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Mar 18, 2024
If you're a fan of horror anime/manga and video games, chances are high that you've heard of the game Corpse Party. The premise is very enticing, luring you in with a mystery—a group of high school students (plus a little sister and a teacher's assistant) do a ritual that's supposed to keep them together forever. But something goes wrong, and they're instead somehow transported to an alternate dimension, locked inside of Heavenly Host Elementary School, which was demolished after the murder of three young children. The high school was built on top of the ground where Heavenly Host used to stand, and there's something very
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wrong with it. Upon waking up in their new location, the students soon learn that the school is filled with students from various schools...and they have all been brutally murdered. Now they have to try to find out how to return to their own dimension while solving the mystery of the Girl in Red, all while trying not to be killed.
I actually think that the manga version is better than the game version, just because the game has some little details that can be overlooked if you don't know what you're doing, but they're included in the manga. These details aren't necessary to enjoy the story, of course, but they do flesh out the world a little more, and the story is better for their addition.
The art is well done, but definitely not for the squeamish. There's an abundance of blood and gore, along with sensitive topics that I won't list here. The setting does a good job of both drawing you in and making you want to run as far away as you can, and the creepy atmosphere is present right from the start.
Now, that being said, there are a few things I didn't like. For one, every single girl is in love with the main character, including his little sister. That was not necessary to add to the story. If anything, it just detracts from it. Two, there are a couple of scenes that never get explained. While the story does a good job of tying up loose ends for the most part, they missed a few that I would have liked to see clarified. And finally, I'm pretty sure the creator has a urine fetish. It shows up far too often to be comfortable with if you don't share that particular kink, and there's absolutely no reason for it.
In all, it's worth a read if you don't want to devote the time to the game, but just be aware that it's not for everyone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 22, 2021
Spoilers ahead!
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi, or more simply, Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon, is in theory, a sequel to Inuyasha (and Final Act, if you're following the anime rather than the manga), set a little less than two decades in the future, and follows the twin daughters of Sesshomaru, and the daughter of Kagome and Inuyasha.
In THEORY.
In practice, it feels a lot more like someone's fanfiction. Plot holes abound, and the show barely has even a fraction of the original anime. Enemies are weak, old, beloved characters are practically nonexistent, and why the HELL do we have to have character introduction tags showing up at the
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start of every single goddamn episode?! Do the creators think their watchers have the memory of a particularly dense sea cucumber? We don't need reminders of who everyone is over and over and over again!
Here are a few of the questions that have popped up.
1. Why does Towa wear a boy's uniform even when she goes to an all-girl's school? Why would a school like that even HAVE a boys' uniform? (The "explanation" is that it's easier to fight while wearing boys' clothes, but Kagome wore a tiny skirt all the time, and she never had a problem fighting.)
2. If the Mystical Macguffin in this story are supposed to be the RAINBOW Pearls (a very poor, watered-down version of the Shikon Jewel), why is one of them silver? I don't recall silver being part of any rainbow that I'm aware of. There's also a gold one, but I'll let that one slide as either yellow or orange.
3. Inuyasha and Kagome never once gave up fighting to protect those they cared for in the original series. So why, when they had what was probably the MOST precious thing to them (Moroha), did they just foist her off on somebody else to take care of when a new bad guy appeared? The Inuyasha and Kagome I knew never would have done something like that.
4. Why do Towa and Setsuna have red in their hair when no one in their ancestry had that color? I know, I know, "because anime", but I want an explanation, dammit!
5. How can Setsuna play the violin perfectly after what is, at best, a few days of practice? Even half-demons aren't THAT talented.
6. Towa doesn't experience the new moon in the present time? WHAT? Not being in her original era shouldn't matter! It's still the same world, with the same moon, and I'm pretty sure Inuyasha experienced his human form a few times while he was in the present!
7. Moroha doesn't experience the new moon at all, even though she's just a quarter demon? Shouldn't a period of humanity affect her even more than it would a half-demon?
8. WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THIS GODDAMN (plot device) DREAM BUTTERFLY?! Stealing a person's memories, I can buy, and making it so they can't sleep makes sense. But what the EVER LOVING FUCK does it have to do with whether or not the new moon affects her?! THIS MAKES NO SENSE! It seems like it can do anything and everything the plot needs.
9. Sesshomaru takes away the children that Rin carried for nine months just minute after their birth, and she doesn't have a single word of protest about this. I know she respects him, and he's a powerful demon, but if someone tried to take my newborn children from me without any kind of explanation as for why, I would raise unholy hell.
