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I'll be blunt here. Helck is a very amateur to outright bad series. I have a separate review for the manga, but as for the anime how is it? ... Very meh to sometimes bad. While this adaption could have maybe improved upon the original series where it was lacking, if anything it's a bad adaption of what I consider to be the "good part" of this series. The animation is lackluster, the voices ill fitting, the tone all over the place. And don't get me started on the pacing, goodness it is awful. The worldbuilding might seem to be good at first, but it ... is quickly revealed to be incredibly simple and boring. I've seen power fantasy isekai have more interesting worldbuilding than Helck, which is just downright depressing.

Ultimately would I recommend Helck? No, not at all. The chances of it getting another season is low, and even if it does I imagine it will do even worse than what we've gotten here. I can't recommend something similar in tone or genre off top of my head, but I'm sure you can find something better than this trash.

Helck is a frustrating series. It has several things that could be good, and then ruins them constantly. The art is quite nice and the first half can be good at times, but sometime after the first half you start to see the story for what it really is. A dull, boring slog with some of the most repetitive writing I've seen in a manga in a hot minute. The exposition is badly done, and the story constantly feels the need to overexplain stuff that just isn't that interesting. The humor can be sometimes good, but is usually bad. The story sets up these grand ... stakes, and then does pretty much nothing interesting with them. Every time our characters are remotely in danger of dying or getting fatally hurt, some nonsense happens. This even extends to the villains too, who are just as annoying, bland, and unfortunately resilient as our good guys.

For all Helck promises in maybe something unique, it fails and becomes the most predictable story if you've read any other shounen out there. Why should I care about these characters when they're ultimately bland and any interesting potential for growth they show was snubbed out over time. Why should I care about this world when the worldbuilding is terrible and feels like something a 5 yo put together. Why should I care if a bunch of bad stuff happens, when inevitably I know the story will cop out and just change it back to how it was. You don't have a damn apocalyptic event, and then just have everyone major survive other than the few villains there are.

Save yourself and read something else. In the end, you'll find nothing but an amateurishly written piece of media that goes on for far too long.

Tokusatsu anime are in general a pretty rare thing, and as a somewhat casual fan of the medium this caught my interest. Add on to that a show that actually shows the perspective of the typical evil group of monsters found in toku shows with a female mc from a comedic perspective? Conceptually it’s brilliant, but execution of it is…actually pretty decently good and surprised me in a few ways. Whether you’re a comedy or toku fan, there’s a pretty enjoyable show here.

The story is relatively simple enough. Kuriotsu is a researcher in the monster development department at the secret, evil corporation of Agastia. It’s ... her job along with the main head of the department Shinya to create various monsters to tackle our hero of the story, Blader. Of course being a comedy, the story leans heavily into parodying the genre applying real life work culture, budgets, deadlines, etc. to making these monsters, which is in part where some of the humor comes from. The story doesn’t just follow her though, you’ll see side stories following some of the various monsters, a couple of magical girls that treat it more as a job than actual heroics, a girl just trying to live paycheck to paycheck via being a costumed goon for hire for various toku villains that aren’t Agastia, etc. Blader himself gets a good amount of focus too of course being the main hero, and even he has to work a 2nd job to make ends meet on top of being a hero in almost a Spiderman-esque situation.

One minor note, I will say is that the series is full of references and cameos of various toku series both popular and niche. You get anything from Ultraseven being the narrator of one episode, or various animated appearances of real toku chars/heroes that are on air in Japan. You don’t need to know any of this stuff and the series certainly doesn’t rely on fanservice to be successful, but it’s a nice extra thing to have for hardcore toku fans.

As a comedy, I found the jokes to be kinda hit or miss. I did enjoy the series overall as it doesn’t just rely on comedy, but the actual jokes sometimes rely too much on common anime tropes. There’s a solid dozen boob jokes in the series, and the milage you get out of Wolf’s whole running gag of having a guy brain but being in a girl’s body may vary. Largely, I don’t care about that kinda humor, but they’re not the only type of jokes the series does. The parts that did hit often were the parody of toku tropes, office humor, or just various one off gags that worked well.

Something that did surprise me about this show was that it actually has a good level of worldbuilding. It explores considerably how society looks at monsters and how both Agastia and other evil corporations operate in the world, but never to the point it felt too serious, dark, or nonsensical. Y’know how I mentioned how the show doesn’t just focus on Kuriotsu and Blader? Well yeah, often those parts of the eps that focus on the other chars help flesh out the world, and I’d say it makes the series as a whole more appealing.

