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Dec 22, 2023
For an anime that started so strong in its first season, the second season really is a letdown.
In season 1, the Ajin had a bit of mystery, and even the characters were somewhat mysterious. You were given the time and scenes to figure them out. What are their reasons for doing what they do? What are their ideas, philosophies? And with this supernatural phenomena of immortality and the ability to call upon a very potent companion, how should it be treated? None of this is further expanded upon the second season.
The CGI animation is still pretty good, for CGI, but the emotional performances are carried
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by the voice actors rather than by the visuals. The style and color palette are also quite basic, but with CGI I get that they went on this route. It is packed with action though, and the action does not disappoint. But that is the only thing this second season has going for it in my opinion.
The second season becomes a lackluster cliché terrorist crime drama. The Ajin's existence are not explored, which I thought they would after season one. But letting some supernatural power stay an obscure mystery is fine by me. But nothing interesting is done with it for the rest of season two. Ajin on both sides use their immortality, and use their ghost to do some simple tasks or battle moves. It could have been so much more creative though, especially in the action scenes. If the Ajin powers were used more creatively, I could have said you could have watched this anime for the cool action. But Ajin are a mere tool, used as a blunt axe. Sure the terrorist group exists because Ajin came into existence, but otherwise the show might as well be the most generic good guys vs bad terrorists action series, with a new toy to play with.
If you have seen season one and you want to start season two, you can give it a try. But if you notice you do not like it after two maybe three episodes, just drop it, it is not gonna get better. If you are someone who is wondering whether to start season one, I am not going to recommend this anime. You are far better off watching other more fun and interesting anime, which there are plenty of, than this CGI mid tier action trap.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 7, 2023
Kakegurui Twin, a shaved down version of Kakegurui.
It's the prequel to Kakegurui, but imo it does not add much new information/lore/plot/whatever you wanna call it to the anime show of Kakegurui. You follow Mary as a starting nobody in the gamble school, and just as with Kakegurui, she (and others) try to win games or gain advantages through some kind of scheme or cheating. This is the first shave down in my opinion. I might have different impressions, and I don't know if it is just the source material for this prequel, but the games and the schemes are really not interesting. Sometimes they are
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simple enough that the regular viewer figures it out if they think about it for a second, or the scheme/game is done at such a bullshit level that it doesn't even matter, the plot and story just move in favor of Mary by the power of bullshit.
The second shave down are the characters. Although they use the same or similar characters from Kakegurui, Mary feels very different(as it should since she is yet to experience everything), but she is at the level of a boring average character in the anime's world with a little bit more braincells and desire. Supporting characters that become her friends are medicore as well. One is just simping for her all the time without much reason, the other is also an average character which has little depth. I hate to say it, but I think the character I found so annoying and over the top in Kakegurui such as Yumeko, carried that show. If the voicing is less energetic and dramatic, it doesn't work. They need to be full on crazy.
The "crazy" shots are also shaved down. Where in Kakegurui you can see quite the number of dramatic close ups with sometimes glowing eyes and idiotic facial expressions, that is present in this prequel, but to a much lesser degree, and they are less dramatic. And that's a shame since those dramatic emotional moments went quite well with the ethically gray characters who would do anything to gain money when everything is on the line. Touching on that, that also slightly bothers me in this anime. Morals and ethics were almost nowhere to be found in Kakegurui. Yumeko was an addict that wants to satiate her lust for gambling, Mary was a bitch in it for herself most of the time, and you saw all that through the eyes of a wimpy MC. But in Kakegurui Twin, Mary has a feel of morality at times, a conscience for her friends, almost to wash her from the shit behaviour in Kakegurui. It's weird to see some good guys where first everyone had no moral compass, especially after you have seen regular Kakegurui. She and her one friend, maybe the other one too, for some reason have some kind of decency, but everyone else is just the worst, girls and boys, but especially the few boys in the show are just the scumbags of the earth.
Is this anime for you? This anime might have one purpose, and one purpose only, and that is to please the cosplayers that overrated Kakegurui, and give them more material and characters to group cosplay as some pseudo lesbians with suggestive kinks. Otherwise, you are better of just watching Kakegurui, the Kakegurui in its full glory, rather than this shaved down version.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 3, 2023
This show is a prime example of how to NOT use "flawed" characters and time travel, and apparently how just getting your ass kicked for no reason can change the future.
