Back to PhoenixA's Profile PhoenixA's Profile

A simple, yet heart-warming tale. Free of overly-complicated story lines. Jam-packed with chill vibes.

If you're looking for a show that you can just lean back and watch at your leisure, you've come to the right place.
If you're looking for words of wisdom packed into metaphorical artwork, you've hit the jackpot.
If you want something to soothe your racing-mind the first time and the second time and the third... Well, you can probably put this show on repeat, just so the voice acting, music, and philosophy can calm you or lull you to sleep.

Simply put: If you like shows like Mushishi, which are designed to simply make ... you ponder life and then calm your soul, I highly recommend Glass of God and it's original 2006 rendition.

Sasakura-san serves drinks on screen, but offers you a taste of respite as well.

The first season of Kaiju No. 8 has proven to be a fantastic adaptation that not only follows its source, but builds up the details of it in the most flattering and entertaining way possible.

As a manga reader, who originally started reading after being blown away by the first two episodes of this season's anime, I can definitely say that the anime itself is EVEN MORE impressive than the manga. There are very few anime adaptions that surpass their manga predecessors (in my opinion), but this is definitely one of them. After having fully caught up with the manga, I can testify that the manga ... portrays battle after battle after battle with hardly any breathing room in between - a real stressor, if you're trying to binge, because you want to know what happens. Small details that would follow under the conditions of these battles - the emotions of teammates, the life style of characters, the details of how the city would recover, etc. - are all but glanced over and left behind in the manga. Yet, really fleshing out these details and covering them in such a complimentary way, while still focusing on the main narrative, is only one example of where the anime really shines.

The artwork? It has been fantastic so far, especially in rendering the monster designs. Voice acting? It was very entertaining, very expressive, and the choice of said VAs really match their characters. And the music - THE MUSIC - especially, has been so hype. The beat track that originally aired in episode 4, near the end, has been on my playlist for a long time now.

I have no doubt they'll have Season 2 out ASAP. I look forward to them continuing to really making the source material shine, just like they have done thus far. Although the original reception of Kaiju No. 8 as a been a slow incline, I definitely foresee its popularity increasing with the upcoming seasons, which will be even more battle focused.

Read the Momochi House manga and save yourself some time.

I write this anime review as, originally, a reader of the manga. Ever since the Momochi House manga originally released, I enjoyed reading it all the way to the end, due to its whimsical fantasy qualities, interesting characters, and the beautiful artwork. So, because the manga is already complete and it isn't as well-known as other series, I was very surprised when I discovered that there was going to be an anime adaptation for Spring 2024. However, upon seeing the first visuals, I immediately knew that it would not be adapted well. Now, after finishing all ... 12 episodes, I can definitely say that my first assumptions were correct, and this show is terribly bad.

To be honest, the budget of this anime HAD to be incredibly minuscule; you can see it in all the non-existent details. It is so obvious that this show must have been serving as a filler anime for the season - maybe because they didn't have enough shows running in a time slot or something. Honestly, this is the only reason I can come up in my head for why they would take such a beautiful manga and utterly butcher it. As everyone knows - normally, completed mangas aren't chosen to be adapted into anime in the first place, unless they're considered classics or they've already had an anime season previously, or it's a new adaptation of something that's continuously popular. Unfortunately, Momochi House does not meet the mainstream criteria for any of this.

Throughout the show, there at least 3 scenes that I can count on hand where characters are speaking, but their mouths aren't animated to move. All of the beautiful designs of the characters from the manga look incredibly dull and ugly as well. Himari's hair is too thick; her pigtails are like tangled snakes. Yukari looks like some Yuki Sohma ripoff with not even a fourth of his charm, and Ise isn't half as masculine-defined and bullheaded as what he should be. There are even scenes where Aoi looks like he could be thirteen years old, while in the last 3 episodes of the show, sometimes he looks like he could be in his thirties. Not to mention all of the outfits in the manga look so delicate and detailed with beautiful patterns and gradients running throughout each piece, but the anime designs are nothing like this - the only piece to hold up is the top cover of Aoi's blue kimono. If this was a true adaptation, then the anime would have the same depth of beauty as Oshi no Ko in terms of style.

