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A gloomy boy glances at his phone before crossing the street, unyielding to and unaware of the truck speeding towards him. Experience has led viewers to believe that the boy is fated to live on in another world, blessed with special powers and surrounded by sexy ladies. The scene cuts away, only to show the boy unharmed and the truck innocent. Alas, this story isn’t about the boy. It’s about his previously comatose uncle, who actually *did* get hit by a truck 17 years prior (and experienced all the aforementioned shit). That motherfucker is awake now. And oh boy does he have a story to ... tell…

What Isekai Ojisan does best is subverting the viewers’ expectations in a genuinely amusing way. Every few months, I hear something about an isekai that “breaks the mold”, only to usually see for myself that it relies on a cheap gimmick to set itself apart from its predecessors. Isekai Ojisan, in my opinion, is that rare isekai that actually does break the mold. Because its premise thrives on the retrospective of having “finished” the isekai part already, the show makes no explicit effort to avoid the usual tropes. It embraces them and cleverly uses them to set up its jokes.

I’d be exaggerating if I said Isekai Ojisan is the funniest isekai I’ve ever seen, but I simply can’t get enough of its dry, meta humor. Paired with a relatively drab setting and a daffy soundtrack (complete with the goofy ukulele bend), the timing and delivery of the uncle’s lines are just awesome. He manages to look extremely incel-y but has the most dawg-esque personality you could ask for. Despite being infuriatingly dense, unintelligent, and kind of creepy, that man is certainly the star of this season. In fact, the livelihood of the show thrives on this fact, making use of the uncle’s utter stupidity and inability to read social cues to set up funny and interesting situations.

Though the rest of the cast is relatively flat (even the uncle can’t be called dynamic), they’re all quirky and fun to watch. Considering that the main focus of the work is on its comedy, any and all lack of development is completely passable in my opinion. On a similar note, I would comment on how the “story” is lacking (with little of note having really happened), but considering that the aim of the work is to narrate a chill retrospective on the isekai shabang, I see no outstanding issues there.

The art style is very attractive in its grainy feel, and it manages to capture the isekai action + slice of life comedy well in their respective parts. The animation itself is relatively conservative, saving sakuga for the punchlines, magic spells, and heavy action scenes in the show. While it’s unfortunate that the overall product’s visuals weren’t more fluid, I think that whatever we got is certainly up to par at the least.

If you want to watch an isekai but you’re tired of the usual tropes (and… setting?), this show is perfect. While maintaining the same you-know-I-know feel that isekai demand in their setups, Isekai Ojisan breaks the mold in a mundane but fun manner.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War is the king of romance manga without question. There is simply no other manga of the same genre from which I remember the names of almost every character; from which I’ve both laughed and cried audibly while reading; from which I’ve derived so much happiness from every serialized chapter. What started off as a cute and funny manga with a great premise evolved into a character driven drama with many monumentally emotional character arcs, each of which continue to resonate with me beyond belief.

Though I’ll admit to some personal bias, I would like to point out how deeply invested Aka ... (the mangaka) has made me as a viewer/reader to his characters. There wasn’t a moment in the manga where a character’s pain didn’t translate to my own sadness. There wasn’t a moment when a character’s development after a truly emotional scene didn’t move me to tears (being the crybaby that I am). There was always a laugh to be had with the witty psychological battles and silly bouts between characters. A win for the main cast felt like a win to me. Over these last 250 chapters and 2+ years that I’ve been reading, I feel as though I’ve been through a journey.

Quickly before the nitty-gritty plot things begin, I would like to mention that the visuals for the manga are wonderful, and the sharp style is basically perfect for what the manga is. The character designs and background art are also both awesome. The excellent art has actually even led me to buy some volumes on a whim!

The semantics of plot development can be expressed by dividing the progression into two categories. The first one is the comedy / “Love is War” parts, where our protagonists (and often others as well) engage in a psychological duel to gain an advantage over the other in the confession rat race. This occurs more often towards the beginning of the manga and (in addition to the pure entertainment factor) gives insight to general characterization of the cast and introduces us to big ideas that become important later on. The other is more difficult to define. This category refers to the story arcs where there are larger stakes at play, and a character’s entire basis is on the verge of change. The emotional arcs, the thrilling arcs, and the downright badass arcs all come together under this umbrella to serve some sort of greater purpose in helping characters grow. I honestly think that this is one of the best things about Kaguya-sama.

