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A happily ever after doesn’t exist. Nomad takes the cheerful conclusion of the first season and throws it down the gutter. Gearless Joe, a man who had reached his peak early in life, is left stumbling into a downward spiral. What’s left after a few years is a lone man with nothing. Wandering on without a destination. Getting money the only way he knows how. A stray dog now more than ever before.

A continuation of a story whose ending, albeit not perfect, felt complete, could very well have been just a way to milk a pre-existing series dry. But I was glad to see ... that wasn’t the case here. Nomad doesn’t use the first season as a crutch, but as a foundation to build off of.

The uplifting nature of season one is replaced with a much more somber tone. Joe who had previously been fighting for his future, now fights to handle the pain of his past. It’s in stark contrast to where we last saw him in his life, but not a bad direction to take his character. Of the whole first season's cast, he was definitely one of the least interesting ones. He’s a blatant representation of an underdog and works as an inspiration to seize your future with your own hands. He was pretty much just a caricature, and the show was more or less carried by the people around him. But without the urgency of a massive tournament, this season had more room to develop him and the rest of the cast. Taking what we already knew and expanding upon it.

This is where Nomad truly shines greater than its predecessor. It’s not tied down by a destination and has the freedom to explore its cast to the fullest of its runtime. Resulting with the characters having an added sense of realism and complexity to them. While also staying true to how they behaved in the past. But with this freedom comes a paper-thin narrative. Nomad is very much just about exploring the characters as they find their way of life and where they belong. At the start of the show, Joe had lost his former home. Much like a nomad he travels around. Stuck in his past guilt, unable to move forward in his life. Throughout the show there’s a wide usage of the hummingbird as a symbol for guidance. The one who sets Joe on the right path again, a man named Chief, wears this symbol as pride of his nationality. It’s not symbolism at its most subtle, but ties naturally into the main theme and gives meaning to it.

The lack of an overarching story means that your enjoyment will be largely dependent on your perception of the cast, even more so than in season one. However, even with the looser structure, the identity of Megalo Box is very much still present.

If the first season's distinct artstyle and stellar soundtrack was enough to grind your gears then you’ll find that Nomad still has that in spades. Visually pretty much identical to where we left off. The same grit and rawness is still present in the artwork, with good use of lighting and shot composition. Animation is still packing the same punch as what we were given in season one. The fights are bloody and the punches have a strong sense of weight to them. Meanwhile the music is yet again made by mabanua. Giving us beats with an attitude, getting the blood pumping and ready for action. But has a much stronger hispanic influence in its identity this time around. The music also isn’t afraid to leave it’s upbeat focus to suit the otherwise pretty dismal tone of this season.

Nomad was an unneeded follow-up to a show that’s been falling into obscurity. But one that left the series on a higher note that it previously had done. Delivering on more of the series strengths as well as improving on some of its more sour apples. With characters that are more empathizable, and themes one can easily relate to. This installment is definitely an underdog, and it's a shame this won't get the amount of attention that it deserves. But thanks to the ones who'll follow through. The story of Joe is not dead yet.

This show definitely set itself up high in expectations. But that didn’t stop it from plummeting down on the same level as any other bottom-tier fiction. Tenkuu Shinpan is yet another proof of how short a high concept can take you if there’s nothing else of value.

The premise of Tenkuu Shinpan is quite attention-grabbing and creates a basis for something promising. Following a bunch of teenagers who’re trapped upon a sea of skyscrapers that stretches as far as the eye can see. Where they have to find a way to stay alive before zany mask-wearing maniacs get to them. It sounds like a fun ... time if anything, yet the show falters due to underwhelming execution and a lack of identity.

The show wants to be a lot of things and tries to balance it out during the short runtime. As such it doesn’t fully succeed in anything it sets out to do. I’ll do my best to address the issues I have with most of them.

Dull Characters:
The story of Tenkuu Shinpan is centered around it’s main leads and their journey through the high-rise landscape. Yet they feel hollow, with nothing but their thickness as meat on otherwise bare-bones characteristics. Which the show likes to show off with panty shots aplenty. The show rarely takes time to further explore who they are and why we should care about them getting back to the real world. We don’t find out how their lives were before they were transported, so it’s impossible to do so. It creates a distance between the characters and the viewer which is a deathblow when a show relies on you caring about their survival.