For the first season, at least, there's barely any overarching plot, and things are more 'monster of the week' than anything else. You don't even really get introduced to this series' big bad until towards the end, and he's...meh. He seems to be no threat at all, so there's no sense of urgency whenever he shows up.
On top of that, none of the characters have to really struggle. Not only are the enemies quickly and easily defeated, but they don't have to learn any new powers or abilities. They either already have them through inheritance, or they just...suddenly appear out of nowhere, and voila! new ability.
I've also noticed that the show it surprisingly bloodless. Not that the original Inuyasha was especially gory, but it's a little strange when Moroha's Blades of Blood feature absolutely no blood at all.
Then there's the fact that in a little more than twenty episodes, we get THREE reused enemies from Inuyasha. Mistress Centipede (now sporting three eyes), another one of those moth guys (seriously, how many siblings do those dudes HAVE? And he's even defeated the same way as the first one was.) and a demon masquerading as a priest.
And who thought it would be a good idea to start the second opening with flashes of Sesshomaru and a CHILD RIN, overlaid by images of Towa and Setsuna? As if that "relationship" needed to be any more creepy... At least with Inuyasha and Kagome, Inuyasha didn't spend years grooming her...
One of the positives, though, is that you occasionally get to see characters from the original series all grown up. Kohaku is one such, and a certain half-demon bat child is another. It's good to see them again, and she, especially, has an interesting little twist that comes with her.
Now, the characters.
Towa: She is the daughter of Sesshomaru, and the older twin of Setsuna. She's friendly and brave, unafraid to jump into a fight. At first, her sense of morality gets in the way, as she's constantly arguing with Setsuna not to kill their enemies, and it starts to become tedious when it happens over and over again. Finally, she becomes less of a pacifist. She wants nothing more than Setsuna's love.
Setsuna: The younger twin of Towa, Setsuna was raised by demon slayers, and learned their skills. A tsundere, she has very little sense of emotion, and is often cold towards others. She especially gets annoyed with Towa's attempts to get close with her. Thanks to something called a (Plot Device) Dream Butterfly, Setsuna is unable to sleep, and thus unable to dream. It also seems to have affected her memories.
Moroha: The daughter of Inuyasha and Kagome. While Moroha takes after Kagome in appearance, she inherited Inuyasha's personality. Loud, brash, and always itching for a fight, Moroha is a bounty hunter (though a somewhat poor one, if her constant lack of money is any indication).
Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango (whose title is relegated to "Miroku's Wife". That's it. Badass demon slayer who?), Shippo, etc: They might as well not even exist in this show. That's how little they show up. Kohaku, and Sango's son, Hisui, have a bit bigger presence, as Kohaku is now the leader of the demon slayers, and Hisui inherited the hiraikotsu from Sango (why she retired as a demon slayer, I have no idea).
Oh, and there's also some little tanuki thing that shows up from time to time, but he's seriously not important.
If you loved the original Inuyasha, you'll probably be infuriated by this meandering, nonsensical, at times rage-inducing anime. The character designs are good, and you'll hear some familiar music tracks, but that's really about all it's got going for it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Nov 16, 2021
Koushi Nagumo is left abandoned and living on the street after his house burns down, and his father says "screw parenthood" and takes off, leaving his twelve-year-old son all on his own, eating scraps off the sidewalk (and often making himself sick in the process.
That is, until one day, Koushi is discovered by Mineru Wachi, a young college student who takes him back to the dormitory where she lives, and decides to let him stay there as the dorm's caretaker.
Let the molestation begin.
No, I am not kidding. This entire anime is about a little boy constantly being molested by several grown women, and occasionally beaten
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up by the only girl his own age, who is also severely sexualized as we get to see her panties practically constantly.
Let's take a look at our (pedophilic) girls, now color-coded for easy identification, shall we?
First is the aforementioned Mineru Wachi, who has green hair and wears glasses. She is something of a mad scientist, often performing experiments in her dorm room, with various (usually awful) results. By her own admission, she likes to do these experiments in as little clothing as possible. How she hasn't melted her skin off through some horrific accident involving acid, I'll never know.
Next is Frey (who looks suspiciously like Cynthia, from Pokemon), the blonde gothic beauty with a penchant for cosplay. She enjoys dressing up Koushi in the outfits she makes, often humiliating him in the process. Like Mineru, she often takes any excuse she can find to get naked, or at least partially so.