Tokyo Revengers is set in a world where gangsters are not just some random big shot criminal scum, but have an actual say in society and do more than just the secret ingredient of crime. This does however lead to an event where our MC can't live with, as does an old acquaintance Naoto of him. They do however discover that our MC can travel back in time, albeit a fixed amount of time, through
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some weird trigger with Naoto. The consciousness of our adult MC goes back in time and ends up in his own delinquent child body, to prevent some key events leading up to their future.
Our MC however, is quite dumb. Although his love interest in the past seems to say he has a more grown up vibe when he actually is there with his older consciousness, I wouldn't see how. He is childish, doesn't think things through, and is almost not able to do anything of significance, all the while he NEEDS to do his part and change the future. Sure he is a loser character, but he doesn't take anything seriously. I am all for flawed characters, but this MC, with all the knowledge of the future, the past, and his experiences, seems to be unable to learn from his mistakes nor his achievements. He also is wimpier than the MC of Accel World, physically but also psychologically, which is some form of accomplishment. The acquaintance Naoto also is quite stupid to believe that our MC can change the future by preventing two gang leaders from ever meeting eachother, as if MC could do anything. The expectations put on him are gigantic while everyone can clearly see this is gonna go wrong, but they proceed anyway. That our MC has accepted is also ridiculous. Aside from our MC, most characters seem to be one-dimensional, and the interesting characters such as the gang leader Mikey and his right hand Drakken, aren't explored, at least not in the first 9 episodes.
I also find the timetravel aspect somewhat stupid. I like that, since it is a sudden bullshit mechanic of going back in time, it is a one-time only thing per moment in time. MC can travel back in time an x amount of days from his point in the future, and once the future has moved on, he is not able to go back and redo something. But this does not really matter in the anime. Coming back to our useless MC, everytime he seems to have done nothing of significance, or nothing at all, things change nonetheless. The plot just moves the anime in the right direction for no reason. Sure I didn't expect anything too realistic from an anime where 4th graders are gangsters and where 2 people can make timetravel work through a handshake, but I still expect a decentish story, or the progression thereof. First something in the past results in the death of some character, now with the same events, he stays alive. Okay plot.
Is this anime for you? I don't think so. How the story and plot seem to unfold is random but at the same time in the exact right direction the show wants it to go, it feels dumb. The action in the series is mainly seeing our MC getting thrashed. You follow the uninteresting characters, while the interesting delinquents get some screentime but you don't really get to know them properly. The delinquent aspect also could have been used and executed so much better. I don't get how this anime scores around an 8 average, and I definitely call this anime overrated.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 21, 2023
Beneath the overrated, still a very good anime.
Finally watched the proclaimed #1 anime, and I have to say, I can slightly see why people could see it like that. It's an anime about two brothers who have committed a sin using alchemy(trying to revive their mother using human transmutation), and the result of that sin is that one of them loses 2 limbs and the other has to live as a walking armor. Their journey and adventure is a result of them trying to find a way to fix their situation. This alone leads to interesting stories and worldbuilding, but ultimately this leads them to
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discover the bigger picture and story throughout the anime.
This anime has more than fine music, a very good story and interesting characters. The animation is overall okay but is sometimes lacking, even for the time it was animated in. You can sometimes just see that the foreground and background received very different degrees of attention. Scenery is sometimes vague without much detail compared to the characters moving, talking and fighting in it.
One other but smaller annoyance was the comedy in this show. And the comedy actually often came down to making fun of the height of the MC, which was a running gag throughout the show.
And as to the overpraised but very good story, I do have one real bone to pick with this #1 anime, and that is the premise of the story which I started this review with. How the two brothers were able to commit the alchemy sin, without anyone suspecting a thing, is a mystery to me. Just one or a few questions from their grandmother and she should have known they weren't right in the head after their mother's death. And how their master didn't protect them from this while their master herself made the same mistake, is very weird to me. You are learning children very dangerous knowledge that could be ultimately world-altering, but you aren't gonna teach them what not to pursue? Maybe the specific 3 rules that every alchemist apparently knows? Or just tell them your own faults, let others learn from it as well as yourself? And how easily this could have been prevented, that's how easily this show adresses it at the end of the anime, together with the theme and probably the message that this show is trying to convey.
Despite that one flaw in the story premise, I still wholeheartedly recommend this show. Is this anime for you? Certainly. It's an exciting dramatic adventure with a catchy story, and enough interesting characters. It is and will be all-time classic, preserving its qualities together with its flaws.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jun 28, 2023
Feelings to the max. It just lets you feel so hard, positive as well as negative emotions. And when anime makes you feel this hard, it's beautiful.
