TheCompletionist's Profile - Reviews

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JoinedJan 9, 2015

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Jan 21, 2025

Joshikousei: Girl's High (Anime) add

Recommended

If your a teenage boy and you wanted to know the kind of conversations 14 to 15 year old girls have when the boys aren't around, boy is this anime going to scratch that itch whether you want it or not. The story of Joshi Kousei: Girl's looks at the lives of 6 teenage girls as they make the transition from middle school to high school and how they're excited and somewhat nervous about making that transition to high school. However, as they start they're first day oh high school they are constantly building up and exaggerating an unrealistic expectation on what to expect out ... of going to an all girl's high school with often results in a lot of great hilarity.

The biggest credit I will give to this anime and watching the misadventures of 6 teenage girls as they navigate the scary reality of going to high school for the very first time is that it's incredibly funny. I can't tell you how many times this anime has had plenty of laugh out loud moments regardless if it's through visual gags, embarrassing situations, or sharp witted dialogue but the funny thing is that the humour comes from all of the 6 anime girls to varying degrees. Even though we have 6 main characters in this anime with the girls Eriko and Akira taking up the majority of the spotlight and being responsible for some of the best humour throughout the anime, but I do appreciate the fact that each of the other school girls has their moment to shine throughout this entire experience. All these silly shenanigans take place throughout typical high school settings that you'd expect out of an all girl's Japanese high school such as the first day of school, the high school physical, different sports and cultural festivals, and even a good old fashioned trip to the amusement park during summer break.

I will hand it to this anime because the concept of the anime could of been really boring and incredibly clean cut while we watch a bunch of high school girls try to navigate high school but the anime goes the extra mile of tackling on topics that are not necessarily clean cut but in all actuality are topics that teen girls probably talk about to their female friends when their parents or boys are not around albeit they do it in hysterical fashion. They talk about periods, beauty tips, sex, body image, boys, getting a date, having a crush on their teacher, dealing with perverts, and dating parties which often leads into a lot of expected hilarity. They even take the time albeit not to a great detailed length that some of the girls have gone through some aspect of teenage life that many teenage girls have already experienced through adolescence. One of the female characters has already lost her virginity, one high school girl dreams of being an actress, one of the teenage girls has a boyfriend and is being unbelievable lovey dovey throughout the entire experience. Despite the anime's focus on humour throughout the many misadventures of trying to navigate an all girl's high school it does take a break about the halfway point of the anime when a meddlesome little sister of one of the 6 main female high school students goes to great lengths to sabotage the friendship that her older sister has with these 5 other girls. The little sister has issues of her own and it's up to the bigger sister to find out why she is acting this way while protecting the friendship she has with these 5 other girls. It gives the viewer a nice little break from the zany humour that you'll see throughout this anime.

The biggest elephant to address in the room when it comes to this anime is the fan-service and the fan-service in this anime is really a mixed bag. It never truly goes over the line of actually showing any nudity of any sort but the fan-service definitely is there with the amount of panty shots and close ups on specific female body parts throughout this 12 episode misadventure but the fan-service is done in such a way where it's exemplified from my perception for purely comical purposes. This is definitely the case in the episode where the girls are going through their high school physical by wearing these scantily clad hospital gowns as they navigate through the school to get through each section of the high school physical before the end of the school day and another case where the girls suffer wardrobe malfunctions as they're going down the water-slide at the amusement park. I personally think the anime does an excellent job camouflaging the tame fan-service with some well placed humour without making things too uncomfortable.

The plot of the anime in itself is very self contained minus the two serious episodes. You could watch the anime at any point and not really totally lost with whatever is transpiring throughout each of the episodes which gives this anime a very sit-com feel to it. It truly is about teen girls learning the ropes of getting through the first year of high school while maintaining the friendships they have with each other without getting on each other's nerves.

The anime is actually animated very beautifully for 2006, it has that feel of a late 90's anime while having a nice glossy finish with regards to how the teen girls are designed. The anime has this very brief gag at the very beginning of each episode where the teen girls are dressed up as a type of anime fandom regardless if it's pirates, samurai, detectives, or part of a rock band. I really love how the teen girls are animated during the ending credits of each episode. They all have their little dance that they perform during the end credits and the way that the girls are animated while they're dancing is probably some of the best animation I seen in this anime. The music that is used in each episode is passable, but the the highlights of the music is definitely the opening and ending themes with the ending theme of Joshi Kousei being my personal favourite.