The characterization is good enough. There’s definitely better characterization in comedies out there, but you’ll still find a likable cast here. Kuriotsu is a determined young woman, and honestly one of the better female protags I’ve seen in anime. She’s got great leadership skills, looks out for her fellow employees/comrades, is actually pretty strong combat wise, has plenty of tenacity, but still has a cute, relatable side to her. Wolfy is to an extent the deuteragonist of the series, but they have similar qualities to Kuriotsu with a somewhat more aggressive, tsundere side to them. The side cast in general gets alright development, outside of a few I’d say barely any are just one note chars that are just there for some gag. Blader himself gets a good amount of development too, though I’d say it’s sort of just your usual shonen mc development. I’m not sure I’d say its anything unique, outside of him technically being the antagonist.

Animation wise, the show is above average. Characters are certainly expressive, and the visual gags hit well. Otherwise though, I’d say the animation is comparable to your average isekai. I guess one highlight is that I recall there being pretty much no or barely any CGI, so I guess that’s one positive. I think the character designs in general are pretty strong, even if some of the faces on the girls look a bit samey.

Voice acting is fine, I don’t have any complaints here. Standard acting for these sort of comedies. Music I actually quite enjoyed. The OP is bombastic and gets you into the action, and you get 2 EDs one being a hotblooded theme song for Blader, and the other just being a silly ED about Kuriotsu. The general soundtrack I liked, but didn’t feel was very memorable.

Overall, this was a good show. I wouldn’t call it great, but again I think it's highly enjoyable as a toku fan, and still a nice watch for comedy fans. Solid 7/10 series.

Strange Steel Fairy Rouran is certainly a strange show. Written by Sho Aikawa also known as the writer for Neo Ragna, you have a rather unique style of storytelling with his works.

Its sorta hard to talk about the story of Rouran without spoiling major stuff, so I’d like to say its a story about corrupt governments and questionable ethics. About ancient dangers, and mysterious supernatural entities. About one’s identity, and about how appearances can be deceiving. If this is sounding a little too epic considering I only rated this show a 6/10, well you’d be right. Rouran has a lot of cool concepts, but ... the execution ranges from sometimes good to mostly ok or badly.

The characters are above average mostly, sometimes bad. In general the pacing of the show is I feel too fast paced to truly develop any of the characters well except perhaps Rouran, who is definitely the best character in the show, but that’s not saying much. I’d say she’s a “good enough” female mc, and she’s pretty cool most of the time. I wouldn’t say she ever rises too much above your average action girl though. Ultimately, the antagonists feel fairly simple too, so the story explores some concepts of corruption in leading bodies decently enough.

Animation is often above average, but never truly reaches above that. The art itself is consistent, and I am a big fan of some of the character designs and most of the mech/monster designs as well.

Music wise, the OP and ED while not really memorable, set the tone of the series well. The general soundtrack is atmospheric and even chilling at times, and is perhaps one of the stronger elements of the series. Voice acting is standard, outside of Hiromi Konno who I felt did a very good job with both Rouran’s soft, giddy and serious, heroic side.

Overall, Rouran is a solid enough show with a rare female main protag for a mecha show. It’s pretty short too being only about a cour long since every ep is only 10 min, so if you got some time to kill and like niche, odd shows than yeah I’d rec it.

I’m a huge Danganronpa fan, and while I didn’t catch Akamatsu Drive I figured I’d check out Tribe Nine this season. Unfortunately, this promotional anime is as the kids these days say “mid”.

So what about the good stuff? Well the music is great at least, Masafumi never disappoints with his compositions. You still have the excellent bops you have in other games he’s worked on, but the OST is definitely closest to Danganronpa’s. The character designs by Rui are also still real unique and have that edgy, rebellious style that works great with this series. Also sometimes, the animation genuinely is good and there’s one ... big twist around ep 3 that I did not expect.

However past that, the writing for this show just does not quite know what it wants to be. It constantly switches from a sports show to incredibly generic shonen. Characters survive lethal blows for no reason, and some scenes just felt nonsensical. I’m actually half surprised it didn’t bring back alive a certain char that dies, considering the way the writing was going.

The story of Tribe Nine is mainly just a general story of one time rising to the top. You have several eccentric and quirky characters you’ll forget by tomorrow make up the other teams the protags fight. They of course beat them, and then have one final battle against Ojiro and his dudes. That’s about it really, there’s hardly any nuance and feels like the worst bits of Kodaka’s previous works, where it’s just constantly escalating even if it’s nonsensical.