High-Rise Survival:
Survival becomes priority as soon as our protagonist Yuri enters the high-rise landscape. But just as quickly fades away into the background due to there being little urgency to find necessary provisions and places to sleep. Even basic hygiene is of no concern. So the only real hurdle they have to overcome is to defeat the mask-wearing lunatics and I suppose to not accidentally sleepwalk off the roof. It’s a shame that they didn’t take advantage of the setting, and maybe have our protagonists fight other humans for necessary resources. It would certainly help give more weight to the fights, rather than have it just be kill or be killed scenarios. As is, the battles that ensue lack a compelling reasoning as to why they happen, making them quite dull. Doesn’t help that the animation is clunky and stiff. The visuals overall looked rushed and were quite straining on the eyeballs. It’s also extremely bright and colorful for what is proclaimed to be a horror. Although to be fair you can barely call it one.

Sloppy Horror:
Calling this show a horror in any way other than horrifyingly bad would be quite wrong as it isn’t terrifying in the slightest. So don’t be tricked into thinking otherwise. It does have horror elements but due to how tensionless it often feels, you quickly forget they exist. You see, the characters suffer from this sickness called plot armor, which hinders them from actually being in any danger whatsoever. Every time a situation starts to become too dire, the writers pull something out of their asses to fix it. If a character is in need of rescuing, a convenient person or item appears. When a character needs some quick information, someone responds with a quick exposition dump. It’s not as much of a fight for your life scenario as it is just overcoming an annoyance. It robs the show of any suspense, and a horror without suspense can’t really be described as being a horror. At heart it’s more of an action-comedy. The action is thoroughly lackluster, but the latter is much better handled.

Momentary Chuckles:
Tenkuu Shinpan is at it’s best when any sense of realism is replaced with over the top absurdity. When it lets loose and just has fun with its premise and isn’t squeezing out some drama for drama's sake. It does stay light-hearted through a large portion of the show, but clearly also expects you to take it seriously when it tries to be. It should've been a full blown parody instead of being both zany and serious which just makes it jarring. The comedic parts we do have are not amazing, they didn’t land as gracefully as one might’ve hoped. Often missing and falling flat on impact. When it does land however, it’s quite funny, but not a worthy enough reward to sit through the whole thing in my eyes.

Final Verdict:
Well, at least the pacing wasn’t sluggish. But if you're not a pacing enthusiast or is actively looking for a time waster then there's isn't much to recommend it by. The show could, like I said, be slightly humorous when it embraces its own silliness. Although not enough to be worth the time spent on everything else. There are bigger fishes to catch elsewhere.

Even though the first season of No Guns Life had a lot to give with it’s presentation it ended up tremendously average. It offered a cool setting with interesting themes and characters, but didn’t deliver it in an engaging way. It had at least some things to appreciate like the soundtrack, decent visuals and aforementioned setting, all of which are present here in a similar quality. The setting being the most prominent thing about the first season but needed a lot more focus on fleshing out the world and its inhabitants. It was a good enough foundation to improve from all things considered, which it ... now thankfully did, but only to a certain degree.

Whereas the first season went all over the place in it’s narrative, here it’s more focused. Giving enough time to expand on the main leads. Mary got her own arc which focuses on her relationship with her long lost brother. Giving her otherwise rather dull character some extra flare. Juzo’s past is also explored more in depth which was one of the more intriguing mysteries of the first season. Even Tetsuro, who I thought was one of the weaker characters, has his own development starting to take root. And is overall not as useless this time around.

But while it is an improvement, it’s not with a big enough margin to make up for it’s flaws. Most of which were also present in the previous season. The exposition and dialogue in general felt forced and dumb downed. Likely making anyone watching feel like Einstein’s offspring in the process. It may not be as jarring for some as it was for me. But I feel like with a show that has so much potential for interesting and meaningful dialogue, it’s sad that they didn’t go that extra step.

Another issue that has stayed the same is that the characters remain static without experiencing any sort of character growth. They have been more fleshed out, no doubt. However, When their character arcs are finished, they return to their same old self without having changed much from it. They also barely push the story forward themselves. It’s usually the villains or random side characters that forces it to progress. It’s not an ideal approach to make compelling characters and as such they leave a lot to be desired.