I personally got my enjoyment out of this anime for having some really effective humour while tackling on topics that no boy really wants to listen. It's probably not a complete accurate representation of the things that teen girls talk about when it comes to going through high school but no matter what the characters talk about, or what playful struggles they have to endure you can be guaranteed that it's going to cause a lot of intentional humour because of it. This anime does something that often a lot of anime struggle with and that is they manage to make all the main characters in this anime completely likeable in their own little way which contributed to my overall enjoyment out of it. It's not going to blow you away, but I hope the great humour in this anime keeps you interested in watching it right to the very end.

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Jan 17, 2025

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

The wonderful world of high school romance. Something I personally haven't had to worry about in 27 years. After watching this anime I think a part of me is grateful I went through all of high school without being involved with someone because it's not worth the stress to go through the mind games if someone is interested in me or not.

In the anime Maid Sama, we look at the character of Misaki Ayuzawa who is tasked with the responsibility of being her high school's first female class president in a high school that is normally an all boys school and it is only ... recently that this high school has allowed women to attend but unfortunately the ratio to men to women in this high school is 90% boys to 10% girls and Misaki is trying her best to get the boys to behave in order to attract more female enrollment to the school. However, she takes her responsibilities as the class president really seriously and is dead set on getting the boys to shape up with regards to their very degenerative behavior and enforces her strict policies with an iron fist which doesn't make her well liked among the school boy population. She tends to be very forceful, easily angered and irritated which doesn't make her the easiest person to approach or get along with. However, she has a secret that she absolutely needs to protect or else she will lose all credibility as being the class president and that secret is after school she works at a maid cafe in which her personality takes a complete 180 Degree Turn because when she works at the maid cafe she has to be cute, obedient, soft spoken and adorable in order to work at that job. She has to work at that job in order to help her mother, and her younger sister through the stress of paying bills.

Her world flips upside down when a high school boy by the name of Takumi Usei discovers her secret of working at a Maid Cafe and while Misa is worried about her secret being revealed by Usei - he promises to keep the secret to himself after hearing the reasons why she works at the Maid Cafe to begin, but this doesn't stop him from playfully teasing her about it while becoming a regular customer at the Maid Cafe whether Misa likes it or not. However, what Misa doesn't seem to realize is that throughout the entire anime Usei develops genuine feelings for Misa regardless if she wants them or not and the anime strictly focuses on helping Misa and Usei evolve as a couple as much as Misa doesn't want it to happen because she has always been capable of being a strong independent woman. No matter what Usei does in order to make her feel appreciated or valued, she finds a reason to reject it at every possible instinct while calling him names such as a perverted idiot or perverted weirdo. This pretty much sums up what your going to see to when you watch Maid Sama.

I think the biggest problem this anime has in my eyes is the characters have a hard time being likeable throughout the entire ordeal. Misa throughout most of the anime is very loud, obnoxious, stubborn, but she does have some tender heartfelt moments especially when Usei has to come to the rescue because she decides to take on whatever challenge she has to endure in many of the episodes on her own without much help. I can understand the desire of never wanting to be the damsel in distress but one of the most important lessons we have to learn is nobody gets anywhere in life without help. It's okay to ask for help just as much as it's okay to offer help. The funny thing is the humour really works in the first few episodes of the show especially when Usei playfully teases her instead of maliciously teasing her about the fact that she works at a Maid Cafe and she is trying to hide it from everybody. Every time Usei comes in to rescue Misa or try to make her life easier it does allow her to let her guard down and become more welcoming to other people in her life and take other people's suggestions a little more seriously on how to better the school. It's very obvious from the very beginning that Usei has genuine feelings for her, but despite Misa's stubbornness towards admitting the fact to herself that Usei likes her on top of the constant playful teasing from Usei it gets tiresome to watch this little cat and mouse game over 26 episodes. It also doesn't help that Usei has this perfection complex to himself and he seems to have a solution to every stressful situation that Misa is put in. Despite the anime being 26 episodes we really don't know a lot of backstory on his character or why he seems to be so good at so many things. It also doesn't help that there are many times where his attitude comes across as very controlling or stalkerish despite it may be done with the best of intentions.