And don't get me started on the story. The only episodes that hold true to the manga are the first 3, maybe 4. They rush through the surface synopsis of the manga and then pull about 4 or 5 different mini stories/situations from the manga and smash them all together to fill in the middle episodes. If they don't completely re-write something, they rush it and toss out the details. The watcher has no real history to fall back on and relate to with the main characters - at least, not in the way they should be able to relate to them. I'm mildly surprised they even put Kasha in this anime, because they didn't even cover his background at all.

Not even the ending of this anime matches the manga. The screenwriters definitely pulled one out of their butts to end this show as fast as they could. If they were going to tell the story truthfully, and see that it was well-made, it would take at least 40+ episodes to capture everything correctly.

Simply put, I am very disappointed, because I know the manga will probably never have another chance to be adapted (tis the way of life), but I am not surprised at all. If you like old school shojo manga, I definitely recommend reading Momochi House. But for the sake of your brain cells, definitely don't try watching it.

Hello, all! Welcome to the next arc of MT, which continues to utilize good animation and a solid music score to bring in both light novel wet fanboys and mentally drained victims of the previous arc for another round of pedophilia and misogyny. And why would anyone still stick around, you ask? Well, this time around, to liven up this next bland set of 12 episodes, we have some special spice lined up for the basement boys and the masochist critics, who won't turn down a challenge.

Don't worry, no one will notice the two-faced main character and visceral nonsense that continues to dominate this story, ... because when they do, all of our REAL fans will claim, "Well, there's no better isekai out right now. This is the grandfather. When there's a better isekai, maybe I'll change my mind." ((Even though the light novel was published in 2012 and isekai existed with better world building and story looooong before "isekai" was even termed, and then subsequently fell to its evident doom simply by being named such.)) And when people point out the major flaws of our characters? Well, we'll just put a quote in the show that the main character would rather "be a scumbag than have regrets," and our boys will shout from the heavens, "This show is not about perfection! You ugly women and beta males just want a perfect protagonist! This show is about REAL messy life, and being a flawed person! I'd rather be like Rudy with his no regrets and his brain dead women, who gravitate to him for no reason, because their IQs sit at a beautiful score of 7."

Did you catch the early spoiler there? That's right, "his women," because in this arc, we have:

- Rudy's two little sisters coming to live with him, and one of them being a maid ever since she left her mother's womb, and subsequently begging nii-sama to let her be his personal maid instead of going to school or living her own life, because she just wants to please nii-sama so so SO bad.

- Stealing about 30 pairs of women's used underwear from a school dorm and offering it to your degenerate "boss."

- A big chungus chastity belt to keep a babe-alicious grandma elf from being too much of a disloyal cougar towards her sixteen-year-old priest boy, because she's all frisky like that ((But don't ask for the details on the backstory on this "sex curse," cuz we're saving our real braincells for other mental leaps and bounds that'll keep the lotion bottle on your desk empty.))

- Killing off the main character's father on Father's Day ((Okay, for real though, the memes for this one will forever be remembered. Just don't expect not to encounter the passionate MT Chris-chan look-a-like who screeches at you that Paul was a flawed saint to forever be immortalized, because he makes Hughes from FMA look like a 1 out of 5 on the dad scale.))

- Revealing that the mother, who the father sacrificed himself to save, has been mentally reduced to all but a mumbling vegetable, because everyone just loooooves some angst on top of their depression. ((And, remember, we're not going for perfection with this story, we're going for that beautifully "flawed" look.))

- Having our beautiful Rudy boy claim that his parents were never really his parents (even though they raised him for 7 years and he has better memories of them, because he's mentally an adult, than any kid would have of their parents before age 7), revealing his true colors, until he gets so self centered and depressed over the death/mental death of both of them that he starves himself to near death for a whole week, while his wife is getting ready to give birth. ((Because how could our beautifully flawed alpha male possibly pick himself up and go home without proper encouragement? I mean, mental fortitude and a new-life-in-this-world-with-your-DNA can only go so far when it comes to inspiring a REAL man.))