But while it still contains a lot of the previous seasons' negatives, it improves on its strengths enough so fans of the first season should be satisfied. If you aren’t then this probably won't do anything to get your hopes up. The chances for a third season is also slim so that’s another catch. Go in with this in mind if you think it’s still worth a shot.

This show is about a guy that likes to roam around
He's never in one place, he roam from town to town
And when he find himself falling for some girl
He turns into a massive creep and start molesting her
Cause he's a plunderer, yeah a plunderer!

This show was a train-wreck from beginning to end. It started of as a typical generic ecchi show but went on to pretentiously try and disguise itself as more than just a self-insert power fantasy. It expects you to feel invested in the dramatic moments but because it's so amateurishly executed it becomes laughable. I think that if anything this is where ... the enjoyment of this show lies. Characters doing bizarre actions or random plot-conveniences are not rare in this show which made for some entertainment gold. But it doesn't do enough to make up for how poor everything else is.

Plot holes are pretty frequent and a lot of things are left unexplained, some of which were in the manga but not here for some in-explainable reason. The world-building especially was very lacking even though it's focused on a lot. For example in the world of Alcia, everything is ruled by a number/count. The count goes up or down depending on if you succeed or fail a certain task, the higher your count the more powerful you are. Can this task be changed? Are there rules of what you can/can't have as a task? Is it balanced or are some tasks just easier than others? It's a very interesting concept that sadly lack depth and only exist to tell how strong a person is. Instead of focusing on interesting things like this they focus everything on the shitstain that is our protagonist Licht.

Pretty much everything centers around him while leaving no room to expand on the rest of the characters. Leading to a boring cast of shallow individuals that's hard to care about. Most women are there to be sexualized and/or fall in love with his "irresistible" personality and looks. Especially Hina and Lyne, two blockheads that have no will of their own besides Licht's safety and having his children. They had some ambitions in life before meeting Licht, but realized that he is much more important than them. Jail was the only decent character since he at least changed into a man that starts to value people over his duty. It wasn't mind blowing development, but it was something.

Licht himself is the least likable out of them all. He pervs on girls in the open who clearly dislikes it and he never suffer any severe consequences for it. He even molest the daughter of his dead childhood friend. It leaves the impression of an egoistic asshole who doesn't give a damn about others. But he is also shown to have a kind side which clashes with his extremely perverted nature. Leading to his morals being very confusing and made me anything but invested in him.

But was there some visual pleasantries at least? No there's no saving grace here either. The artwork is bland with undetailed backgrounds and unimaginative lighting. Character movement is often stiff and disproportioned which leaves a lot to be desired during the lackluster fight scenes. Of higher value than I expected coming from such a new studio but was as a whole below average.

Good soundtrack and voice acting? Not really. The music is forgettable and falls on deaf ears due to how little weight it's contribution have. The voice acting was also far from extraordinary. I can't blame the actors for it because of the awful script they had to work with. It's a shame because there were some talented actors in this, but it at least made for some stupid over the top dialogue.

So would I recommend Plunderer? While it had some entertainingly bad moments and twist that spiced things up, it's not enough to be worth your time in my eyes. But if you've finished it and enjoyed it for the same reason I did then I can recommend Ousama Game for a similar experience.

If you woke up from a cryogenic sleep in a hostile dystopian world with the order to rebuild mankind from the ground up, what would you do? Within that question lies the foundation of 7 Seeds. What would a person do under these circumstances? Even more, what would a person without any survival experience handle a more primitive lifestyle with dangers around every corner?

As questionable as it would be if the government chose inexperienced and traumatized people to save mankind, it’s interesting from a psychological perspective. Because some of these people can barely take care of themselves, and now they have even more weight ... on their shoulders. Every character belongs to a group of seven, hence why it’s called 7 Seeds. With all the existing groups comes a large scale of characters, and it’s handled well. Most if not all of them get some amount of development, with the ones mainly focused on ending up as multilayered and have experienced some sort of growth. Each group is also very diverse with how they tackle survival which I liked. It created conflict between the groups which makes it feel all the more satisfying when they finally put their differences aside to instead work together.