So what about the characters? Well most of the cast is fairly bland tbh. Haru and Taiga do grow as characters, but it’s very standard stuff. Shun is cool I guess, Kazuki joins later, and without spoiling has an alright dynamic with Ojiro. As for Ojiro, he’s kind of just a very typical “only the strong shall thrive” villain. The overall conflict of this show is standard stuff where “guy with power of friendship fights villain with no friends and shows him power of friendship”. I actually like this trope, it’s just very mediocrely done here. Perhaps the most notable thing about Ojiro I can say is that Corpse Father plays him in the dub.

If it sounds like I’m repeating myself, it’s probably because I am. There’s really just not much to say about this series, it’s incredibly average in most everything. The animation is fine most of the time, sometimes getting good but not to the point it would really affect my score. The voice performances are good in sub like usual. This anime mostly just sort of exists to promote the game like most anime of its type.

Overall, I’d give it a 5 maaaaybe 5.5/10. Peep the soundtrack when it comes out, but I wouldn’t really rec watching it, unless you’re a Danganronpa fan just absolutely starving for more stuff similar to it. Even then though, all you’re gonna get is a few crumbs.

Y’know normally I’d start off a review sorta giving a brief talk about what the anime I’m reviewing is, but that’s the thing with Sakugan. Neither I nor the anime itself have a clear vision of what it wants to be. The things I can say that are in Sakugan are mecha, adventure, familial themes, commentary on corrupt governments, kaiju, mystery, drama, SoL, and more, but the anime itself never really keeps to one main idea and you often ask yourself “why is this even an element in the show in the first place? ⅓ of the eps might as well be filler, ⅓ are ... semi related to the overall plot but feel disorganized in execution and not well paced, and the last third actually being the main plot but are still wack in execution and pace and just have some questionable writing overall.

The main story starts off with an incident that causes Gagumber to join his daughter Memenpu on an adventure to try and find this tower in her dreams. The first 3 eps are actually a pretty good start, and we get some good action and in general well done moments. Ep 4 and beyond though is when it gets worse. A lot of these middle eps are very mixed in quality. Some are one offs that maybe introduce a new character or element of worldbuilding, but really just exist only to do that. Yuri’s introduction ep is a whole “rebels against le bad government” arc in one ep, and has the worst pacing of any ep in the whole series. What about ep 8 where Zack tries to get revenge on Gagumber and even kidnaps and threatens to kill Memenpu where Gagumber has to just about kill himself to save her, but right at the end he’s immediately ok after an off screen surgery and they both just forgive Zack as if nothing serious happened? She also continues to travel with them for no real reason other than “plot reasons”, and really it felt like this should’ve happened sooner in the series. Yeah in general not at all good pacing. Ending wasn't even remotely satisfying imo.

Ok what about the themes? Well ig it has some half-baked commentary on like controlling government vs free society, protecting the environment, blah blah, it’s rushed and not done well. Oh but what about the main theme of family and a father/daughter relationship?

I’ll have to dive more into the characters for that. Characters in this show are…mostly annoying. Our main duo here feel like they never truly grow even though they have multiple chances too throughout the story. I know that’s…actually a bit realistic knowing how humans can be, but there’s a way of write that without it being annoying and also I feel like that’s not even necessarily what the show is trying to go for. So like, let's start with Memenpu here.

I don’t mind kid characters in anime. In fact the more “realistic” ones that people find annoying or even hate (e.g. the kid trio in eureka seven), I don’t really mind too much. Meme here though just doesn’t work for me. I’m supposed to believe this 9 yo child prodigy that is in college and is shown to be the “smart leader” of the group most of the time, is also this incredibly immature girl that regularly makes reckless and dangerous decisions? You’d think after maybe the first or second near death experiences she’d learn to try and listen to Gagumber a bit more and try to work with him more, but nah even on ep 10 she’s still STILL being stupid reckless.

Ok what about Gagumber? He’s not as bad as Meme, in fact if anything the anime has this weird tendency to absolutely dogpile on the guy. Like yeah sometimes it’s deserved, but a lot of time it crosses the line and just brings down my general enjoyment of the series. There are also times when he could afford to listen to Memenpu more or at least act like a proper dad, and he just doesn’t unless it’s extreme circumstances.

My main point here is that Sakugan are trying to portray these 2 as like “yeah they don’t get along too well, but they still love each other because they’re family”, but that’s not really the vibe I get. More what I see is an incredibly unhealthy, if not outright toxic relationship between these two that’s sometimes interrupted by them seemingly being close together. So no I don’t really think Sakugan handles its familial themes well either, and at worst can maybe even teach the wrong lessons.

