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Somehow, this cute slime came to life, and somehow, its anime became one of the most entertaining anime of the season, maybe of the entire year.

The anime revolves around the efforts of Puniru, the slime, to get it's creator, middle-schooler Kotarou, to call it cute. Puniru even turned into a cute girl, but Kotarou only seems to have eyes for mascots that appear on TV.

This simple premise in no way limits the range of jokes and unusual situations explored in the anime, which tend to surprise and provoke laughter quite frequently. The secondary characters are each funny in their own way, the direction is on ... point, and the soundtracks are superb. Also, I have to say that I love Puniru's transformation sequence, which is a must-see in every episode.

Puniru wa Kawaii Slime is definitely a must-watch for anyone who enjoys chaotic comedy, with unusual situations in each episode and filled with lots of cuteness. I recommend it.

Ochikobore Fruit Tart is a fun slice of life anime about a bunch of cute girls doing cute and funny idol things.

This review may contain light spoilers.

Story: 7/10. This group of failed "quasi-celebrities" experiences the idol industry in a light atmosphere and with constant jokes, but the story has certain passages that can be frightening from the perspective of the characters. I like how this anime manages to, at the same time, reliably portray certain industry rot and joke with them. Like when the manager tells the girls, in preparation for their first concert, that they should choose panties that may appear because they need ... to appear. After all, there is a demand for that. The concept of demand is a recurring theme in the anime and the manager of these girls is constantly trying to make them meet the most varied demands of the public: ranging from autographs and handshakes to taking pictures of the sleeping girls to sell as merch or make dakimakura of each of them - without them knowing it. The anime is full of jokes about the demands of the public, the manager, the agency and even the girls themselves, sometimes for each other. It is impossible to end an episode without having a good laugh.

Art: 9/10. I really like the artistic style of this anime. The colors are cheerful and lively, while the art in general is very beautiful, despite its simplicity. The polka dot patterns and stylization in the character design remind me of Shaft animes such as Hidamari Sketch and contribute to Ochikobore Fruit Tart having a visual that draws attention and does not let its lack of a large budget be noticeable in a negative way.

Sound: 10/10. For an anime about a segment of the music industry, Ochikobore Fruit Tart got it right by having MONACA production studio responsible for the music, which always makes wonderful music. They are the same ones that made the music for Anne Happy, Nyaruko-san, Working!!, Oregairu, YuYuYu and some animes from the Monogatari series, among many others. Both in the songs performed by the idols and in the soundtrack, the anime shines. Ochikobore Fruit Tart has one of my favorite OST of the year.

Characters: 7/10. "There is demand for all of you, big or small," said the group's manager. The group is diverse. They are nothing extraordinary but they play their roles in a very functional way, besides being all charismatic and fun. They are exactly what this type of anime needs, no more, no less. I like the individuality of each one and the interactions between them are always fun.

Enjoyment: 9/10. The anime is cute, beautiful, fun, very well directed by Kawaguchi Keiichirou who gives the rhythm and tone that the work needs, this was one of my best experiences of the season.

Overall: 8/10. I really enjoyed watching Ochikobore Fruit Tart until the end. The charisma of the characters, the music, the jokes and the comic timing of the anime completely won me over. For those who like CGDCT with a light dose of ecchi, good music and an idol industry approach that makes fun of the fact that girls must "sell themselves" in a variety of ways, Ochikobore Fruit Tart does not disappoint.

This new anime from the Love Live franchise is a huge disappointment. The production is perfectly up to date, the CG is so good that for the first time it does not require the use of 2D in the concerts and the songs are wonderful but, besides these things, there is not much to be praised in Nijigasaki Doukoukai. And I say that as someone who loves the franchise. School Idol Project and Sunshine were great anime, while this one can't get anywhere near that.

This review may contain light spoilers. Not that I say anything that could ruin your experience, but I comment on the ... structure of this story to exemplify what exactly makes Nijigasaki Doukoukai a disappointment for me.

Story: 3/10. My biggest problem with this spin-off of the franchise is the fact that it doesn't have a story, however bizarre it may seem. This is because the series uses the first 9 episodes to introduce the girls one by one and literally does nothing else during that time. Watching these episodes gives me the feeling that I am playing a gacha game in which, each week, it releases the side story of one of the characters. However, there is no main story.

It seems to me that the most important thing for Nijigasaki Doukoukai is to sell waifu. When, after 9 episodes of selling waifu, the anime decides to tell a story, there is no basis for anything. Mainly because it is very difficult to remember each of the girls who have been introduced over the past 9 weeks. In the case of each of them, what happens is the following: in her episode, she matters. In the other 8 of this early phase of the series, the anime hardly remembers that she exists.

At the time of the last few episodes, the script tells you that months have passed and you have to accept it just because, since there was no indication of the passage of time in the initial nine episodes in which the anime was concerned exclusively with selling waifu. So the script talks about how X character has been working hard lately, but the only thing we saw from her was in her presentation episode and she was practically irrelevant in the other 8, with very few exceptions.

This makes it impossible to create a connection with any character in this anime and it also makes it impossible to create a connection with the story itself, since there is no story. Nijigasaki Doukoukai doesn't even have any sense of unity. It seems to be nine different animes in the first nine episodes and, from 10 onwards, it becomes something just boring and uninteresting. What reason do I have to be invested in whatever they are doing in the last four episodes if I don't care about any of these characters? You can't like someone who was relevant in just one of the nine episodes the anime has had untill then. If these first nine episodes of the series were about the club, this could be quite different. But the anime chose to talk exclusively about each of the characters in these episodes and this structure ensured that none of them were really important to the story since, going back to the starting point, there is no story.

Art: 9/10. I have nothing to criticize regarding this anime in its visual aspect. The studio knows where to put a budget, even if it means turning the other anime of the season into a slide show.

Sound: 10/10. The sound design, original soundtrack and especially the songs are of the highest level, as usual. Incidentally, this is the first anime in the franchise that makes me want to have its OST, for having some songs from the moments of slice of life that do not leave my head.

Characters: 5/10. They're not bad, but the script definitely doesn't help me like them. It's like I pointed out above: in the first nine episodes, each character exists in only one of them and is practically forgotten in the other eight, with rare exceptions.

Enjoyment: 4/10. All the problems in this anime make my experience watching it far from good. As much as the anime is impeccable in technical aspects such as art, sound and direction, this fact alone cannot sustain an anime without a story and cannot make me think it was worth watching.

Overall: 5/10.

Anyway, as much as it hurts me to say that, I do not recommend Nijigasaki Doukoukai to any fan of Love Live. Perhaps the only ones that this anime can really satisfy are those who already knew the game and just wanted to see the characters from the game in an animated series. If this is not your case, I recommend that you pretend that Nijigasaki Doukoukai does not exist and wait for Love Live Superstar.