Therefore lies the problem. This anime is way too long with too much useless filler to even be remotely engaging and I feel like by the half way point they're just trying to throw as many stories and scenarios into this high school romance in order to make the anime last longer but a lot of these episodes don't really have much pay-off and there are simply more episodes that do not help evolve the characters than there are episodes that are absolutely needed in order to to help evolve the main relationship between Misa and Usei but they are very few and far between. It seems like the anime often focuses more on ticking the boxes on what people want to see out of a high school romance anime instead of offering a very detailed analysis on Misa's and Usei blooming relationship without resorting to petty visual gags and tiresome/annoying minor characters.

Is there a school festival episode - Yes.
Is there a beach episode - Yes.
Is there a sports festival episode - Yes.

Are these episodes really needed to help evolve the plot - Sadly No.

Despite the over-bloating nature of the anime, there are some good things to take out of it. There are some episodes where Misa has to deal with a cruel and manipulative president of a rival high school that is very preppy in nature and there are other episodes where she has to take it upon herself to prevent the Maid Cafe from being bought out by pretending to be a boy to win a butler competition that is being hosted by the class president of the preppy high school. There are also some really good episodes where Misa has to deal with stalkers at the Maid Cafe and even schoolmates that want to undermine her hard work as class president at the high school. Also very late into the anime, we have a rival love interest that vies for Misa's attention as well but from my personal opinion it came into the anime's story way too late. The anime itself does offer a very heartfelt resolution by the very end but it doesn't happen until the final 7 minutes of the very last episode of the anime where it could of been much more engaging or emotionally impactful if it was done over an entire episode or even two episodes.

I don't think the anime has a very great and engaging supportive cast. They don't really offer much with regards to overall character development minus the odd exception. There are a group of three guys often referred to as the idiot trio that come to Maid Cafe just to see Misa and frankly their antics are borderline annoying. Misa does have two female friends that she has adventures with but they don't offer much to the overall story and there are a few characters that she constantly interacts with that she works with in the school council and even though these characters do have their own little stories in the entire length of Maid Sama, they're often times very forgettable and not important to the overall plot of the anime. We also get to see the characters that Misa works with at Maid Latte but they don't have any significant character development. I personally would of loved to see a more in depth analysis on Misa's relationship with her mom and her little sister and the struggles of helping her mom make ends meet in order to keep a roof over their head. I personally would of loved to see a story-line where her secret was accidentally revealed by Usei to the school and he had to redeem himself for Misa's sake. I felt these stories could of matured the overall plot of the anime but I understand the desire to keep things relatively lighthearted and carefree especially since this anime is catering more to the teenage audience more than anything else.

The art for the anime is absolutely fine. I do appreciate the fact that the Maid Cafe will often have different theme days which results in the maids wearing different outfits to cater to whatever event that Maid Latte is holding so that the overall audience isn't bored by seeing the same damn maid outfits each and every episode. The music is incredibly well done in the series with the both the opening and endings songs being quite enjoyable to listen to. The second ending song for the anime is my personal favourite.

Maid Sama is definitely an anime that can certainly get its enjoyment from a broad teenage audience and even I will admit that I am not the audience this anime is designed for. I will applaud the anime for always keeping the aura of a lighthearted humorous high school romance story without having to cater to any shallow fan service which makes it a great watch for fans of anime for all ages. However, it is an anime that loses a lot of focus with too many episodes, volatile main characters, unlikable minor characters, and a tendency for missing the mark when it could of matured the overall story. It's a harmless watch that you might be able to get a laugh out of it, but overall it's not very memorable.

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Jan 5, 2025

Riding Bean (Anime) add

Recommended

Sometimes one of the cruelest things in the world of anime is when something has so much promise that you want it to see it be successful, but yet you have to endure the fact that you only get to enjoy just one episode of something that could of been so much more. This is pretty much the case of Riding Bean where the viewer only gets to enjoy one 45 minute ova episode of the adventures of Bean Bandit and his partner Rally Vincent. However, for as unsure as it may be - it's better to get something in the world of anime instead ... of nothing and thankfully what we did get is something incredibly enjoyable but it unfortunately leaves you wanting more.