Kiriya Senshou is our resident tomboy. Growing up as the only daughter of a dojo, alongside several brothers, Kiriya is usually more comfortable being treated as "one of the guys", and gets embarassed whenever someone treats her like a girl (this WOULD potentially be a cute trait, except again, NUDITY AND PEDOPHILIA.)
Serene Hozumi is the deadpan borderline-emotionless girl who has no problems with getting undressed in front of people (but what else is new in this series? Everyone seems to have this particular...quirk.) Something of a techno-nerd, Serene is very messy, and loves the moon.
Atena Saotome is about the only girl I can actually stand in this series. She is the only one (apart from Koushi himself) who protests to the rampant pedophilia and molestation going on in the dorm. It turns out that she hates males, and getting too close to them results in torrential nosebleeds. Koushi becomes the one exception, and activated her Little Brother complex when he starts calling her his sister.
Sutea Kouroya is the token violent tsundere bitch, who constantly abuses Kouchi, despite actually caring for him very much. She is his childhood friend, and possible(?) love interest. Unfortunately, we have to put up with seeing far too much of her UNDERAGE, TWELVE-YEAR-OLD panties to be remotely comfortable with her being onscreen.
I seriously don't understand why they didn't just set this anime in a nudist colony. At least then the girls would have a REASON to constantly be partially to fully naked at any given moment.
Given how often the girls mash their genitals in Koushi's face, it probably would have worked better as a hentai.
Finally, WHY THE EVER-LOVING FUCK IS ALL OF THIS HAPPENING TO A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD?!?!?! PEDOPHILIA AND/OR MOLESTATION IS. NOT. OKAY!
May this anime burn in the fiery pits of Hell. Seriously, the ONLY good thing I can say about it is that the art is pretty. That's it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Nov 15, 2021
Based on the eroge visual novel, Shuffle! tells the story of Tsuchimi Rin, your basic clueless, bland protagonist (who ends up becoming something of an asshole) who tries to navigate his life while being surrounded by a bunch of girls who all want to marry him.
To be honest, a lot of the girls' motivations don't make much sense to me, which I'll be going into in a moment.
The art is nice to look at, with no terribly glaring flaws, even if some of the characters' designs can be a little odd (for example, what's with the abundance of random ribbons wrapped around locks of hair?).
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There's also some uncomfortable nudity in the show, as the person you see naked the most is a little girl...yeah. Do with that what you will.
The sound is average, both dubbed and subbed, with some popular VAs in both versions.
I will admit that I've never played the visual novel, which I'm sure has a lot more content that was left out of the anime, but I must say, given the number of adaptations are out there, this one is fairly decent. (That's not to say it's necessarily GOOD, but they managed to explain most everything, rather than leaving dozens of loose ends, like some adaptations do.)
And now, the section that I had the most problems with, which is going to contain massive spoilers, so stop here if you haven't already seen the anime/don't mind being spoiled. Ranting incoming...
THE CHARACTERS.
Tsuchimi Rin is not the most unlikable protagonist ever created, but sometimes I just want to hit him upside the head with the Clue Bat a few dozen times. His behavior towards some of the girls at certain points is just abhorrent. He treats them like absolute shit!
The best example I can think of is late in the series, when one of the characters has a psychotic break, and tries to kill one of the girls who's been spending a lot of time with Rin, because she wants him for herself. (Not kidding. We almost go full School Days with this girl.) Instead of getting her proper help, even though she's both a danger to herself and others, his solution is to move out of the house and leave her there alone.
Lisianthus (shortened to Sia) is one of the many girls in Rin's harem. Cheerful and friendly, Sia is the princess of the gods. She has a bit of a temper, usually when it comes to her father, who she will lay the smackdown on with a folding chair, a la WWE.
Sia also has a secret--she has a split personality that sometimes surfaces. In the womb, Sia was one half of a set of twins, but her sister, Kikyo, was fated to die. Unwilling to let this happen, Sia decided to absorb Kikyo's soul, with the result that her consciousness sometimes overrides Sia's. Kikyo is much more forward than Sia, and ends up trying to force herself on Rin (whose obliviousness shows up full-force again, because he can't tell that something is very wrong with "Sia"'s behavior. Moron.)
She came to the human world with her father once when she was a little girl, and ended up getting separated from him. While she was lost, she met Rin, who played with her until her father found her. That is seriously her motivation for loving and wanting to marry him.
Nerine is the princess of the devils, and has known Sia since they were children (perhaps even since birth). Unlike Sia, Nerine is quiet and soft spoken, though she won't hesitate to use her formidable powers when something does manage to make her angry.