- And finally, to wrap it all up: A second wife to add to the family, who "cures" Rudy's depression with more shaka-laka-boom-boom. Yes, we've decided to make one of the fantasies of a waifu come true, by having a handsome baby-faced bad boy save her in a dungeon - magically, just like she quoted earlier in the story - because all of that is soooo romantic. And what makes it even more romantic? Revealing that this romp basically saved Rudy's life, because he would have died in that hotel if someone didn't get on that dick and ride.

Don't worry, Roxy wouldn't be like this if she wasn't down bad enough with good reason. She's just been one of the most composed characters in this story so far, because she didn't smell that seventeen-year-old Rudy on the horizon yet.

And what does Sylphie think of this? No worries. She basically said, "Baby, no strings attached, you bang who you want," when her and Rudy made their non-existent marriage vows, so chill ya'll - it doesn't matter if she knew beforehand or not. Sylphie's just gonna nod her head after a four minute spat and say, "Yeah, I figured he'd sleep with someone else anyway, but he's not just trash - he's beautiful trash and he's been worshipping you for years anyway." Then, it's off to the happy ending because Rudy doesn't "follow the teachings of Millis" and women shouldn't question their man's integrity like that. But let's add a real quick baby scene to soften people up and then have Rudy ask all stupid, "Mine?" when Sylphie says it's his baby. ((Even though some of our harsher fans would have loved for Sylphie to be like "Surprise, bOtch, I don't practice the teachings of Millis either. You've been waiting on Zenoba's sperm donation the whole time," at the end.))

So remember, the one thing you should take away from MT with this arc (if you haven't already) is:
Bedroom rodeo cures everything. Erectile dysfunction? Smear some MORE sex on that. Dead parents? Put some go-juice on that tubesnake and just find yourself a girl to bounce. Exposure to one of the most terribly works of fiction to possibly be produced in this world? That's right, you know the answer. So does Truck-kun and the infamous Rudeus Greyrat.

What an unexpectedly amazing and inspirational anime.

I originally planned on watching Kenka Dokugaku weekly as the episodes came out, because I was intrigued by the synopsis of the show early-on. However, after already getting caught up with a bunch of other weekly animes airing during Spring 2024, I ended up dropping it from my watch list up until yesterday - the day before the show's last episode of this season dropped. And let me tell you, this has been one of the greatest and most rewarding binge watches for me that I have done in a long time. Honestly, I'm glad I didn't watch this ... show weekly, because I could NOT put it down, once I picked it up.

By far, the two most impactful things about KD is its story and its character development. Throughout 12 episodes, I have gone through a roller coaster of hating characters, of being frustrated with them, or being second-hand embarrassed by them, to absolutely LOVING them. The main character himself is a down-on-his-luck loser, who is socially awkward and physically far below average, who ends up using whatever means necessary to build himself up, while throwing away every shred of shame and pride he has to do so. In rebuilding himself this way, he eventually reaches all of his current goals.

This show is like a shout out to underdogs, who climb their way up the stairs of success through blood and sweat and tears. And while doing just that, it makes you laugh and cheer and really root for the main team on screen. In episode 10, when the three main characters came out in their matching black drip, I about lost it, it was so good - them and their perfectly arrogant swag, well-deserved and obtained after ten episodes (even if part of it was a show for the fight lol).

But at the same time that this show is a shout out to underdogs, it also shows you that every person, no matter how famous or good-looking or talented someone may be, can have the same problems as someone who's poor or unattractive or unskilled. It really breaks down how people who once hated each other can end up gradually building the best of bromances or romances. And while some of the material in the show seems a bit exaggerated (I think this is mostly for the comedic element), it is also a good representation of what people can be like under an online personality versus what they are in real life, showcasing how two-faced many people can also be.

