensei as the show calls him for copyright reasons, role is to just step back and allow the characters to play out their own stories. You don't get that much anymore as most stories seem to center around MC-kun.
In 12 episodes the same solution to a problem was never used twice. Each time the characters were given a chance to make their own endings.
No notes, this show managed to make something different and actually got two different styles to work in harmony. No cheap shortcuts, just a good story and characters with arcs allowed let their story play out without some MC-kun forcing his way into their tale.
I don't think I've given a show a perfect score in years, this one earned it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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