Her backstory is very similar to Sia's (seriously, they couldn't come up with ANY other backstory to make her unique?) in that she once had a "sister", though in Nerine's case, it wasn't a twin, but a clone, named Lycoris. As a child, Nerine was very sickly, and her condition deteriorated to the point that she would have died. Lycoris learned about this, and decided to sacrifice herself, reasoning that her spirit would make Nerine strong enough to survive.
Unlike Sia, though, Lycoris was fully absorbed by Nerine, so rather than a split personality, Nerine inherited Lycoris's feelings, and her beautiful singing voice.
When they were little, (again, just like Sia) Lycoris went to the human world, and met Rin, falling in love with him. When Nerine absorbed her spirit, those feelings transferred to Nerine, and drives her to want to marry him, though she eventually comes to realize that her feelings for Rin are actually her own, and not Lycoris's.
Primula is perhaps the most uncomfortable character in the series. Looking like a child of twelve or so, she starts out emotionless and nearly mute, but as the series progresses, she starts to open up more. She is also the one we get to see naked the most. (WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, DEVELOPERS?! WHY?!)
Primula comes from the same world as Sia and Nerine, and is an artificial lifeform, like Lycoris was. The entire reason why she comes to the human world is because of what Lycoris told her about Rin, making her want to meet him.
However, as Primula's emotions start to grow, her powers surface, making her sick enough that she could die if she doesn't return to her own world for treatment. But she refuses, not wanting to leave Rin. This is where I start to get angry. She is a LITTLE GIRL. She is not old enough or mature enough to make decisions for herself. Pick her up, and TAKE HER BACK. If you know she's going to die if she stays, don't leave her there! There's a REASON why minors can't make serious decisions on their own!
Kaede is the (doormat) childhood friend of Rin, who he ended up living with after his parents and her mother died in an accident. She is basically his live-in servant, cooking meals for him, cleaning up after him, etc. etc. This is to make up for the way she treated him shortly after they lost their parents. Blaming him for the accident, she seriously abuses him for a while, including dropping a box cutter on him so it slices his face open. Later on, it's revealed that Rin wasn't to blame, which made Kaede change her behavior.
I can't find myself to feel sorry for her when Rin starts spending time with other girls, because she absolutely refuses to tell him that she has feelings for him. (Although this is partly on him, because he's too dense to realize that himself.)
She is the one who has a psychotic break when Rin beings spending less and less time at home with her, though she eventually snaps herself out of it, and life continues as usual. (WHY DID NO ONE GET THIS GIRL HELP?! SHE ALMOST MURDERED SOMEONE!)
Asa is the last of Rin's harem, and fills the spot of the cheerful, happy-go-lucky girl. Like Kaede, Asa has known Rin for a while, though she's a year older than him. As a child, Asa was very sickly, and blamed her mother, Ama (who I adore) for her weak body. Ama is a devil, and Asa is a half-blood. Because she inherited her father's human body, it's not strong enough to house the power of her devil blood, resulting in her getting very sick, and nearly dying. The only way to fix this is for Asa to release her power, which she refuses to do.
This is why my opinion of Asa went WAY down. She behaves like an idiot. Even though it's the only way to SAVE HER LIFE, she refuses to use her power, because she wants to deny the part of her that has devil blood. Using it won't hurt her, or anyone else, yet she still won't do it. It's a flimsy excuse at best, and leaves me wanting to pull my hair out. There is no reason for her to be so stubborn about it.
There are a couple of other minor characters, but they don't play much of a part. There's a blonde girl who really wants to dress Primula up in sexy lingerie (WHY, DEVELOPERS?!), and another half-blood girl whose only real contribution to the story is one episode where she loses her panties and tries not to flash everyone while wearing a short skirt.
Final verdict, this show COULD have been good, because it actually has a resolution, and Rin picks someone to be with, but some of the characters' motivations are so STUPID that it makes you want to beat your head against the wall.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 26, 2021
(Spoilers ahead.)
Yuri Honjou was your average high school girl, until one day, she sees a skyscraper rising out of the ground in the distance. The next thing she knows, she's on top of a building in the middle of a city, and people are trying to kill each other.