Normally I stick to reviewing titles that could do with more attention and appreciation, or to titles that deserved to be pegged down a little, but I can't sit idly by this anime, I just had too much excitement while watching. This anime gets you really invested in the characters and the emotions they feel. And not in a way that you know their thought process and emotions the whole time where you can hear their deep thoughts constantly
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like done in some other drama shows. Rather, this show makes you feel at ease through mundane high school drama and idol anime events, and then suddenly pulls a heavy emotional punch at you. The way it is done through the animation, directing and especially sounds is done at its best.
As for the anime and what it's about, I advise you to not read further than this. Everything that I am about to tell is clear after watching the first episode, but the first episode is rather a movie than an episode, and with knowing where things will lead, it will take away from the experience. But without further ado: the anime in essence is about a brother and a sister in high school that are trying to work in the entertainment industry, the sister an idol and the brother an actor. But, this brother and sister are reincarnations of two people, one being a sick kid, so sick she could not leave the hospital and had no life, and the other a doctor who knew her. They both be simping for an idol, and surprise, their mother in their reincarnated lives is that specific idol. And during childhood, their mother gets killed by a stalker that at least according to our reincarnated doctor could only know her location because her ex-boyfriend, their father, told him, turning the drama idol anime also into a murder mystery that our MC will try to solve, to the degrees that it is an obsession.
Now, when I read the reincarnation with your idol as your mother in the synopsis, I thought this was quite a lot of bullshit and could lead to next levels of degeneracy, and thought that was the only significant part about this anime. But I couldn't be more wrong. The anime gives you a look into the entertainment industry and pays attention to the ugly sides of it as well. It is about people's feelings and dreams, and their motivations behind those. Our MC struggles with these motivations regularly, seeming to question whether he wants to act because he himself wants that, or because his dead idol mother envisioned him as an actor, or because he needs to take up an acting career to make steps into solving the murder on his mother.
And regarding the murder mystery, although it often takes a backseat to the highschool idol drama content, just like the timing of the emotional punches of this anime, the murder mystery advances and realizations by our MC come at unexpected moments. And because of this, you can enjoy all of the anime watching beginning idols progress and high school actors trying to flourish, but you are always in some suspense in the event of a heavy emotional moment or the acquisition of crucial information on solving the murder mystery.
The animation of the anime is well done, and almost too detailed at some points. It does use a bright color pallet and makes use of sparkles and lighting a lot in crucial scenes, and depending on your tastes you might like or dislike it. At the same time, even if the animation was done worse, with the shots in the same orientation and the same directing together with the voice-acting, the anime might not even need this quality of animation. But it sure pleases my eyes.
As for story, I am an anime only for this series, and don't know the full extend of the story like some manga readers do. Purely looking at the story, this might be one of the only weak points of the anime. The plot is creative even with some reincarnation bullshit, but the story seems to pretty much rely on the plot. The progress of the story is also somewhat erratic, although I experience this as something positive.
Is this anime for you? I definitely think so. This anime should be entertaining for the regular anime-loving population, as everybody loves well-written characters that will make you feel along with their struggles and accomplishments. I could see people with specific tastes not liking the anime to the degree I do, but it will still be entertaining, nice to watch, and make you feel like never before.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jun 24, 2023
This is the longest convoluted commercial for cream puffs I have seen thus far.
Mashle is about a dude who has no magic in a magical world, and needs to become the best at a magic academy to continue his life or else some cop will tell on him, becauseeeee, well, the world is darwinist to the extreme, where baby's with no magic will just be, well, you get the point. It seems like it is meant as a parody on One Punch Man and Harry Potter, and probably more, but it doesn't do a good job. At least, not at the comedy part. It sure
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makes fun of magic academy tropes and and overpowered (muscle head) characters. But it just isn't funny enough.
As of now, I had a good laugh in maybe 4 of the episodes, 2 of which were in the first 3. The parts where I laughed were when Mash makes a up a very unique and ridiculous solution to a problem he encounters, and to the one of the monologues of the hot redhead explosionist. And that's where this anime let's me down. The show could also do with more attempts at jokes or funny moments, cause many events and scenes are quite mundane. This isn't an anime you are going to watch for good fighting scenes with slick animation, intelligent intricacies, or deep characters with heartfelt dialogue. You go watch it because you want to have a laugh. And it just doesn't do that enough. You will laugh just as much fun with this anime as One Punch Man itself, or the longer convoluted commercial for a hearing aid Black Clover. You can have a laugh with those two shows, and admire the production quality, characters and a little story. And you don't have to see cream puffs every damn episode for no reason.