Character growth is limited not to a single event or person, but extends as far as the story continues. Each and every main character (well…) has some kind of internal conflict underlying their goofy dynamics with the others, and must deal with their values being confronted. In this process, we emotionally invest ourselves in that progression, laughing, anguishing, and loving with them. Though this is not necessarily unique to Kaguya-sama, I believe that as far as I’ve read, Kaguya-sama does it the best.

Now, with all of this praise, one would believe that my assertions warrant a 10/10 score. This is not the case only because of the inevitability of the last arc being too quick. In comparison to the previous character arcs, each warranting hefty praise for what they accomplish as standalone arcs, the final arc of the manga lacks the same structure bent on emotional development, and we feel a sort of “urge to end the story” permeating the chapters. Though, this is understandable, given Aka’s situation with Oshi no Ko. Regardless, the journey from start to finish of Kaguya-sama has gotten me so invested as a reader that its post-finale chapters have left me debilitated to an extent.

With the conclusion of Kaguya-sama’s serialization comes one of the largest punches to the gut that I have ever felt from an anime/manga coming to an end. The final chapters were one of the hardest things for me to read due to my massive attachment to the story. I can’t even express how upset I am, even writing this review. All I can say is that regardless of your stance on romantic comedies, Kaguya-sama: Love is War is a must watch/read. The massive void that I felt at the end of this manga attests to just how much of an impact it has had on me as a reader.

Fuuto Tantei is a detective story. Nothing more, nothing less. Well, maybe it's a little bit more because of the Kamen Rider stuff. I don't know anything about Kamen Rider culture in general, but the idea of two dudes being genius Power-Ranger-detectives is slightly-outlandish-but-entertaining, if nothing else.

I was immediately drawn into this show because of the amazingly jazzy soundtrack, complete with badass sax riffs and an incredible ED (including the visuals!). The animation and art style are also pretty interesting because of the constant transformations that have to do with their Kamen Rider identities. The voice actor (Tachiki Fumihiko) behind the transformation sound effect deserves ... a raise because anyone else sure as hell wouldn't be able to make a USB stick sound badass. Barring this though, I don't know if there is much else to be seen here.

Frame and sound reuse seems to be weirdly pervasive in the work, despite all of the creative style oozing from the show. The same battle track seems to play for a good 50% of serious fights, and reused visuals (and SFX) during transformations are fairly evident.

On the whole, the story starts off as an incredibly immersive mystery, complete with a red herring and a satisfying conclusion (and a hot girl-). After this first arc passes though, it almost feels like we are getting a repeat of what has already transpired, but with a different context each time. Though there is a clear progression, it gets less and less interesting as the story builds up to its climax, paradoxically.

Though it is the case that the show gets less interesting as things progress, it certainly isn't the case that it isn't interesting at all. I'm a sucker for detective stories in general, and seeing a good deduction by some unbelievably genius detectives is always a good time. I would highly recommend this to anyone that is okay with some generic Power-Ranger-esque fights and is looking for an immersive-ish mystery to last them a few hours.

*spoiler-free except for marked paragraphs*

Made in Abyss: Retsujitsu no Ougonkyou is simply fantasy worldbuilding at its peak. Never before have I seen such an enticing experience built primarily from the history and mechanics of an anime's world. A key difference between this season and its predecessors is the narrative, which is much more stationary, focusing on the happenings of the 6th layer, its inhabitants, and its past. The lore that was injected into this season supplements previous storylines from the first season and movie wonderfully, and has certainly turned me into a diehard fan.

As we already know, Made in Abyss thrives on various mysteries, including ... but not limited to the nature of the world, what lies at the bottom of the abyss, and the whereabouts of the protagonist's mother. While we do take a break from the slow unraveling of these mysteries in this season, we do so in favor of exploring the mystical 6th layer of the abyss, complete with irrationally dangerous threats to the protagonists’ survival, ancient relics with literally omnipotent capabilities, and adventurer predecessors dating back millennia. That tradeoff is quite a fair one, if you ask me.

***THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS CONTAIN SPOILERS***

The backstory of the Ganja suicide corps is probably the highlight of this season. Insight to the state of the abyss before its official discovery is paramount to understanding the history behind the village and its implications. While it is unfortunate that we didn’t get to see the adventure of the corps down to the 6th layer, seeing their increasing struggles in this layer for food and water, which culminated in Irimyuui’s transformation into Iruburu was truly bone chilling.

And of course, Made in Abyss is a story of revelations. The introduction of Faputa to the storyline presents a new connection to Reg’s enigmatic past, further pushing the viewers to question what in the world he is, and how the heck he comes from a place more shrouded in mystery than the layer we are in. The fact that Bondrewd has already visited this layer before to negotiate with the original pioneers of the abyss is astounding. The curse of the 6th layer in action is absolutely revolting but simultaneously so addicting to rewind and watch (is that just me, lol). Wazukyan secretly being almost as inhumane of a cave raider than Bondrewd with his tacky method of survival is quite ironic, considering that he did it to supposedly protect his comrades. Vueko's ironic end in having to see through the "death" of Irimyuui, and the terrifying subsequent fate of all of the villagers in Irimyuui's destruction is insanity. I could go on and on about these quirks of ingenuity sprinkled throughout every episode of this season, but that would take forever.

***SPOILERS END***

Kevin Penkin continues to deliver on the soundtrack, producing yet another mystical score to accompany this season. The season 1 tracks are certainly the ones that hit the hardest, likely because of their novelty at the time giving them more memorability, but this season’s OSTs are amazing as well. The tremendous visuals present in the first season and movies remain, though slightly diminished in this entry. The color palette (especially used to depict the ore deposits all over the village) is beautiful, and the design of the abyss’ geography and its creatures are still fantastic. In episode 10, there is some really pleasing fight sakuga as well. CG is used appropriately, though there’s always going to be some disconnect due to its clunky nature in most shows.

As this story continues to unfold, and undoubtedly petrifying truths are revealed about the abyss, I'm sure that Made in Abyss will reach even greater heights as one of the most viscerally engrossing anime that I’ve ever seen.

Summertime Render is a time travel story. As many other time travel stories do, it capitalizes heavily on the idea of cognizant recurrence and the horror related to it. As far as time travel stories go, I think Summertime Render is very strong, and easily one of the most ambitious anime that I have ever seen.

It’s difficult to assess the quality of plots in anime that have to do with time travel due to their inherent scientific (and often purely logical) faults with random semantic details, which may or may not even be worth docking credit off the whole. It’s often the case that some ... paradox or convenience that comes to light instantly demerits everything that the anime in question may stand for altogether. I hate to think that such “problems” actually have a bearing on the entirety of any work. My implication isn’t that Summertime Render is riddled by these, but rather that whatever slight inconsistencies there are, they’re quite overshadowed by the sheer amount of complexity and logic that is put into the larger picture. What usually warrant a lower rating are more large-scale issues like pacing, characterization, and production.

In the case of Summertime Render, though I will admit that it wasn’t without its faults, I found myself thoroughly engrossed in and constantly impressed by the twists and turns that the narrative takes. I’m a sucker for time travel done right, and I can’t say this is anything but that. Whether it be the century-spanning history, the deep lore and enigma underlying the entire island, or the confusing-but-logical-when-you-really-think-about-it plot contrivances at play, I never ceased to revel in the (fruitless?) pursuit of a happy ending presented in this show.

Setting this aside though, I will admit that there are some bipolar levels of thought put into characterization here, with some characters having excellent backstories and motives but others (unfortunately including our main character sometimes) relying on one personality trait to get them out of sticky situations. Obviously, this is imperative in our case to progress the plot, but it does take away from the otherwise incredible logical build-up made through the show in crafting its complex chronology.