On one side, we have the ordinary people, like Yuri, and on the other, we have the Masks (or the Angels, as they're actually named). The Masks were once ordinary people, until they were brainwashed by the code on the inside of the masks they wear, and turned into little more than killing machines. (Except when they
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don't, because they're defective, or enhance you, or just take their own sweet time activating.) Their goal is to kill those without masks--or rather, force them past the point of despair (no, Monokuma, go away. This has nothing to do with you), and cause them to jump off the edges of the buildings and kill themselves. The longer those not wearing masks survive, the closer they come to God.
You see, the world they find themselves in is something like an alternate universe, and they're all vying to become God, and have a wish granted (Battle Royale meets Mirai Nikki meets panty shots every few minutes? Okay, sure.)
Now, the premise sounds simple enough, except that...it's not. We never really get any answers to what the hell is going on. Who brought them all there? Who created that world they're in? HOW was it created? What happened to escaping by helicopter? What's the point of it all? Why are some masks defective? How do they choose who plays the game? Of those players, how do they choose who becomes an Angel, and who is a regular player? Why do the regular players have to commit suicide by jumping off a building? Why does it seem like everyone is filled with tomato juice? (Seriously, the blood effects in this show are riDONKulous. There are fountains of tomato juice breaking out everywhere.) How many Angels are there? Who is the mysterious voice that sometimes talks to the players? Why do some players get powers, and others don't? Who determines who gets what powers? How are the powers given to the players? Does the code alter their genetic makeup somehow? How can it do that?
And most importantly, WHY DO THEY ALWAYS LOOK AT THE CODE?! Seriously, if the code is embedded on the inside of the mask, just close your eyes when you put the mask on. Once it's up against your face, you shouldn't be able to see the code anymore. Seriously, this bugged me SO DAMN MUCH.
And these are just the questions I came up with off the top of my head. Yes, this is just a one-cour anime, and it's clearly left open-ended for a second season, but there shouldn't be THIS many questions remaining at the end.
Okay, that's my little mini-rant finished. Moving on.
The art is...okay; it's nothing special, but I didn't find anything horrible about it, either, excluding the aforementioned tomato juice explosions and the gratuitous panty-shots. Like, seriously, the panty-shots are... Well, for example, one of the characters identifies another character not by her hair, or by the clothes she's wearing. How does she identify her? "Oh, I recognize those panties!" I'm not kidding.
One thing that did bother me was with the hair of one of the characters. She has blue hair that fades into pink, and where the gradient starts changes from shot to shot. Sometimes it's up at her shoulders, other times it's towards the bottom of her back. CONSISTENCY, PEOPLE.
Most of the NUMEROUS characters in this show are utterly forgettable, and the only ones I really remember are Yuri, the main character, Mayuko Nise, Yuri's enemy-turned-friend (and the one who identified Yuri by her panties), Kuon Shinzaki (the girl whose hair is constantly changing), and Sniper Mask another enemy-turned-reluctant ally, who is by far the best character in this show.
Not only is Sniper Mask absolutely badass, but he also has a charming personality, even when he has very few memories of who he was before putting on the mask.
This anime had some promise, even though it brought to mind several other things that have been done before, some better, some worse, but it's not the worst way to kill some time. If nothing else, watch it for Sniper Mask.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 24, 2021
*Spoilers Ahead*
Story: Isekai strikes again. A classroom full of high school students are mysteriously transported to a fantasy world, where they're given new names, new appearances, and even new families. Rather than dying and being reincarnated as a teen/adult, as with most isekai protagonists, these particular characters start from the beginning, and grow up properly (not that we really ever get to see this.) What's more, they all remember their lives on Earth.
Like her classmates, Kumoko was also summoned into this new world, but UNLIKE them, she was reborn as a monster spider!
Kumoko is what saves the anime for me. She's charming, witty, funny, and
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the battles she fights in an effort to level up (yes, this world has the game mechanics of abilities, job classes, and leveling up) are quite creative. She could easily carry a single cour all on her own.
Unfortunately, this is where the anime takes a nosedive, barreling straight into the ground. The story diverges into two separate timelines: one follows Kumoko from the time of her birth as she wanders through the caves that make up a large portion of her world, and then to the surface. The other one follows the majority of Kumoko's classmates in their day to day lives, and this is where things fall apart. I really could not care less about her other classmates. Their half of the story is by and large boring and forgettable. I really couldn't tell you any of their names.
Because of this split method of storytelling that hardly ever overlaps (both because Kumoko is largely subterranean, and because her story takes place several years before her classmates' portion), the events are largely separate, and really don't give you the chance to familiarize yourself with the world they live in, why they're there, what they're supposed to be doing...