Originally, I planned on giving KD a solid score of 8, but with the last 4 episodes of the show, it definitely skyrocketed to a solid 9 in my opinion. This is all thanks to incredible storytelling and the feel-good wrap-up of an amazing beginner arc- no questions asked. I'm not going to tell you that KD has the most amazing art and animation; it's still reasonably good, nonetheless, and it apparently matches the manhwa art style pretty well (according to readers). I'm not going to tell you that the OST is the next Made in Abyss OST; but it IS pretty dang good, especially with some of those beats dropping during the more intense fights. What I AM going to say is that everyone should try this anime at least once - and try to make it at least 2 episodes in, because after that, that's when the real hype starts building up.

Genuinely hoping that a second season for this anime gets the green light, because they already had a great build up/teaser to what could be the next storyline after this season. And NOW, I'm off to the manhwa, because I refuse to wait on future animation to see what's going to happen next.

The newer 2012 Ai no Kusabi is very split down the middle in terms of quality.
And I think there are two main reasons for this:

#1 - The discontinuance of the anime after 4 episodes. (Unfortunately, even though the remake was intended to have 12 episodes in total, the new Ai no Kusabi was canceled in the middle of production and we were only left with the 4 we have now, due to the company's inability to financially cover the costs. ((Pretty hilarious that episode 4 was talking about supply/demand in the story and then afterwards this show gets the cut, though.)) The 4 episodes we ... received were well made, but it does not change the fact that the story was unexpectedly cut short, and therefore left people hanging.)

#2 - The older anime adaptation from the 90's draws too much attention to the quality gap between itself and this version.

Although I have not read the original Ai no Kusabi novel (yet), I have watched the original 90's adaptation several times throughout probably a 10 year span. The reason I've been drawn to go back and do so is because the original animation has a very dark and romantic (almost gothic) feel to it, which I firmly believe was more easily obtainable in older animation styles in the 90's and early 2000's. Because the story is so dark itself and a lot of the subject matter is so controversial, pairing it with the animation style from the 90s just brings out so much more visual feeling. ((The 2012 version doesn't do a bad job with the animation or characters designs. In fact, I prefer a lot of the minor character design changes in the newer version. However, by "cleaning up" the animation so much through a style change, it destroys a lot of the original grit and overall darkness, which many of us fans love about the 90s version.))

In addition to this, another main reason I prefer the 90s version so much is because the sexual tension and chemistry between Iason and Riki is somehow both stronger and softer in the earlier version. In the 2012 version, Iason comes off as a very controlling and manipulative person ((borderline yandere)). Part of this may be because they wanted him to seem harsh and then intended to soften him a bit in later episodes (which, were in turn, never produced). Yet, Iason was never - even INITIALLY portrayed - as a heartless person in the 90's version. It's very true that Iason was always a dom in this version, but he very clearly represented someone who was first intrigued, and then almost immediately infatuated at first sight, with someone who lived a different lifestyle from him. He always teased Riki and continued to be a dom, but he did it in a very loving manner, and eventually his feelings became true in all aspects. The sexual tension is still present in the 2012 version, but it feels more like comparing a soft core porn tape to an erotica.

If you are interest in Ai no Kusabi, I highly recommend watching the 90s version and then moving on to the 2012 version if you still want a little bit more material to go with it. The 90s version left out a lot of small details that were covered by the 2012 version (originally from the novel), but it is still my preferred version of the two for several reasons and they both cover the same main points of the original story, which the 90's has an ending.

In short: I can't recommend this anime by itself, because I think it would be a disaster to ONLY watch this version and not the 90's version, but this version did an okay job with the 4 episodes that were put out.

To put it simply: MT season 2 is a HUGE drop from its first season. It took all of the controversial things from season 1 that were certainly not handled in the best of ways (pedophilia, cheating/polyamory, misogyny, a self-centered prick reliving his life but still ending up mostly a self-centered prick but being two-faced about it/hiding it, and therefore being praised for it, etc) and made these themes the center of the second season by trying to wrap it up pretty with a bow, like it's actually supposed to be a romance. Meanwhile, it dropped the plot line that was actually entertaining: Rudy traveling ... the world and finding/bringing his original family home.

