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Oct 28, 2024
Pains me to be on the red side here, but I couldn't lend myself to the whole idea. If you suspend your logic and conciousness it may be ok but in reality it isn't. And people in it know the difference. Everything is spinning around one girl. She's supposed to be a grown up, at least by age. She does know what she is doing, she knows there are two sides. She is intentionally staying in the imaginary world. By that, she is putting a huge burden on people around her. It's an exchange of their life for her delusions. She was so close once
...
(1st season was it?). It was supposed to be a defense from a trauma, but it was resolved right ?? It needed work, thought, help. But it all came back to the start, because it's easy to hide. It's not mental illness that can't be repaired. The catchphrase "REALITY REJECTED".. It hurts when I think about it. Adult people shouting at trains and talking to vending machines.. And who's responsible for allowing her to live to adulthood like that ?
Her boyfriend seems to be fine with that, I have no idea why. He basically has a child to care for. And he's like "she needs to get it herself, I can't push". Good luck man, see you in a few years, when you'll be tired and bitter. You'll want to move on with life but you'll be stuck with a child and a promise. But maybe that's what he's into? That would actually make him worse.
She may find herself one day tired of her stories but she may also realise people around her are even more tired. Everyone tried in their own way to steer her in the right direction. But she rejected that. And they accepted it. They failed her and she failed them. That's not a good message.
That said, to me the whole thing, all those episodes and the movie, is sad, it went.. not even nowhere, it got worse. Time passed and nothing changed. At least that's my take. I'd expect progress, growth, hope, but instead it's just 360 and fear of change.
That said, the execution of this show is excellent. It's nice to watch, I liked the slapstick humor. I like Rikka's unique voice (eng).
But no matter how nice sound and visuals, it can't make up for my overall enjoyment.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 13, 2024
I'll be quick here, time is precious.
Main premise - high school arranging a practical consisting of randomly chosen students set to live together as a married couple and being monitored and graded. Required to graduate. I'm not going to dive into that retarded concept, it's so obviously outlandish there's no point. It's just a vehicle for the plot. Anything can be, right?
Characters. Shy guy (Jirou), his childhood friend he loves (Shiori) and that popular girl (Akari). Well there's that other popular guy (Minami) Akari likes. So obviously they are randomly precisely mixed to live with NOT who they wanted. Quite a coincidence huh? Yeah...
...
So there's the main conflict and the love polygon. And that living together -- you know what it will lead to. Well, partially, because Shiori and Minami seem not interested, keep distance and be reasonable.
Jirou is the standard shy, inexperienced, guy, blushing often and being terrified by Akari. I will give him credit for communicating atleast - this is too much, too close, please stop etc. Not like it has any effect of course.
Akari is huge-boobed (like, lower back pain very much), skimpy dressing, sharp toungued, jewelry wearing yolo chick.
Shiori was really alright. She was nice, smart, sensible. It was understandable Jirou could fall for her. Also her side of the polygon wasn't really a thing. Everything was revolving around Jirou and Akari flapping between their "spouse" roommate and their love interest.
Every show is a combination of different elements. Some could be subpar, but others may be exceptional and in overall may outweight the worse ones, creating a good experience. Here I felt the scale tipping again and again to bad side. I can accept the blunt (think hamfisted) fanservice from time to time (I mean non-stop) if there's something to make up for that. Here Akari's sharp tongue was really entertaining (eng dub mind you). She was alot of fun at times. But the whole concept was so far out. Students being watched and graded.. Oh, the things they've done being watched.. apparently by school employees.. I just can't even.. This requires so much of suspended disbelief, it's hard. Btw I don't recall any character saying a word about being watched 24/7.. Then you have Akari so fcking fickle, going from one extreme to the other in a whim. Sad and crying because she loves Minami, afraid it won't work out, and next second she's putting her body against Jirou and teasing him like reeeeally in the wrong way ("this is what you want from me" I think was her words..). Jirou felt asleep ? Yeah, I'll sleep on him, why the fuck not?
Jirou also can't make up his mind if he's gonna chase Shiori or commit to Akari. All the time, left, right, left, right.
Fanserviceeeee. The reason this show exists. "I'm going on a date but I'm feeling anxious, so could you kiss me?". A spider is a reason to barge in to the bathroom when he's naked. Food shown together with boobs for no reason (not once..). All that feels so synthetic like it's a video game. Comes out of nowhere for no reason and makes no sense except fanservice. Yeah it's that kind of a show. Fanservice first. Writers task - "for what reason we'll show boobs this time?". It cancels alot of whatever little good there is in there.
Sound and visuals are whatever.. Ok I guess, doesn't matter really.
Final note.
I gave up.. Fast forward to the end, no resolution, "see you next season". I'm posting this review and not thinking of this show ever again. It was a waste of my time.
You have been warned.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 10, 2024
This is a treasure.
This is something beautiful and rare in the sea of mediocreness.
This is a warm blanket. It makes you feel warm inside.
This is Bob Ross of a show. It speaks to you softly and makes you feel at ease.
This is Yuru Camp of romance (What?).
I admire the creators of the manga and adaptation for following a clear path. I feel like they had to say no to so many things.
The mainstream romance 101 list went to trash and it's still (or rather because of that) a beautiful, touching, romantic piece of art. That's why this feels so good.
...
I am so tired of those tropes forcibly thrown at me, repeating over and over in each production. Here there are so many situations where in my mind I was picturing the usual thing to happen in a standard show, but every time I got surprised how maturely it was handled. And it felt good to be positively surprised.
It's also not a tearjerker. It has touching moments that evoke emotions but not on a magnitude that I want to lay down and cry or regret of what happened.