We get practically NOTHING, in twenty-four episodes. That should have been more than enough time to give us at least a rough idea of these core concepts.
The worst part is, the classmates' portion of the story had potential. Some of them get reincarnated as different races, and one even changes sex. There's also the interesting detail that, even though they all still have their memories from their previous lives, not all of their personalities remain the same as they were. For example, one girl inexplicably becomes a religious fanatic determined to purge the world of anyone who has a certain ability.
But instead, we get what seems like random scenes slapped together in only a vague order, with no rhyme or reason for what's actually going on. None of the characters get developed, both in their former lives on Earth, or in the new world.
Kumoko, on the other hand, is completely different. In her previous life, she was a quiet girl who kept to herself, and was often bullied. As a spider, she becomes much more outgoing and confident. I appreciated that, even though the change happened VERY quickly, rather than gradually.
And then we have the other part of what I disliked about this anime. The art. The monsters that Kumoko finds herself fighting are all 3D, and badly-done 3D, at that. As another reviewer said, they look like something out of the PS2 era. Kumoko herself is also rendered in 3D, but she, at least, was done well.
As the anime draws to a close, the human characters start turning into 3D models at random, with seemingly no rhyme or reason for why (the only thing I can figure is budget constraints, so quality took a hard hit.) Other characters find themselves completely frozen, so the animators didn't have to worry about adding in movement. Corners were cut, hard, and it shows. The last four episodes or so were painful to watch, especially since the spotlight gets handed over to the classmates' part of the story, and Kumoko is relegated to a side character in her own anime.
One thing I did quite enjoy was the discrepancy between the cute version of Kumoko that we usually see, and how she truly looks from an outsider's POV. To them, she isn't the adorable little spider with big pink eyes and cute little horns. She's a terrifying monster who is probably out for their blood.
I really only finished this anime thanks to Kumoko and her shenanigans. They are worth watching, if nothing else.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 30, 2020
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
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Gakkougurashi tells the story of a group of high schoolers who are members of a self-titled "School Life Club." They do all of their daily events inside the school itself, from making meals, studying, even sleeping in the club room.
We have four main protagonists.
Takeya Yuki is a bubbly girl who's almost always smiling. No matter what situation she's in, she always manages to be able to find a positive side to it. She's normally responsible for coming up with creative things for the club to do.
Wakasa Yuuri (most usually called Rii-san/chan), is the most responsible of the group, acting as a big sister to
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the other members, but most especially to Yuki, who would otherwise get herself in trouble if not occasionally scolded. She's kindhearted and gentle, though she's not afraid to be firm if the situation calls for it.
Ebisuzawa Kurumi is an athletic tomboy who is rarely seen without her trusty shovel. Once a member of the track club, she is very fast and agile, leading to her normally taking the lead in club activities outside of the school. Like Yuuri, Kurumi always keeps a watchful eye on Yuki.
Naoki Miki is the newest (and originally unwilling) member of the School Life Club, recruited after a trip to the local mall. At first, she doesn't like the others, and frequently snaps at them, especially regarding Yuki. Finally, though, she warms up to everyone, and comes to love them as much as they love each other.
Sakura Megumi is the oldest of the group; a teacher at the school and the advisor of the School Life Club, she is usually called Megu-nee by Yuki, much to her exasperation. She loves the girls fiercely, though she mostly interacts with Yuki.
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Almost immediately, we learn that things aren't always as they seem. The cheerful life that Yuki leads with her friends doesn't quite add up to what's happening around her.
The world that Yuki sees is a delusion brought about as a coping mechanism after most of the city they live in have become wandering undead. In the midst of this zombie apocalypse, the girls try to survive.
On occasion, the juxtaposition of the world Yuki lives in and the real world around her is very interesting. Because her mental state is so fragile, the other girls make no attempt to force her to see things as they really are.
And that's where this manga starts to get infuriating.
It's one thing to want to keep your classmate and friend sane during the apocalypse, but it's another thing entirely to humor her delusions to the point of endangering everyone. More than once, they get into trouble because Yuki doesn't realize that she's putting them in danger. Thankfully, this starts to taper off as the series progresses, but in the beginning, it makes you want to rip your hair out and scream at them.
Another thing I found frustrating was that characters keep secrets from each other simply because the creator doesn't want to reveal a particular plot twist until later on. There's absolutely no reason why some things wouldn't be addressed if it wasn't supposed to be a plot twist.