As for the side cast, Yuri is a fairly one note anarchist teenage redditor that often does more harm than good. He’s supposed to be the comic relief, but I pretty much just found him annoying. Zack has nothing interesting to her outside of I guess being the attractive action girl, and a poorly done revenge arc that lasts one ep and goes nowhere. Merooro is…actually he’s ok. I mostly liked him, he’s funny a few times. The antags are incredibly generic terrorists that have some incredibly vague, generic goal that tbh I forgot what even was cuz it barely felt like it even mattered.

So is there anything good about Sakugan? Well I can’t really complain about the animation and music. They’re not great, but are pretty consistently good. The mecha design are nice, and cgi animation for them is goodish. Backgrounds are pretty consistently nice, and I feel like I never saw the characters go off model. Kaiju are…ok cgi I guess. VA performance is good, they do the job. The overall soundtrack is good, with a really good OP and alright ED.

Ultimately, I can’t dislike Sakugan too much. It’s sometimes good, mostly average or bad, but it’s ok overall. If anything it’s nice to have another mecha show along with the various others this season. There was an attempt here to make something good that just unfortunately got dragged down by what feels like very amateurish writing. I mean tbf the non writing parts are good enough at least. Sakugan is an average watch, but I will say 2 things if you’re interested in watching. Don’t expect a lot of mecha action, and your enjoyment of the father/daughter relationship may vary.

--NO MAJOR SPOILERS--

V Gundam is a…weird series to rank. It’s a series that at times feels like an unnecessary addition to the UC timeline mostly retreading old ground with a rather cartoonishly evil at times group of villains. Other times it is incredibly well written showcasing tragedy and empathy for your fellow man even in war times very well. In general, it is very much one of Tomino’s dark series and brings with that for better or worse his general insanity and sometimes just unintentionally, hilariously, bad writing too. Despite all this though, I very much enjoyed V Gundam for the most part.

The story is ... your typical Gundam one of a small, guerilla-esque force that is rebelling against some oppressive government. The stakes in general are handled well, and it always feels like there’s some threat for our protags. The whole idea of Mariaism is a bit silly and not really grounded in any real ideology like Zeon somewhat was, and ultimately is just a way for Zanscare officials to manipulate the queen and do le corrupt/bad things. There is also a LOT of death in this series, and usually I didn’t really find them sad or engaging. I did find the characters reacting to the deaths and grieving to be extremely well done, and it feels like sometimes poor boy Uso just lives to suffer. Pacing is goodish overall, sometimes it definitely felt like it was dragging for the sake of hitting that four cour goal, but overall it feels engaging. There’s a lot of repeated stuff and ideas here that aren’t entirely as well executed as previous Gundam series, but the story still keeps the heart of what makes Gundam special for the most part. Also unimportant, but I want to say I find if funny and unique just how useful Haro is here. The little ball bot actually saves the lives of our cast more than once, and overall actually has a presence in this series compared to others where their just sorta there to be cutesy mascots.

Characters are a mixed bag writing wise. I think Uso is genuinely very well written, and is very high on my list of fave Gundam protags. He suffers and goes through so much, but still refuses to not see the good in people or hope that his enemies and humanity can change. He ends up probably having the highest kill count of any pilot at the end of the series, all while being the youngest Gundam pilot still as of right now. Man will probably have trauma and PTSD for years, but ultimately he gets a happier ending than other Gundam protags.

The side cast and antagonists range from solid to kind of bad. Shakti I want to like, but she feels like a plot device at times. Marbet is a good char overall, and is a great motherly figure. The Strike team is…ok ig overall? Most just felt like they were there to pad the roster, and their uh “development” was pretty predictable. Odelo is a nice older kid type char who keeps Uso and the other kids in check, while still needing to be put in his place by the adults sometimes. The rest of the side cast is ok, I don’t have anything really to say about them.

The antagonists are very much mixed. Chronicle is basically Jerid 2.0, I like him well enough. He’s kind of a loser rival a bit, but he has some good moments. Faula I thought could be a good Haman-esque char, and then she’s just wack later on. Katejina is just chaotic evil hoe that is amusing, but ultimately not that well written of a char imo. Lupe is laughably bad, and the rest are mostly just cartoonishly evil. However, something you’ll notice through V Gundam is that it’s really good about having certain soldiers that will be around for 1-3 eps tops. However what the story does with them is excellent as far as war being a horrific, tragic thing, and there’s often inevitable but touching scenes with them that Gundam is known for and V Gundam delivers well on that.