Summertime Render’s audiovisual quality is excellent on the whole, with occasional dips in episodes, likely due to studio scheduling and whatnot. For a show with a manga that I’d never heard of before I actually watched it on a whim, I was thoroughly impressed by how high the production quality was. Of course, it goes without saying that all 4 OPs and EDs are magnificent.

Overall, Summertime Render has revitalized my passion for stories with historical lore that underlies the truth. Through solid time traveling mechanics and fleshed out plot semantics, it was able to pull me in weekly, rendering (haha) me speechless by the end of the episodes towards the second half. I’m very sure that I’ll come back to watch this show at some point in the future just for the thrills, and will likely have an even better time with it than the first time, equipped with the power of retrospect.

I don't have very much experience with Western superhero media, but it feels like Tiger and Bunny draws significant roots from shows of this ilk. In addition to a poppy color palate and a jazzed up soundtrack, the show has the same vibes as the old Spiderman cartoons while maintaining its own signature spin.

Tiger and Bunny 2 (part 1?) is funny when it wants to be, intense when it needs to be, and genuine always. From my experience, I've noticed that Tiger and Bunny is ridiculously overlooked despite having had such a bout of popularity in Japan for a time. The third installment of the ... franchise has garnered not even 10,000 users on MAL. It's likely because Sunrise adapted it that it got so popular in Japan, also tending to the average viewer's tastes with a hint of mecha with action and comedy.

Either way, it somehow brings about the "old school" feel despite being grounded in a relatively normal setting by modern standards. I love that. There is one catch to the second season though. It doesn't feel like a step up from the first, despite being produced 10 years later. Tiger & Bunny looked incredible for its 2011 debut and blew my mind with how stylish the whole package was. Tiger and Bunny 2 was... well, it was no different from that previous stylish package. But in 2022, you'd kind of hope for more.

Setting aside the visuals though, the story picks up where the movie left off, with the buddy system taking over as the standard. New villains are introduced, and a greater power is hinted to be in motion behind the scenes. Though formulaic, it's nice to see Tiger & Bunny back, doing what it did best more than a decade ago. I'm looking forward to what part 2 has in store!

There don't seem to be that many negative reviews for this show, which is certainly wonderful, but I just wanted to take a moment to highlight what some people may not enjoy about this experience (which is kind of synonymous with what I took away from it as a whole).

Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru is a romantic comedy by the author of Takagi-san. This is really easy to tell because of the character archetypes being very similar and the teasing + getting teased themes being extremely recurrent in the show.

For those that liked Takagi-san for what it was as a romance anime, I do believe that ... this anime checks even more boxes than its predecessor in terms of wish fulfillment and progression. They don't have as much chemistry, being a little bit flatter and less fleshed out than the protagonists in Takagi-san, but they're entertaining to watch nonetheless. For those that watched Takagi-san for the entertaining dialogue (and as I mentioned before, chemistry), I do believe that this one is a bit disappointing.

Though goofy, the interactions between our main pair get dry within 2 or 3 episodes, and begin to feel redundant after a while. There are developments, but they're more surface level revelations than dynamically deep changes in the way characters treat one another. A good way to describe the execution of the premise is gimmicky. It certainly does its job and was able to stay relevant after a long day, but I wouldn't call it quality content.

The artstyle is (as expected) very reminiscent of Takagi-san, though the visual quality is a bit lower, likely due to the franchise being much less popular (and admittedly not an insta-hit). The sound is decent and fits moments well, though I think it gets a bit corny for emotional scenes. The opening and ending slap and I love the rotoscoped (?) dancing animation in the OP.

Overall, it was a good watch that definitely got a bit old and felt gimmicky after a few episodes. I'd recommend a watch nonetheless, especially if you enjoy teasing tales like Takagi-san and whatnot.

"Hey, that was so entertaining!"
*gives it a low rating*

Sometimes, I feel like I’d rate the Rent-A-Girlfriend hentai doujins higher than their anime. I get to see the same borderline pornographic shit (well, not borderline), but I also get to see Kazuya not be a little bitch. Watching Rent-A-Girlfriend’s second season, I did not feel liberated. I felt hopelessly shackled to the “flee all” mentality of one of the worst protagonists in modern harem history. Let me explain.