The characters are the center point of 7 Seeds, it’s core. But that’s not to say that a good story becomes insignificant, and here is where the manga stumbles quite a bit in my opinion. It ends up being very formulaic, with a format it continuously uses over and over again. With few exceptions, the whole story of 7 Seeds can be summed up as follows. Find a location, learn something new, overcome some sort of hurdle and then leave to find another location. Any sort of progress towards rebuilding humanity takes a backseat, for most of the manga that is. There are attempts for sure but for one reason or another it never works out in the end. So it’s back to square one which I have to admit that I wasn’t very enthusiastic about. It can also drag on for far longer than it has any right to. Making some parts feel very sluggish and uneventful. The different formulaic arcs have at least world-building and character growth coming with it. So it wasn’t too much of a waste of time. But I personally would’ve loved to see any progress or at least something to spice up the story structure a bit.

Art-wise it was pretty polished with the character designs being pretty consistent (although hard to tell apart sometimes) with some very solid environmental art here and there. It’s not always consistent however. It could often be simplistic with plain white backgrounds and things like hair and clothing lacking detail. However, at its best it is solid, but dips in quality more times than I think it should’ve.

All in all I think 7 Seeds is at least worth a chance. While at first I found it to be extremely mediocre, my opinion has now changed to a more positive side after reflecting on it. Even though I didn’t find all the characters very memorable there’s some genuinely great development for some of them which were definitely a high point. It’s a solid cast overall and made this an alright read. It’s just when the story comes more into focus that it loses that appeal and boredom seeps in. The slow pacing and reused formula definitely didn’t always help either, but that’s a very subjective critique that might not affect you the same way. I can see why so many praise it, but that’s not to say there aren’t flaws to be found. If you don’t like your manga being slow paced or mostly character driven with weak story progression, then look elsewhere. Everyone else, take a dive in.

It’s bold to try and balance tense and dramatic scenes with comedic ones. It could easily backfire and make a show less than engaging. With that said, here we have Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, to showcase the worst outcome of this very problem. A perfect example of how not to do tonal shifts.

It’s presented as a fun, light-hearted adventure. Yet it also chooses to delve into topics such as loneliness and death. Doing so in a tonally much grimmer and dismal way. That is until it remembers that it set itself up as a comedy first and foremost and throws in some of its titular ... slapstick humor in the mix for good measure. The humor doesn't serve to build on the characters, it’s there just for the sake of it. It’s this forced humor that pulls one out of any potential engagement, in service of a cheap laugh. And if the show itself treats its heavier subject matters like a joke, then why shouldn't the viewer? It's a shame because the show has some genuinely good qualities to it.

The artwork for one is absolutely gorgeous. Beautifully detailed backgrounds filled with a warm color palette emits a feeling of comfort and excitement. The character designs are fun and distinct, and come to life thanks to the voice acting. Whoever decided to let Megumi Ogata voice Hanako deserves a raise. He's a fun character to watch which is amplified immensely by Ogata's acting. The other cast members also delivered a solid performance and seemed to have fun with their roles.

Hanako himself was another saving grace that made the show much more watchable. But I grieve over the fact that they only scratched the surface of his character. Giving the show more time to flesh him out could've been very engaging. Sadly a lot of the focus was shifted towards other characters like Nene and Kou instead, who frankly shouldn’t have been main characters at all. Their effect on the story is rather minuscule as Nene's existence revolves around being the person who gets all the exposition dumps, as well as a damsel in distress for white knight Hanako to rescue. Kou's purpose is even smaller as he's often just one of many comic relief characters. They did set a character arc in motion for him which sadly didn't lead anywhere. With this in mind I think that they should've been taken out of the spotlight to instead shine brighter on other characters, like Hanako. The show could've been more focused and serious by doing that which I think would've been beneficial to the show overall.

The animation was also a letdown as it’s basically nonexistent most of the time. Still shots take up the majority of each episode, and when it doesn’t it’s quite stiff and lifeless. It doesn’t take away how good the show still looks otherwise, slightly on par with the manga I would presume. I do however think it's unjustified to make an adaptation if the animation is only as good as the comic it’s based on.