The artwork and the music remains good; that can't be denied. But that is the only thing good with MT this time around. Instead of bringing us more traveling/trying to develop the POS main character into a respectable guy, season two brought us:
-- Tying up and locking teenage girls in a room so that they can pee all over themselves and then telling them that they deserve it, and instead of being pissed/finding someone to help them afterwards/reporting this, the girls start calling Rudy "boss" and being part of his brown-nosing crew.
-- Adopting a little slave girl for the sole purpose of serving Rudy's #1 fanboy, so that the slave girl can make anime figures for him, complete with removable clothes (see season 1 for fact check on this).
-- Centering a full 12 episodes on erectile dysfunction, like it's the end of the world and the worse thing that could happen to a guy. Oh, no! My dick won't rise when I want it to, so I should cry about it and spend an entire arc in a boarding school, where everyone is metaphorically sucking my dick anyway, and just wait for the "right girl" to volunteer herself/make me feel good about myself and magically I'm fixed with *gasp* - who would have guessed it?! - an aphrodisiaaaac. ((Some ground breaking storytelling by the author there, I gotta say.))
-- Literally worshiping and praying to a pair of used panties from your childhood crush inside a miniature shrine, even though you're engaged to another girl. ((This joke was funny at the very beginning of season 1, but now that this guy is in his teens (for a SECOND TIME) it is just straight up creep-tastic.))
-- And MYGAWD, all the terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE cringe-worthy sex talk in episodes 11/12. It could have given ME erectile dysfunction, it was so cringe. My metaphorical cock shrunk up in my body and died at least 4 times, while the phantom family jewels simultaneously came into existence and then disintegrated into ash before my family eyes. Over and over and over. Sylphy was the cringe queen of this season. She was not cute. She was WEIRD and DUMB. And all this nonsensical obsession came out of left field, for someone who hasn't seen Rudy since she was like 6/7 years old and supposedly had a life of her own for almost 10 years.

This show has turned into a wet dream for teenage boys and middle aged men, living in their mother's basement. ((AKA: All the real life Rudys out there, who can't reincarnate, so they're living their sick fantasies through this nonsense.)) It essentially teaches you that you can treat women however you want to, and then be praised for it. You can also have extremely terrible morals, and then be praised for it. And no matter who you are - if it's "in your family's blood" - you can cheat/act like an animal around ALL women and there's no repercussions for this, because your girlfriend/wife should just be cool with it/turned on by the fact that you're a disgusting horn dog anyway.

To be honest with you, Redo of a Healer is less controversial than this show. YES, I said it. At least with THAT fan-service riddled and visceral nonsense, you aren't stuck with someone trying to sell you questionable morals in pretty packaging. You KNOW what you're getting into if you still decide to watch it. Meanwhile, MT wants to pass off all these themes like nothing is wrong. If it wasn't for the animation/music, I'm pretty certain that this show would be seen for what it actually is.

Even though I hated this second season, and I have a feeling that I'll despise the 3rd season as well, I'm still going to watch it, because I try not to drop shows, even when it turns to dog crap. First episode of season 3 actually came out today and it was just a loooooot more brown-nosing and metaphorical dick sucking. Hurraaaaay

I can't put into words just how bad this show is. Normally, I would try NOT to parody everything that someone else has already listed in a review, but I just have to say: this show changed so dreadfully fast and it most certainly was not for the better. By the end of it, I was feeling sick and feeling like I had wasted my time. Typically, even if an anime is terrible, I like to stick around and finish it until the end, so that I'm at least in the know and I have the ability to back up my opinions of said bad ... anime. This is how I ended up here. Because after finishing it, not only was it so bad I will never watch it again, I had to do a small rant.

I don't even want to waste my time writing a full review for this, because I don't even want to spend that much time on something this pathetic. So, instead, I'm going to make a list of the reasons why I can't stand this anime:

- OP main character, who never actually tries at anything, but is always praised/feared/loved for no reason whatsoever, except for the fact that he's OP. And he gives people names.