Is this anime for you? Despite naming two shows you should rather watch for better production quality, the show sure isn't bad aesthetically, although it isn't special either. Since I am this far in, I will watch the last few episodes, but I don't recommend this anime. The comedy should be carrying the show, but the attempt at comedy is often not present, and if it is present, it's not funny enough.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 21, 2022
The essential bait anime. That's what I would call it. And it is quite easy to explain why.
Komi-san is an anime about a girl who has trouble communicating, at least vocally. She is of course in school, where most of the scenes take place. The communication flaw that Komi-san has, is mainly used for comedic purposes, as is the whole anime. Still we have some kind of narrator at the beginning of episodes sumarizing the troubles of people with severe anxiety, with a somewhat serious tone. There is by no means some kind of deep exploring on Komi's anxiety, but still the anime tries to
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have some kind of emotional moments for Komi. The whole anime hangs by a thread of the comedic value. And this is where the anime fails. The anime has no characters of substance, besides maybe 1 or 2, and pursuits comedy, which it doesn't achieve at all.
The comedy comes mainly from caricature characters, since everyone attending the school has to be "unique". It mainly consists of absurd interactions and actions from these characters, with or for Komi. I can have a good laugh with absurdity, but I think I only had one slight giggle in one episode. The rest just isn't funny. It's not even a matter of taste in comedy, it just isn't funny. The comedy/jokes are off, the timing is off, the way these scenes play out is off.
I would call this the first bait realization. If you want to inform yourself what this anime is about, you get the idea that you are going to get invested in Komi and her struggles. Immediately in the first episode, you know this is thrown out the window, and you know this is going to be a comedy. But alas, the comedy is the worst.
The animation is also lacking, which also felt like a bait to me. The opening is really well animated, and the music goes well with it. The PV's are also more than decent. But in the anime itself, there are a few seconds of the worst CGI I have seen in a long time, and animation feels really cheap. Even with the simple character models and faces, the animation is lacking.
As for story, there isn't much story. Komi has communication struggles, Tadano wants to help her find friends. That's about it. Then we have everyday experiences molded into absurdity, because of Komi, and the other caricature characters.
Is this anime for you? I don't even know if I should ask the question. I really don't want to recommend it, cause it wastes your time. It's not even that it's super bad, cause then you don't even finish the anime, but drop it. I also don't get how it scores around an average 8. But what I sure do know: There are for more better animated school animes out there. There are far more funnier anime out there. There are far better characters that you can invest yourself in together with their struggles such as anxiety. You can pass on this mediocre anime, or waste 240 minutes of your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 14, 2022
Another anime that tries to ride the Otome game-like isekai genre for success. That's what most people will think when presented with the synopsis. And I can't really prove them wrong. Still, I enjoyed watching it. In short, the animation is decent but occasionally bad; the plot has an interesting twist; the story is not that much of a story; the characters are vivid and colorful.
The world our MC is reincarnated in, is a weird one. With this, the world, seems to not really have a clear identity. Most of the anime takes place at a school. Does this make it a school drama? What
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kind of school is it? Does it teach magic, mech piloting, classic fantasy medieval combat? Is it a place to build a reputation, a network? As is made clear early in the anime, the main purpose for the academy is to find a partner, but all the while it teaches all aforementioned topics, and tea parties which are apparently quite important for finding a spouse. The main phenomena throughout this school, and the anime, is that in this otome world, women reign supreme. Together with how the society in this world is structured, by noble ranks and titles, it has gone on a perverse route on how to select a partner, which comes down to really only look at their noble rank and family status. The MC, with his previous world knowledge and the knowledge of how he played the game, finds this to be a lot of bullocks.
The MC however isn't the angel from heaven on the moral high horse either(although he might think that he is). He has a somewhat nasty personality, but his heart is in the right place. This is becoming a trend in anime, that instead of having a goody two shoes, with the density of a black hole, and the thought process of a 9 year old, we are now having scumbag protagonists who put people in their place, but still want to show that they are somehow not an asshole through some showing of kindness or selfmade morality. It still is somewhat refreshing really, but with every story who takes such a MC, it gets more dull. Most of the other characters don't have too much redeeming qualities themselves, but, and especially the female characters, really make a colorful cast. The unlikability of characters makes you get involved to a small degree.
The characters somwhat make up for the story. The world our MC is reincarnated in, follows partially the path of the game's story he played, which he of course still has his knowledge of. As he is reincarnated as a mob, he makes up his mind of having an easy life in the background, because of the fact that he is reincarnated as a mob character. But this becomes less and less feasible throughout the story, cause sometimes circumstances push him to get involved, and sometimes he himself chooses to get involved, making him more and more like a MC of the game, instead of a mob character.