It’s a shame to see a show with a lot of potential ultimately throw it away when the goal was right open. Nevertheless it did have gorgeous art and solid performances to back it up somewhat, and there were a few jokes that admittedly worked fine. Still, it’s not enough to make this worth recommending. Though it seems to be enjoyed by many despite its shortcomings. So give it a go if you want, but I’d recommend you flush that thought away.

It was poetry in motion, but they blinded each other with science.

Do you love me? Prove it through science! That’s the mind process of two scientists, who are head over heels for one another but can’t prove it. The solution? Perform various experiments until they can scientifically prove that they do in fact love each other. Because smart people don’t understand how feelings work or something.

As a comedy this premise works fine enough. But as a romance it fails miserably. Love is a feeling you have for somebody or something. Not a presentation where you have to explain your reasoning. So having them perform these ... experiments is pointless and only prevents any romantic development. You’re not so much cheering for them as you are yelling at them to realise their own feelings. It's the same problem that most anime rom-coms suffer from, and keeps me sighing through most of them. This one was no different.

What about the characters themselves then? I’m convinced that they’re just robots in disguise. On top of not understanding basic human emotions well. They have the same type of work, believe in the same things and look pretty much the same. They are basically the same person. But something most compelling romances do is make the couple different from one another. So when they get together they complement each other, making them stronger together than they are apart. As such I didn't find their relationship worth being invested in.

As a comedy it works at least better. Although I can’t say the style of comedy was something I found to be audibly laugh inducing personally. Still, it’s the sole reason for why I would recommend this to anyone. Because the romance certainly isn’t and neither is the visuals. They’re bland without a trace of passion and creativity to it in my eyes.

Overall, the show failed at bringing anything interesting to the table and the premise ended up being it’s biggest drawback. It's a very forgettable rom-com that does not deserve your time.

First impressions are crucial to how we make decisions. It’s therefore no secret as to why many will choose to avoid watching this show. It’s true that it leaves a lot to be desired visually, but there are positives underneath its rather unattractive surface.

Set in a barren post-apocalyptic future where most of the population has transformed into giant CGI monstrosities in the form of insects. The remaining population struggle to survive in fortified, self-governed cities. Where the people live in constant fear of their neighbour or loved one turning into an insect-like form and devouring them. To stop the insectification from spreading, there are exterminators ... who take care of the pests. One such exterminator is Kidou. A young man with a troubled past who found his purpose by fighting the insects. That is until he gets the task to escort a young girl back to her mother, somewhere in the dangerous wasteland.

The setting is the show's most prominent characteristic and the first half is used to develop it. It dragged a bit but the second half became more enjoyable because of it. The insects are set-up as a real threat to the people, and they are taken with the seriousness they should. However, there are a couple of things that tells you otherwise. For example, in the first half we spend most of the time in a city that’s protected by a massive wall. But since most of the insects fly, it’s pretty much useless. Some parts like this could've been better explained, although with only twelve episodes of runtime I’d say they did well enough. By the end it’s wrapt up nicely and the characters are well realized.

Kidou is a man who pushes people away from him to not grow attached. As his job could mean having to potentially kill a person close to him. Almost his whole life has gone towards his exterminator mission, which has taken its toll on him. But it starts to change with the arrival of Illie, the girl he decides to help. She felt like a very shallow love interest in the beginning. But she helps Kidou grow as a person, and is a crucial part of the second half and her backstory is one of the show’s most engaging parts. They both have a certain level of depth to them that sadly the rest of the characters don’t have. But since most of them have very little contribution to the story, it’s understandable.

The soundtrack didn't stick out much and it's contribution wasn't all that memorable either. The voice performances on the other hand tuned out to be of higher quality. Kana Hanazawa especially knocked it out of the park in the role of Ilie. Some other were a bit tacky in their line delivery, but not to a distracting extent.

All in all I found it to be serviceable. Largely because I have a soft spot for settings like this. But also due the main leads, who were more engaging than I expected going in. The visuals are this show’s biggest downfall with the robotic and stiff movements, making it hard to recommend. Thankfully the first episode will give you a good idea as to what you can expect going forward. If you don't like the first episode then you should skip the rest.

Now if you would like something better with a similar premise then watch Nausicaä. If you for some reason would like to watch something shittier then watch Island of Giant Insects.