The best way to sum it up is it's literally an animated episode of Miami Vice or Knight Rider that ignores the rules of syndicated television and is willing to show a little bit of nudity and some over the top violence. There is even some creepy lolitaism throughout the entire adventure. The funny thing is that these things come across very unexpectedly because within the first 5 minutes of the anime OVA your going to see some nudity and see people get killed in a brutal unapologetic fashion. It's almost jarring in a way because from the promotional art and trailers you get this impression that your in for a fun action based anime but you totally expect it to be PG, but instead you get something that is willing be a little bit ultra violent but it actually works.

Riding Bean focuses on the story of Bean Bandit and his accomplice Rally Vincent who are couriers for hire that accept a simple escort mission that unexpectedly turns into an elaborate kidnapping plot in which all hell breaks loose and it's up to Bean Bandit and Rally Vincent to survive the onslaught of cops and bad guys that go out of their way to either capture or even try to kill them while Bean and Rally try to determine who is pulling the strings and who is the true ringleader in this kidnapping plot.

It's a plot that you've absolutely seen before in any typical action movie or syndicated police show but the anime still manages to keep things fresh by keeping you guessing on how the plot will proceed and the true ambition of why a simple escort mission turned into being framed for a kidnapping while finding out the true motivation of why this situation happened to begin with. Everything does have this generic feel to it with regards to the mindless action set pieces and the elaborate car chases. No matter how generic it may be - it still retains a simplistic charm to it. The main characters are likeable and despite the short length of the OVA the good guys have their time to strut their stuff and the bad guys have their time to show how truly cruel and vindictive they are.

There are some brief moments of humor mostly from the the police Lieutenant Percy Bacharach who is deeply obsessed with trying to catch Bean Bandit by any means necessary even if it means wrecking his super powered muscle car in the process. One thing I will give this anime a lot of a credit is there is a lot of animated detail put into the car that Bean Bandit drives, but there is even a lot of animated detail put into the muscle car that the police lieutenant drives as well. I often feel like the vehicles that are placed in this anime have to be a little polished because the best action scenes throughout this short little ova involve some sort vehicular madness.

The animation is on par with what you would expect out of anime in the late 1980's to early 1990's. The characters are animated beautifully and regardless if certain scenes take place in the day or night the art matches the setting that the anime tries to present. The music is overall nothing too memorable but it's adequate for the scenes that it's presented in.

Overall, Riding Bean is adequate little adventure from Bean Bandit that pretty much ticks a lot of boxes if your looking for a typical police chasing outlaw story. It's serviceable but doesn't really do a lot to set itself above other anime that tries to do these types of story-lines. Unfortunately it is a little bit inferior to Gunsmith Cats, but I feel like you can only do so much in a 45 minute adventure and maybe if Riding Bean had a few more episode it would of scored a lot higher.

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Oct 12, 2024

Queen's Blade: Grimoire (Anime) add

Not Recommended

Oh boy, where to begin with this one.

Queen's Blade: Grimoire is the 4th animated series in the successful Queens blade series and is my first experience with Queens Blade as a whole and despite the action in the series being surprisingly competent with some perfectly timed comedic moments - it is completely dominated by fan-service, fan-service, fan-service (Boobs, Boobs, Boobs) all the damn time. If that's what you want out of your anime, then this anime is definitely for you. Key note is that this short anime OVA takes place in an alternative setting from the established Queen's Blade series.

Queen's Blade Grimoire looks ... at the misadventures of a character by the name of Alicia who is a court magician that ends up opening a portal where a character by the name of Kyuel who has bunny ears comes out of the portal and lures Alicia into the portal that transports her into a world by the name of Mel Fair Land where Alicia desperately wants to get back to her own world. If you can't already tell, this is an homage to the traditional story of Alice in Wonderland and while Alicia is in this world she desperately needs to find and capture Kyuel in order to figure out a way back home but not without a few battles and a lot of silliness in between. Queen's Blade Grimoire in two short episodes basically takes established fairy tales such as Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Little Mermaid and re-tells them in a queen's blade kind of way. Many of the characters established in this two episode OVA are going to be potential fighters for the next Queen's Blade tournament in Mel Fair Land.

With an OVA like this, I think the episodes move at a really good pace and when the action happens, fight scenes tend to be really good and really entertaining but it's completely blinded and bombarded by all the fan-service throughout the anime. Any time, and I mean anytime a battle happens or one of the many comedic moments happen - your going to see a breast. It's pretty much going to happen. Yet, every time Alicia loses her clothes regardless if its after a battle or when she drinks a potion that causes her to increase in size completely destroying her clothes in the process, the mad hatter shows up out of the blue and cuts her a brand new outfit.