Is this anime for you? The world in which the MC is reincarnated really is weird, but it gives it some kind of novelty I don't see often. The characters and their dialogues were what made it enjoyable for me, and got me involved. Some might also just enjoy the brutality of the MC and how he puts people into their place.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 8, 2022
For a romcon anime, this is the bare, and I mean, the bare minimum. It might even be just a little below bare minimum. It passes the time, and it can be somewhat enjoyable for some moments, but I would not recommend this anime.
As said, this is a romcom, but the comedy is very lacking. The male protagonist has somehow supernaturally bad luck, which he consciously knows. He needs to make due with bad situations because of it, but none of them are really funny. Aside from him dealing with it, his girlfriend(if you could really call her that) protects him from them sometimes. Which
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is a neat little bridge towards the romance part. I wouldn't really call the relationship between the protagonists romance. It is more like a mother or a big sister looking after her little boy. Ofc, Shikimori says she likes him, or you hear her thoughts that she really likes him, mainly because of his infinite kindness. But it never shows that she sees him romantically. Izumi also says she finds her really cute, or really cool, but apart from that, the relationships seems more like codependence on a whole new level. You don't need to watch this anime for the romance, nor the comedy.
In terms of story, their is none.
In terms of characters, it relies too much on Shikimori, and she is the only one who gets a bit of depth, and some cutscenes for seeing why she is the way she is. The others, Izumi included, are straight caricatures.
I still rate this anime a 6, although that is on the low side for me. What does me make rate this anime still a 6 then? Well, rating for me comes mainly down to enjoyment, and some elements in it are enjoying. The animation is nothing to write home about, but it is really colorful. The music and sounds are mediocre, but it suits the scenes. It somehow makes your enjoyment hormones in your brain spike a mini tiny bit. Still, I would not recommend this anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 27, 2022
Another isekai, what do you know. This was my first reaction after someone recommended this anime to me, since it is an overly produced genre (imo) at this point. Isekai's can really be enjoyed to the next level when they are executed well, or have some kind of specific thing or theme going for them. This is what was promised by the one who recommended me this series. And in a way, it does have a few things going for it opposed to other isekai, and I enjoyed it, but this series still somewhat disappointed. The animation is not something to write home about, nor
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is the voice acting or the story and its progression(although the premise is interesting). The characters make the show, especially the protagonist who has some development. Overall, this anime is enjoyable and a bit above average isekai's, but by no big margin whatsoever.
One thing I found the isekai had going for them was the logic of the characters decisions and motives. They are by no means special or original, but it is executed better than other isekai's. Starting with the main character, as is tradition, he is very strong, and of course stronger than most in the beginning of the anime. This however follows from the conditions he is reincarnating in the new world together with his own strong will: the goddess reincarnates him with above average specs, he has his experience as the best assasin in his previous life as well as general life experience, and he knows he has got to train and prepare himself to face someone who will be ultimately the most powerful being in the new world he is reincarnating in. He is not some kind of generic young boy who get's overly overpowered out of nothing, but has relevant skills from his previous life as well as his own choice of skills he before he reincarnated. He also has clear reasons for his actions, and is not a super-good-hearted force for justice just out of nowhere.
Staying on this trope, you can't say "no bitches" to the protaganist of an isekai. Normally it is one minor happening or just love at first sight with a few lines uttered from the protagnists mouth. Here, the protaganist'bitches do be like that, but you can make an argument it is different. The events the protaganist takes part in have major impact on his girls, future changing events he plays a big role in. This must have some consequence, be it gratitude or admiration, or some form of love.
Another positive for the main character is that his beliefs from a previous life are challenged, and he has to deal with that. Deciding whether 90% of how you lived your previous life was fundamentally wrong is swept over swiftly, but at least it is present. You are not getting some empty shell generic schoolboy who says "violence bad, unless I am the one blasting you out of this universe".
Within a fantasy setting, not all the scenes and events are random bullshit go, but within the realm of possibility, which was a needed refreshment. The story is not great, not terrible. The protagonist is an interesting main character to follow, how he behaves in a new world with a new mission combined with his years of experience as an assassin. How an old man (re)experiences growing and puberty is funny on its own. The side characters are fun but by no means special or very interesting. If you are looking for a decent isekai anime, this might be it for you, but no more than decent is what you will get.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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