I think that Kazuya’s grandmother has actually traumatized him into being the wimpy, pathological liar that he is now. Ironically, she’s now on the receiving end of his dumbass ... lies, so whatever goes around comes around. The only plot-productive thing that Kazuya has ever done in his whole life is help Chizuru out with her acting confidence once. Literally everything else that comes out of his mouth is a lie, an insensitive slip up, a self-deprecating statement, or some horny ass monologue about how "Mizuhara‘s thighs look like they could be used as a bouncy house for little children" or something.

There is literally nothing redeeming about the way he acts around his friends and family. Yet somehow, our lovely heroine is hinted to be somewhat conscious of him. I think there have been more than 3 instances just this season of Chizuru sitting right behind her front door, blushing because of something Kazuya said or did. Why? Because he’s the main character, of course! This logic is probably the part of the show that pisses me off the most. There’s absolutely no reason for Chizuru to put up with or like Kazuya, but the narrative portrays their shitty relationship as some kind of necessity to both of them and their families.

The visuals are as clean and poppy as the last season (though the chibi shots are a bit annoying), so overall, the quality is high. There’s nothing to note about the soundtrack in particular, apart from it adequately fitting scenes when it’s important (like the Ruka scene lmao).

All complaints aside though, I won’t pretend that it wasn’t entertaining as hell to watch a new episode every week, anticipating every misunderstanding, slip-up, and down bad scene with the joy of knowing that “at least it’s not as bad as the latest arc of the manga”. In terms of enjoyment, this season of Rent-A-Girlfriend is just as strong as the last, though it’s definitely beginning to feel a little bit old at this point. Knowing that the next season will be better, I advise anime onlys to keep your heads up and buckle in for the long run because we all know that this romantic train wreck is going absolutely nowhere!

Darwin's Game is another take on the "death game" concept that has gained popularity in recent years in various mediums. Everything about the setup itself reeks of reuse, though. There are certainly novelties about some aspects of the anime's system and premise, but a lack of real individuality causes me some inhibition in liking it that much. Additionally, character motives and the reality of interpersonal relationships also become somewhat muddled towards the end of the run. Deeply sci-fi rooted concepts like Laplace's demon and spontaneous materialization are explored, but almost feel like individual add-ons to boost the story, rather than well-integrated pawns of the plot.

Setting ... these flaws aside though, the music slaps and it was easy to binge in one sitting, so I must at least praise that. It was a a good time; just not one that you should think too hard about. Given how long (and ongoing) the manga is, I'm sure that the story may have benefitted from more episodes or a continuation to flesh out motives and/or increase attachment to the whole work. Alas, with the nature of seasonal runs now, this is all we can expect.

A horde of ripped hippos with military artillery mounted on their backs stampede across the screen, making aim at a spiky haired archer riding on a colossal crab. An elderly man in the background takes aim and one-shots a hippo, causing the growth of a massive mushroom to rupture its skull. One phrase comes to mind:

"What the fuck?"

Sabikui Bisco is a hyper-crack acid ride that's inexplicably attractive because of its gritty and insane portrayal of a post-apocalyptic world. I don't want to divulge too much about the premise in light of the fact that there's no point; the entire point of a show like this ... is that it takes the viewer by surprise in how "out there" it is. Premise aside, it was really just one hell of a ride the whole way through. Though there were problems present with pacing and there was a small (and quite annoying) retcon at the end, the entire vibe of the show kind of enticed me into overlooking "the small things". Normally, I think things like this may have presented a larger issue, but because of the nature of Sabikui Bisco, there is really no reason to severely detract from the show here.

The audiovisual quality of the work was insane. A funky jazz + metal fusion feel for the OST did perfect justice to the inexplicable absurdities occurring on the screen, and a grainy feel accompanied by CG and a bright color palate further added to the immersion that I felt in following the series weekly. Overall, it was an experience that I won't forget for a long time because of its perfect shot at my sweet spot for "funky" settings. I don't smoke or anything, but if you're doing some semi-legal things and you wanna watch some anime, I think this might be the one.