The first half of the first episode of the OVA, focuses on plot elements from Alice in Wonderland while the second half of the first episode focuses on plot points from Little Red Riding Hood. This episode probably has the most hilarious moments especially when flowers randomly pop up and mock Alicia when she puts herself in an embarrassing situation. Villains are easily established without much depth but I don't think anybody would really watch this for the story. The second episode of this OVA literally focuses on the many plot elements of The Little Mermaid while putting in a pirate villain (Liliana) just to keep the flow of the story going. In the second episode of the OVA you have a mermaid that desires to have legs so she can dance like a human, and an overprotective father that is not a fan of her rebellious daughter. The mermaid (Tiina) is pretty much topless throughout the entire episode minus the poor excuse of a translucent top that she is actually wearing. There is also a behind the scenes villain by the name of Seiten that sporadically appears in both episodes and is kind of manipulating things behind the scenes.

As I stated above, when the action does happen it is entertaining but I find it incredibly laughable that it doesn't take long before there is a sword slash, or attack that results in having one or both of a female's breasts exposed. I guess in the world of anime, sex does indeed sell and this anime is certainly a perfect example of that. If you took the mountainous amounts of topless nudity, I think it would be a lot more enjoyable. The art is really well done, the designs of all the female characters are actually quite nice and I do like a lot of the weapon variety of many of the female characters that get their hands dirty when it comes to fighting each other. Surprisingly there is a bit of blood in the anime as well, especially when Alicia is fighting the big bad wolf in the second half of episode 1. The music is fitting for each scene it is used, but the anime doesn't really have any opening theme. It's just a story element to set up the initial plot-line of the episode and then the title card appears. That's pretty much it.

Overall, at it's very core Queen's Blade: Grimoire is the very definition of a fan-service anime. You can't really expect the most intricate of plots, but if you desperately need to see breasts all the time then this anime is for you. The fan-service comes across more comical than anything else but it's really hard to focus on anything else when there is nudity all the time throughout the anime even during it's most tense moments. There can be a few things to enjoy about it, but it's strictly a story that is fixated on its fan-service that it's hard to take anything else seriously even when it tries to be serious.

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Oct 11, 2024

Esper Mami: Hoshizora no Dancing Doll (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

Anime as an entertainment medium can delve into a lot of different topics but I often find that anime can often work its best magic when it can tell a very basic story but instead of being breathtaking or memorable, it abandons those to focus on pure simplistic charm. This is definitely the case with the film Esper Mami: Hoshizora no Dancing Doll.

Mami is a teenage girl that suddenly develops super powers and she has this ability to detect when people are in trouble and can automatically teleport to the area where she can help. She also has the powers of telekinesis and telepathy ... in order to aid her and the people that she lend assistance to. In this little adventure, she lends her assistance to a dedicated group of puppeteers that take great pride in performing puppet shows in order to bring joy into children's lives.

Mami actually comes across as an incredibly endearing character albeit a little naive and impulsive but her heart is always in the right place because not only does she truly care about helping people, but she likes performing tasks that increase her skill set because even though she is completely enamored with how much these puppet shows actually make the kids happy she actually gets into making puppets herself. For a film that is about 40 minutes long there isn't really a lot of story to tell, but it does cover a few mini stories that eventually get tied together at the very end.

One of the first stories that get addressed is a little girl that gets upset that her doll is missing because the doll was thrown out at the request of the child's father because ever since her mom died she has been completely fixated on the doll and nothing else which brings out concerns from her father. Mami and the puppeteers put on a random puppet show outside the girl's window to help her through this tragedy and reinforce the importance of her dad in her life. Another story focuses on a duo of gruff business men wanting to destroy the little shed that the puppeteers operate out of and they almost succeed with the use of a bulldozer and they almost succeed but Mami comes in to save the day with her superpowers and teach those degenerates a lesson. However, this entire ordeal has demotivated a lot of the puppeteers and they end up leaving the troupe. Even the two main members (Tomoko and Hideki) of the group are debating if they should continue, and the lead male (Hideki) of the group decides that it may be time to retire being a puppeteer and move back home permanently. Mami decides to intervene because she truly believes that his skill as a puppeteer should not be abandoned because of all the joy his puppet world puts into the world. While Hideki is resting in a park she uses her power to animate and voice the puppets to make him realize the error of his ways and it leads to a very heartfelt and very beautifully animated moment where the puppets are moving and flying on their own talking about how they won't be able to tell their stories anymore. Tomoko comes in at the very end to tell Hideki to not give up on his dreams, and that they should continue to make people happy.