- OP main character literally got like 10 god like powers at the beginning of the first episode, because he ASKED FOR THEM. And then dragon gives him even more. And now he's just the ultimate being, ready to take on everything.

- Terrible, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE writing. No trying for anything. Everything handed to you. Nothing makes sense. And this isn't just "enjoy yourself/feel good" reasoning for a show where you're just not supposed to think about it. It's just bad writing.

- The evolution of monsters in this series doesn't make sense at all. They all turn more "adorable" and "human" when they receive names. This is just pandering to the bad isekai fanboys. I mean, seriously... A lizard girl gets a name and she basically shifts species to pretty much be human/looks exactly like a human with wings, and you're going to tell me this isn't just for poor fan service?

- The scenes that are supposed to make me feel something, actually do the exact opposite. They make me feel nothing. I feel nothing for these characters. There is no build up. There is no character growth. People are like flat boards. (Which is the opposite of the boobs in this show, and if we're being honest, the only reason half of the audience watched until the end.)

- The music is not memorable at all. Usually, music is one my favorite things about anime, but this one flops with music, too.

And I won't bother naming off anything else, because it would take too dang long and it's not worth it. But I do have a question: How the heck does a terrible show like this get such a high review on this website? Is it rigged? Are people just falling into bad taste as the years go by? Will men rate up EVERYTHING because the tits are flying? Did most of these votes get submitted by little boys/girls under the age of 10?

Please, Isekai. Please, go back to the good days.

Kiznaiver is a pleasant story, centered around a group of teenagers who have nothing in common aside from the fact that all of them are part of a staged dilemma that is forced upon them by a group of individuals pursuing a sort of extremist social experiment. It is a story writhe with a wide array of emotions, from joy to anger, as well as a great deal worth of unspoken romantic tension, pointing towards the fact that the main characters are all quite young and still learning to communicate their feelings effectively. By connecting with one another through the experiment, the teenagers participating in ... the experiment—Kiznaivers—grow tremendously and eventually are able to collectively overcome many of their internal struggles which have held them back in life and later form a bond that does not solely revolve around the Kizna project.

Overall, Kiznaiver's story is a very unique journey about the intriguing concept of how human pain—through both emotional and physical wounds—can be interpreted in many different ways and affect both the one who receives the wounds and the loved ones that surround them. This is shown in many different ways throughout the story, both in current and past struggles, and can leave the viewer feeling torn towards which characters they sympathize with most. While watching the series, I oddly found myself sympathizing the most with the characters that I had liked least at the beginning of the anime, which is a product of great character development. However, there were many characters within the story that were neglected in terms of background information or character exploration. Creating connections between each of these characters while overcoming their individual pasts, with an increasing cast as the story continues, was a concept too broad to be communicated effectively in just twelve episodes. There were also many theories that surrounded the Kizna system and its participants that were too vague or sketchy at the end of the anime, which could have been given better reason with more show time.

In terms of art, Kiznaiver's designs are very flashy for some characters while more simplistic for others, which effectively matches each character's personality, pointing towards the fact that people of many different backgrounds can come together to share a bond. The visuals for the background and setting of the anime were also done quite well but seemed to fade from one's mind to focus more on the characters instead, unless highlighting on a particularly emotional moment, like the last climatic scene of the series on Yugomori City's bridge. Perhaps the most unique thing about Kiznaiver's art style is the visual portrayal of pain that passes between the characters during their Kizna bond, shown as a brightly colored transition that quickly shoots across the screen and then disappears. Overall, the animation and art are both done well, but there is nothing extremely notable about the visuals, paling in comparison to the art of other works made by Studio Trigger.

With that said, Kiznaiver is definitely a series one could enjoy quite easily as a means of passing some spare time, though it might not impress more critical viewers. However, it is also something that could potentially influence people emotionally and encourage viewers to pursue positive relationships with others, despite past or current troubles. Though it is a unique story with a touching concept, Kiznaiver is a series that is much too rushed and half-baked in theory to deserve a higher score.