No Guns Life shines brighter than most of its surrounding competition thanks to its central themes of corruption and dehumanization, strengthened by it’s gritty noir style. But the execution casts a strong shadow on the whole show, loaded with mediocrity.

It has a good foundation to improve from though. Most of the first season is dedicated to world-building and does so with modestly good results. But it often felt like it went all over the place and never really resolved many of the plot threads that it had built up. The characters especially took a bullet due to this. Most of them were blander than stale ... bread because of how severely lacking their development is as of now.

Our main protagonist Inui Juuzou is an Over-Extended and former gun slave unit that was used during a war. His backstory from that time is only mentioned briefly, teasing you to keep watching and find out more later. Other characters fall into this as well, which is quite frustrating since besides their backstories they have almost nothing going for them. They are at least not painfully generic like many of the villains turn out to be, who basically scream in your face about how evil they are. Though they only become a hurdle when the story needs them to be.

What ended up making me stay throughout its entire runtime was the same reason I picked this show up in the first place, it’s aesthetic. The bleak and gritty dystopian future the show throws you into is very refreshing. It’s heavily noir inspired which is something one rarely sees these days but I would gladly see more of. Aesthetics aside, the visuals are alright for the most part. There's a heavy use of CGI but it blends in with it's 2D counterpart enough to not become too distracting. Character movement was solid most of the time and they were very consistently on model throughout. The action scenes were the visual highlight and were pretty fast-paced and enjoyable. The CGI is also implemented well here and at times used to the show's advantage.

The noir style was amplified thanks to the smooth jazz soundtrack that really helped give the show it’s own identity. I can't say it did a lot for me emotionally, but was overall pretty decent for what it was. I feel pretty much the same way about the voice acting which was also decent and fitting to the characters personality. Not any outstanding performances but they did their job well and made the characters feel more real, aside from some of the villains that just sounded ridiculous.

But overall I can't say I'm satisfied at all when the characters and story haven't been properly fleshed out. I think the most harmful problem was the lack of story and character progression which makes it hard to recommend. If it’s style is not enough to make up for it then I can see many finding this quite dull. However, at the end of the day, I think it’s at least worth a shot.

How unoriginal can a movie be before it’s too much? At what point does it become just lazy writing? Black Fox is here to quench your thirst for an answer. I wouldn’t be surprised if they wrote down some cliche movie tropes and used that for the story. For what it showed me is that the staff had no inspiration for what it was going to be.

It becomes very apparent from the premise alone how little effort was put into this. The family of Rikka Isurugi are assassinated by a super evil corporation that does super evil things. She then plans her revenge by becoming ... a superhero who fights for justice! One of the most standard motives they could’ve gone with. This is far from the only trope they use. Take a sip each time you see a movie trope and you will go haywire likely within the first half. It’s a by the book story that’s been done plenty of time before and better.

Same can be said about the characters who all fit into your typical archetypes. That’s not in and of itself something that ruins the movie. But it’s short length hindered them from becoming the multilayered characters they needed to be. For that reason it’s hard to be invested in them. Rikka has at least understandable motivations, and the first act does a decent job at giving us a reason to care about it albeit on a very surface level. However the revenge story collides with a different one. Another girl archetype appears and the story shifts more focus on her. With the movie instead ending with her story's conclusion rather than Rikka’s. She doesn’t get her revenge on the people who killed her family, at least not the ones mainly responsible. The main villain was a generic mad scientist working for them.

The story was a severe letdown and the characters were not much better. But there was at least some effort put into the visuals. The character designs didn’t impress me much, and the backgrounds while decent were nothing extraordinary to look at. However, animation-wise it was very fluid and stylized in it’s fight scenes. Making for some solid eye candy. The budget constraints shines through at times and the CGI was taken right out of a PlayStation 2 game which didn’t blend well with it’s 2D counterpart.

The music is solid but like most things in this movie feels very uninspired and didn't leave any impressions. It is fittingly used for the emotions the scenes it's used in is trying to convey while not becoming distracting, but didn't add anything unique or memorable to the movie. With other words it’s as standard as you get.

The fact that the movie was so short didn't make it too unbearable but there is so much more you can use 90 minutes on that's not this. I would only recommend it if you want some good sakuga or have seen very few movies in your lifetime. For everyone else, go watch some paint dry. You will probably find more entertainment that way.