The animation is really nothing to write home about and it's pretty standard fare for stuff that was released in the late 1980's but it has that animation style that you would see out of the 1980's astroboy anime. The music is nostalgic and a little better than average with a really cute opening song and proper music throughout some of the anime's more emotional scenes. I personally think it's a great anime for kids to watch and it teaches some very valuable lessons on how to overcome tragedy and to always follow your dreams. There are a few small scenes of Hideki smoking and drinking alcohol that may not be kid appropriate but I think the overall aura of the entire experience in this entire film is something kids could really enjoy. There are also a few cute comedic moments from Mami's dog Konpoko and some well placed comedy from Mami fighting off those gruff business men.

Esper Mami: Hoshizora no Dancing Doll is an anime that isn't going to blow you away and it's nothing you really haven't seen before if your well versed in magical girl anime from the 1980's. However, it's charming story is enough to keep the viewer entertainied with some really good lessons to take out of it. Always follow your dreams and always take advantage of an opportunity to help somebody because it could improve a person's life in ways you never thought imaginable.

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Oct 9, 2024

Pikotarou no Lullaby Lullaby (TV) (Anime) add

Not Recommended

We're delving into Pikotaro's comedy shenanigans in the second outing of his brand of humor with regards to children's bedtime stories. The length still remains the same for each of these episode are only 3 minutes long but instead of 3 episodes from the original net animation, we now have 9 episodes of his madness to deal with it. You know what's even more ridiculous is the fact that some of the humor in some of these episodes actually made me laugh which is why I'll give it a slightly higher score then the original net animation.

The premise is still the absolute same from ...

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Oct 8, 2024

Pikotarou no Lullaby Lullaby (Anime) add

Not Recommended

This is probably the shortest review that I'll ever write because this anime only has three episodes and the episodes are only three minutes long, Yikes.

How can you sum up watching something that only lasts 9 minutes. It's really easy, this anime is absolutely not worth watching unless your familiar with Japanese humor or Japanese personalities and even if you are, you may or may not be able to make sense out of what is presented to you.

Personally I don't even have the slightest idea on who Pikatorou is. Just looking it up right now and I guess he is a Japanese Comedian ...

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Oct 7, 2024

Yume de Aetara (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

When it comes to doing a review of this show I can't help but make comparisons to the TV version from the OVA version. The OVA version of the show did get released first and it's just unfortunate that our first time we got to enjoy Masuo's hopeless attempt at finding love was from a very lackluster product, but at the least the tv version of the show from my personal interpretations was much more enjoyable.

The overall plot between the OVA version and TV version of If I See You In My Dreams remains the same but at least in the OVA version we ... get to see the absolute beginning of what started Masuo's love life journey to begin with unlike the TV version in which Masuo was already aware of who Nagisa was and started hanging out at her school just to see her. In the OVA, we get to see how Masuo meets Nagisa for the very first time while he was walking down the street during a rainstorm and as another man was crossing the street knocked into him sending him to the ground and he ended up spilling his briefcase with all of his papers getting wet. Nagisa lends a helping hand by helping him retrieve his papers and giving him a handkerchief so he doesn't catch a cold and this act of kindness makes him completely fall in love with her and therefore starts his journey with regards to him trying to win the affection of Nagisa. We also get to see Masuo visit the fortune teller that tells him that he'll never have a girlfriend which absolutely crushes him and it was actually nice to see that playful interaction because it was unfortunately missing the TV version of If I See You In My Dreams.

The funny thing is while the tv version may have 16 episodes with each episode being about 7 minutes long for a total length of 112 minutes it manages to cover a lot more ground and make the series much more enjoyable because the OVA version of the show is 3 episodes with each episode being about 25 minutes for a total length of 75 minutes for the show. The OVA certainly has better animation and a much better musical score full of beautiful keyboard synth tracks and ambient jazzy tunes. The opening song is absolute fire and really a wonderful treat to listen to. The quality of the animation and the music are certainly the best parts of what this anime has to offer.