Both OPs and EDs are pretty catchy, and general soundtrack is nice. Uso was Daisuke Sakaguchi’s breakout role, and he really does an excellent job voicing Uso here. The sheer emotional range he has works very well. The rest of the cast is voiced well, and I’d like to specifically mention Chronicle’s va being Tomoyuki Dan who did a great job as Chronicle, but unfortunately passed away back in 2013.

The art and animation overall is actually pretty consistently nice. I noticed less reused stock footage overall compared to other Gundam series of its time, and the art has that timeless 90s look to it. Character designs keep the classic feel of Gundam series before it. The mech and ship designs are…oh geez where do I even begin lol. The wheel mechs and suits are very much an acquired taste, but I think they’re so dumb and silly they loop around to being interesting and most certainly unique almost in a G Gundam sense. The V Gundam itself being a combiner mech makes for some interesting combat situations, and the V2 is very nice looking. The V2’s wings of light I loved a lot specifically. Grunts suits work nice, and in general V Gundam has some of the most odd but truly unique suits in the franchise.

V Gundam, like its wheel mechs, are very much an acquired taste. You might have to stick with it for a while before you truly like it. Yes there’s a few really bad eps writing wise, and in general the writing quality isn’t as good as the Gundam shows that came before it. However, it still has a lot of what makes Gundam good and I’d rec any Gundam fan to still check it out. 7.5/10. Stand up to the Victory baby.

Well yeesh what is there to say about this one? It's basically about a girl who realizes one of her classmates turns into the monster on the cover. She becomes friends with the girl, and tries to help her not kill people in monster form except that plan falls apart real quick. Tbh this is just a decent horror manga. I like the monster design and there's some cool panels, but otherwise it's very meh. Characterization is barely there, story is all over the place with a wack ending. Art has a rather cutesy style that creates a nice dissonance with the rather detailed and ... morbid horror parts of the art. It's an inoffensive short manga that'll take you like 30 min tops to read. Ig give it a try if you're bored, and looking for something quick to read.

Aight, I'm only making this review, cuz I'm not allowed to let this show go overlooked cuz of a couple of reviews. Megaton is sick, and easily one of the best mecha shows this season. Story is fairly predictable so far, but it doesn't matter cuz this show has such a good style to it. Like it's nothing crazy, but it makes you interested in seeing how things will go. Characters so far don't have too much development, but I sense some great potential here. Both 2D art and 3D cgi is pretty consistently great, and I adore the thicker black outlines and shadows used ... for the char designs. The mecha action is epic, sick, and pure fun. Music is very hype and catchy so far, and I like the voice performances. I can't really say a ton cuz there's only 4 eps atm, but Megaton is a great show so far. Don't be fooled by the MAL score, this is a show def worth trying. At least give it 2-3 eps before considering dropping it.

--NO MAJOR SPOILERS—

Shortish review for this. Majestic Prince is a bit hard to review. It has a few unique things for it, but it is for the most part a very cliché mecha anime. It’s executed well enough and is enjoyable, but I wouldn’t expect anything outstanding here except for the cgi animation.

Story is very much a standard humans in mecha vs aliens in mecha story. The stakes are for the most part pretty high, and battles are tense. There’s a nice sense of progression as the war rages on, as humanity gives their all to fight the aliens. Admittedly, the plot twists are ... pretty standard for the genre, but work ok enough. There’s a nice theme of giving into instincts vs. humans are far more than their primal urges which is actually a pretty cool unique theme, tho I felt it could’ve elaborated more on it.

Cast of characters are fairly standard, but they’re a likeable bunch. The adult chars, other pilots, and mechanics all have their own little endearing quirks. Asagi was probs my fave, and him and Izuru debatably have the best growth over the course of the show. Antags are fine, Jiato works well as a main rival to Izuru and just being stupid OP.

The mecha battles and cgi animation are easily among the best I’ve seen especially for a show from the early 2010’s. They’re very fluid, have a lot of fast-paced, well animated movements going on, and are a pleasure to watch. The actual mecha designs themselves are very varied and cool, I love Red 5 with its chainsaw sword blaster thingy and crazy blue wing powers when it awakens.

Character designs are by Hirai who’s char designs I’ve always been somewhat mixed on. They’re ok to bad in Fafner, good enough in Infinite Ryvius, and actually pretty good here. I think it helps a lot that the chars will often go off model for comedy, and are in general allowed to be very expressive. 2D animation is good, I have no complaints here.

Overall soundtrack is quite catchy, and I like the OP and ED’s. Voice cast is good. I really love Jiato’s performance and Tamaki’s was honestly a bit annoying.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with MJP. 7.5/10. Would rec if you’re looking for a show with consistently amazing mecha action, and a fun story/chars.