The art itself is fine, save for one small thing. Sometimes the back teeth of the characters doesn't align properly with their lower jaw, so the curve of their teeth seems to be in the middle of their mouth.
(Then there are the incredibly stupid zombies that inexplicably chase after a glowstick in the middle of the day rather than the living meal right in front of them... I know zombies are supposed to be mindless, but COME ON.)
One thing I can say about this manga is that the story doesn't drag overlong. There are a few places where it slows down, but there aren't an abundance of chapters like this.
As to be expected in an apocalypse scenario, there isn't a large cast of characters, so you're not stuck trying to remember hundreds of faces and names. That being said, there are some supporting characters who show up in the latter half of the manga that serve a relatively small purpose, and they're not exactly memorable.
All in all, it's a decent representation of an apocalyptic scenario, with a few unique ideas thrown in so the story doesn't get stale. If you can overlook some of the more frustrating scenes, it's worth a read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 24, 2020
What do you get if you cross Deadpool with Jessie and James from Team Rocket?
No, that's not a joke. The answer is, Baito-saki wa Aku no Soshiki.
This manga is short and simple. High-school student Aokura Arihisa is desperate for money, not just to support himself, but also to take care of his five adopted siblings, who live in the same orphanage where he once lived.
One day, he comes across an online ad for a part-time job that promises high pay with no previous experience needed. Knowing he probably won't get the job, but deciding to give it a try regardless, he sends in an application,
...
and immediately receives an interview. To his complete shock, he's hired on the spot.
But after only a few minutes at his new job, he finds out that there's more to it than he first thought.
He's been hired by a secret underground organization known as Antares, to act as a low-level grunt and carry out acts of mischief throughout the city. However, things get more complicated when he meets a group of heroes whose job it is to keep the peace and prevent Antares from being successful in their missions.
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Despite Aokura wearing generic full-body armor for a majority of the series, he manages to be just as expressive as he would be in normal clothing. He's charismatic and kind of a dork, somehow managing to bumble his way through his missions without causing too much damage, either to himself or to those around him.
There's no true deeper plot going on, with almost every scene being focused on comedy. There are a lot of plot twists that can be seen a mile away, but the way the story is written, it's clear that these "twists" aren't supposed to be shocking in nature. More entertaining than that are how these twists end up playing out after they've been revealed.
The art isn't extravagantly detailed, and sometimes characters end up looking a little weird, but this is easy to overlook.
All in all, it's a fun story that knows it's ridiculous, and never takes itself seriously, which is part of what makes the premise work so well.
If you have some time to kill and want to read something light and fun, give this manga a try.
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SPOILERS AHEAD
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END OF THE SERIES DISCUSSED
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However, there are some problems with this manga, which keeps me from enjoying it as much as I otherwise would have. Namely, that it ends with a lot of unanswered questions.
This manga is adapted from a light novel consisting of two volumes (thirteen chapters in total). I'm not entirely sure if the light novel was cancelled, or if it's just on indefinite hiatus, but it seems that the manga decided to end by tying up one large plot thread rather than continuing on with its own original content.
Because of that, there are a number of characters who never get developed or...really even addressed properly.
- Who are the other Final Fire members?
- How did they get involved with being an ally of justice?
- Who is the ghost girl in Aokura's apartment building?
- How did she die?
- Why is she attached to the building?
- Why is she so intent on trying to scare Aokura?
- Why can Ladywulf see her?
- How come Aokura can see her, but he never acknowledges that she's a real ghost?
You can still enjoy the manga without knowing the answers to these questions, but it would have felt a lot more fulfilling if these details had been fleshed out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Nov 13, 2020
Mild spoilers ahead.
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Dungeon Meshi seems like your typical dungeon-crawler in the beginning. A group of adventurers, made up of Laios, the human knight, Chilchuck, the halfling rogue, Marcille, the elven mage, and Falin, the human mage, (along with a couple of other unnamed members who aren't of any importance) spend their time exploring the underground dungeon, fighting monsters and searching for treasure.
Until they run into a red dragon deep in the lower floors. A very fierce, very hungry red dragon, which proceeds to demolish the party, leaving everyone but Laios gravely injured, and devouring Falin whole.
Laios returns to the upper floors with the surviving party
...
members, and immediately resolves to return to the dragon's territory to save his sister. After two of the party leave the group for a less dangerous guild, he attempts to talk Chilchuck and Marcille out of staying in his party, knowing there's a very good chance that they could be next on the dragon's menu.
Unsurprisingly, they refuse, and the three of them decide to descend into the dungeon one more time.