I think the biggest strike again the series as a whole is that it is nowhere near as funny or enjoyable as the tv series. There is only so much you can do in three episodes and the other girl (Miho) that is interested in Masuo doesn't really take an important part in the story until the 3rd episode of the 3 part OVA. I don't know if it's my personal preference when it came to dating as a whole in my youth but I think I would rather pursue the girl that actually wants to be with me and likes me for me then to pursue a girl that is overly emotional, irrational, and quick to anger. Nagisa really comes across incredibly petty, unlikable, jealous and rude throughout the majority of the anime. We do get to see her sweet side when it comes to her interactions with the kids that she teaches and when Masuo shows her kindness and also tries to win her respect and admiration. She has this disdain towards men in general just because she went to an all girls school throughout all of her life. Masuo uses all of the resources at his disposal in order for him to get close to Nagisa but for every kind act he performs for her, his constant lies end up making her hate him without giving him a proper chance to explain. Throughout the entire anime there are actually two other men that Masuo has to deal with that are trying to win the affections of Nagisa. Masuo does some really crazy things to try to get Nagisa to forgive him such as chasing down a car that Nagisa is in with another male rival that he ends up crashing his bicycle and goes to the hospital because Nagisa refuses to listen to his explanation and she is also incredibly stubborn.

Despite the problematic nature of the story line throughout this 3 episode endeavor, unlike the the tv series this version of the story does have a happy ending where Masuo does end up with one of the ladies that is prevalent throughout the anime's story. I think that is probably the best part of the story with regards to what is presented towards the audience. Surprisingly there is no nudity in this version of the story unlike the TV series where there was quite a bit of nudity.

I think if the OVA spent more time with Miho and showed more of Masuo's interpersonal conflict between what girl is truly right for him I think the story could of been a lot better instead of spending so much time with the men in the series that are also looking to charm Nigisa into their lives. These other male characters are far from being interesting and I don't think they add much to the story.

Overall, the OVA version adds a nice visual and audio quality to this story which makes it look nice but not even a heavy amount of gloss or polish can save the anime from a very unlikable female lead, little to no humor and a shallow cookie cutter story. The TV series is the one worth watching but the OVA is still worth experiencing for a definitive happy ending, great music throughout the series, an upgrade in animation and a really enjoyable opening song.

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Oct 5, 2024

ViVid Strike! Specials (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

We are back into the world of the Vivid Strike ladies with a 3 episode OVA that not only gives us a more detailed analysis on some of the relationships that weren't fully addressed in the original 12 episodes of the original show while giving us closure with regards to the unresolved plot points that were prevalent during the final episode of the TV series.

The first 2 episodes of the ova focuses on the timeline between the fifth and 6th episode of the Vivid strike TV series. These first two episodes of the OVA only have a run length of 14 minutes each. The third ... episode of the this OVA is a full length 24 minutes episode and it pretty much continues from where episode 12 ended.

In the first episode of the OVA, Fuuka has won her first practice match against Corona and is incredibly pleased with her progress as she is developing her striker skills. Her trainer Einhard is concerned about her becoming cocky so she arranges a mock synthetic magical battle against two members of the Nakajima Gym (Rio and Corona) at different location. This is the first time throughout the entire story of Vivid strike that we really get to see the magical abilities of the vivid strike girls since all the other fights throughout the TV series are strictly hand to hand combat matches and in the main series Rio and Corona are the two female fighters that we get to see the least with regards to their fighting ability in the main TV series. These fights against Fuuka are pretty much the only action you'll see in this three episode OVA but they're still incredibly entertaining when it comes to seeing the immense magical power that both Corona and Rio possess.

The second episode focuses on Rinne and her relationship with the Frontier Gym and it takes a portion of the episode and the looks at the personal history of the gym owner of the Nakajima gym (Nove) and the character of Viktoria and her personal relationship with Rinne. It's a very dialogue heavy episode with very little to no action. I think the purpose of an episode of this is that it shows Rinne's mindset before her battles during the winter cup since the timeline of this episode happens just before episode 6 begins in the main TV series.