Very quickly, they run into a serious problem. In fleeing the dungeon, they lost most of their supplies, and have very little money with which to buy what they need to keep them going. That's when Laios makes the suggestion that they start cooking for themselves...using the monsters they run into as ingredients.
Enter Senshi, the dwarf warrior (who is truly the star of the manga). Upon learning that Laios and the group intend to hunt down and kill the red dragon, he decides to join them.
Using his vast knowledge of the dungeon and its inhabitants, he helps keep the party alive, both by making sure they don't get killed by the various beasties that lurk on every floor, and by ensuring that they are well-fed, by cooking said beasties and turning them into delicious meals.
Each chapter focuses on a different creature, from how to defeat them, all the way to how to cook them (complete with a list of ingredients that make up the dish.) The chapters vaguely tie into each other, so they're not entirely stand-alone, but they're rather episodic in nature, and there's no complicated storyline to try and keep up with.
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Now, for the characters themselves.
Laios: a good-natured young man who helps lead the party through the dungeon. His goal is to rescue his little sister from the stomach of the red dragon who devoured her. He harbors a secret passion for monsters; specifically, for EATING them. He's always the first on board and the most enthusiastic whenever Senshi cooks up a new meal.
Senshi: a dwarven warrior who spends most of his time in the dungeon, searching out various creatures and learning how to cook them. After learning that Laios and the other two are hunting a red dragon, he decides to join their party in the hopes of fulfilling his dream: turning the red dragon into a meal.
Chilchuck: a rather serious halfling who specializes in rogue abilities, such as finding and disarming traps and picking locks. He's not overly enthusiastic about Senshi joining them, especially when Senshi occasionally recruits him to help with meals, but even he has to admit that the meals Senshi makes are well-done.
Marcille: ...okay, Marcille. She is the sole reason why I have any dislike for this manga. She can't stand Senshi, and frequently butts heads with him, despite Senshi doing nothing to antagonize her. She despises the idea of eating monsters, and does so only grudgingly, since the only alternative is starving.
She's...rather useless to the party, spending most of her time complaining and making things harder for the others, sometimes even going so far as to put them in danger out of stubbornness to do things her own way.
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The art can be quite simplistic at times, foregoing complicated designs in both characters and backgrounds. That said, it's quite charming, and Senshi in particular has an adorable design that I love.
The dishes made are creative, and the composition of the monsters used in those dishes are explained in interesting and unique ways.
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All in all, I'm thoroughly enjoying this manga (except for Marcille), and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a light story to read, especially if you have an interest in the cooking genre of manga.
The story has its flaws, like all stories do (LOOKING AT YOU, MARCILLE), but it's not enough to dissuade me to stop reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 8, 2020
Monster Girl Doctor, or Monster Musume no Oishasan, is...pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. It's about a human man living in a world full of monster people who makes his living by treating their various illnesses.
Unfortunately, the premise of the show is much better than its actual execution. If you're looking for an overarching plot, you're out of luck until the last four or five episodes. Before that, each one is more or less standalone, focusing on one type of monster girl in each episode.
Yes, monster GIRL. Although I'm certain the monster guys get sick/injured just as often as the monster
...
girls do, it seems that this particular doctor specializes in females, because...reasons.
Interestingly, the monster girls are quite human in appearance, with a few monster traits, such as gills, animal ears, snake tails, etc, while the men are much more monster-looking.
Let's not mince words, here; this show is all about the fanservice. Within two minutes of the first episode, the main character (don't worry about his name. None of their names are really important, and quite a few are difficult to remember on top of that) is shown fondling a minotaur girl's breasts. There's at least one ecchi scene in every episode, complete with the girls blushing and moaning or making other very erotic noises.
There's also gratuitous amounts of CG, which are often quite jarring when they appear, since it's difficult to merge CG and traditionally drawn art, and this show is not the best representation of particularly good CG.
The characters are rather forgettable, so I won't go into much detail about them. The main character is your typical bland male protagonist. If you've seen one, you've seen them all.
The only female of any note is his assistant, the lamia Saphentite. She's supposed to be a nurse, but most of her personality is getting jealous when her boss so much as LOOKS at another female. Which might sound a bit strange, considering he exclusively treats girls... Don't worry about that too much, though.
The art is decent; nothing groundbreaking, but not extremely bland, either, and I will admit that the designs of some of the monster girls are quite creative.
All in all, it's okay to watch if you're looking for a way to waste time, but I guarantee you, there are better things out there.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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