The third episode of the OVA is pretty much the epilogue of the entire tv series. The unresolved plot points of episode 12 are resolved within the first few minutes of the episode and the episode is pretty much the quintessential beach episode which is pretty common in the world of anime where we get to see all the ladies from the Vivid Strike series enjoy some relaxation at the beach while wearing their bathing suits. At least there is no uncomfortable nudity when it comes to this beach episode. We have a competitive beach volleyball tournament, some delicious food, and some great banter between all the ladies of Vivid Strike. At the end of this episode the biggest thing we can take out of the entire experience is that while the fighters of Vivid Strike are fierce competitors when it comes to being in the ring and they want to improve everything about themselves and their fighting ability, they can still remain the best of friends outside of the ring.

The animation is just as good as what was shown in the original tv series. The music is still good as the rest of the series. The OVA's don't have an opening song and it pretty much uses the same ending song as the tv series when each OVA episode ends.

The OVA is a nice appetizer into giving a little more insight in the word of Vivid Strike and it's nice to get a proper epilogue to the Vivid Strike story-line. However, the harsh reality is this short 3 episode ova doesn't really equal to the greatness of the original tv series. I don't think it needs to improve upon it because when it comes to an OVA of this caliber - it's not about exceeding what was originally put in front of you but it's about adding a nice addition to an overall pleasant experience.

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Sep 29, 2024

Buta (Anime) add

Recommended

This anime is such a strange anomaly but I think one of the greatest things you can take out of the world of anime is sometimes you can make a nice compelling viewing experience in 24 short minutes even if you don't see these characters or this world ever again. It shows in the world of animation that an incredibly short story can often be just as compelling as a feature length film or even a fully fledged anime series as long as you have a deep understanding of what your trying to present to the viewer.

The story of Buta initially focuses on a ... fox child by the name of Kitsune who is shown a treasure map by his father that shows the location of an immense treasure and that this map will be gifted to Kitsune for his birthday. As he is being told this, their house is being invaded by pirates (The Tufugu Priates), the pirates kidnap the fox boy (Kitsune) and take the treasure map for themselves. In another area of town at a local restaurant/bar the same pirates that invaded the home are reaching out to any able bodied warriors to help them with regards to finding the treasure and this is where they come across an apprehensive and disgruntled samurai by the name of Buta who is a Pig that has this silly irrational fear of cats. Buta ends up fighting many of the patrons of the restaurant/bar with relative ease and the pirates think he would be a perfect candidate to join their crew but he is not going to do it for free and there is always a price with regards to getting his help. I should also mention the fact that all the characters throughout this anime are anthropomorphic. They are all different animals of various sorts which adds to the anime's charm.

Once Buta is on the pirate ship he comes across the fox boy Kitsune, and he ends up tricking Buta with regards to helping him escape and therefore it starts Buta's reluctant adventure with this boy whether he likes it or not. Buta was never really suited for the pirate life anyway and he has taken up his responsibility with regards to getting the fox boy safe and sound with his treasure map in tow while the pirates are hot on their trail. For a 24 minute anime there really isn't a lot of story to tell but for the remainder of this adventure we get to see some really good bonding moments between Kitsune and Buta with a very hilarious and very epic finale that will give you plenty of laugh out loud moments.

When watching this title, there is an undeniable amount of charm that comes with watching a very easy to follow story such as this one. It's incredibly easy to compare it to something that we would see out of Studio Ghibli and I couldn't help but make very small comparisons to Porco Rosso while watching this short 24 minute adventure. There is some really good humor throughout this anime, and when the action does happen in this anime it often has this Looney Tunes silliness vibe to it because a lot of the humor will catch you off guard. The violence is not bloody but it doesn't need to be. The pirates are lovable incompetent idiots that can't do anything right and the fox boy has some really sharp witted dialogue.

The animation in itself is not the smoothest it could be but it doesn't have to be because it has an 80's to 90's animation aura to it despite it being made in 2012. It's also a great anime for kids to enjoy as well. The music doesn't really stand-out per se, but it's used fairly well throughout the entire viewing experience.

I think ultimately this is an anime that really understands how to make itself enjoyable within it's very short length. It knows when to be funny, when to give you the action you want, and it knows to keep things relatively simple because watching this is going to make you smile from ear to ear because it just has a simplistic enjoyable charm to it that is really hard to ignore. It's just a crying shame we never got more adventures with Kitsune and Buta, but for the short amount of time we got to see these characters on their little journey - it was absolutely worth it.

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