Quick list of characteristics:
-No fanservice except ONE case - which felt out of place. Again, fanservice scene felt out of place in this anime. You would have to try hard to find a frame you could label fanservice. They avoided all opportunities.
-A sibling is not a crazy obtrusive pervert weirdo or anything.
-MCs not some unreachable beauty queen/cool guy nor a secluded loners with some monumental issues or inner struggle. Yes they have insomnia.
-flashbacks are very limited
-conversations are not a stuttering fest or a missed opportunity championship
-plot is not driven by misunderstandings, accidents, forced drama
-no violence
-no pervert stuff
-no cursing
-no pushed agenda
-no triangles/polygons
-no lenghty intermissions filled with monologues or internal banter
+fireworks+yukata trope is there. welp..
Note, Ep1 being a little of an exception (they do get locked in, which is a common trope).
Characters.
Two main characters are Isaki and Ganta. They share the titular issue of sleeplessness but have quite different personalities and complement themselves. They treat eachother whith great respect and are able to set boundaries.
Ganta is a somewhat reserved person however he is competent and focused on his tasks. At first he isn't very social but he improves as time goes. He's the brain. He plans, considers, does homeworks.
Isaki is a joyful sweet potato. Energetic, friendly, smiling, running around, kinda impulsive, even rebellious. Not afraid to take a step. Has a distinct style. She is the heart. She does not do very well with homeworks.
I like how easy they are around themselves. A touch, a look or something trivial like exchanging contact info is just that. Compared to other shows where it's sometimes elevated to monumental event preceded by long hesitations and followed by long afterthoughts.
Sound.
As for music, it took me half of 1st episode to search for OST and save it in favourites. "Blanketed in stars" caught my ear while watching even though it was just a background for a conversation in ep1. Go ahead and look around the OST, it will give you a hint on the mood of this show. It's nothing spectacular but just very pleasant and calming, often playing quietly in the background to create a mood. I put it on often when I need to chill. The music is like a warm blanket on top of a warm blanket that this whole show is.
The ending song is nice too, usually I let it roll to the end as whatever nice happens in the episode, that song wraps it up so nicely. Like a blanket!
Both dubbing and original voices are nice to hear (though I have to give Japanese Magari the lead). English dubbing has just recently been done, which is great, meaning the show got some traction and they didn't wait long (just over 1 year).
Visual.
The visual side was nice. Because of the subject we have alot of outdoors, night sky, landscapes and landmarks. It's all beautiful (albeit a bit exagerrated in depiction of the sky maybe, still beautiful..). Animation was consistently okay. Not a marvel by any stretch, it's rather basic and there are some static shots and pans to fill, but it didn't feel cheap or lacking. Some scenes are 1:1 with the source manga, which will make manga readers surely happy - that is nicely shown in ED. Of course with beautiful colors, voice and music added.
I liked how the characters were made with careful restrain. They have normal proportions, heads are not gigantic, lips aren't tiny, eyes are not gigantic, people have noses! Nobody's hair or pupils are of weird colors (crimson red, yellow, pink, bluray discs, burning haystack to name a few I witnessed..). Profiles look like a human, not a dog. Despite that each character is unique.
In line with the source material and this production, its deliberate, reasonable, toned down, thought out.
If you want to have an idea on how restrainedit is, take a 30s peek at ep9 from 14:15 (BUT NOT A SECOND BEFORE PLEASE) - it will reveal nothing of the plot.
But, uhh, the cats looked really uncanny.. U guess I found one thing I don't like about this show. There, it's not perfect after all.
Plot.
Through a series of events they start an astronomy club, which is a motor for the plot. There are a few linked reasons there, but they are quite believable and not forced. The main theme in most episodes is photography, but it doesn't take over the show. There is some explaining on how it works but it's very basic and doesn't steal the time. Like music shows, where you are not blasted with endless monologues about how x pulls a string in slightly a different way than y and how it makes x feel sad and what the strings are anyway and how they work and btw here are whole 4 episodes for one concert only.
There was not much internal monologue. It's there but really limited to statements or realisations. I like it much better this way.
There are many different situations they are in. They travel, walk, lay on the ground, camp.. By no means it's a talking heads show.
The last few episodes are a beautiful adventure/slice of life focusing mainly on the main characters.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So I am thinking about this show after watching it. And maybe not even thinking but feeling. I feel longing. It was short but that's fine. It made me happy to watch, happy to finish and I'm happy to jump back. This is how it made me feel, regardless of all the quantifiable technicalities. It found me in a time in my life when I just needed it.
Despite no cliffhangers, drama or fast pace, I was eager to put on the next episode because of sheer attachment. Instead of "I need to know what's gonna happen!" it was more like "I wanna be there". Of recent shows I've finished, this truly had an impact and didn't let go easily.
I cannot express enough my gratitude for putting so much care to creating this the way it is. I wish more shows would be like that instead of jumping the easy train of stupid standards, overused tropes and cliches. I am sick of rolling my eyes thinking "not again.." during shows and realising it's tiring to watch, I can't bear it anymore and dropping it.
I don't think it needs another season. With my whole heart I would welcome it as I want to have this experience again but I'm not sure it will come out as good. The manga still goes on, so there should be some source material.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 29, 2024
I won't recommend this show. What started interesting ended up quite boring to me and turned into a fast-forward race to the end solely to see what came out and be done with it. I was disappointed.
The premise is, as the title says it, Alya sometimes says things in russian. Like confessions and stuff. To the MC. So here's a kick in the balls, he understands her. Even if not, it wouldn't be implausible for him to remember the sentence and like, use internet.. or ask someone what it means ? The whole thing is just ridiculous. Not to mention, russia these days is uhh..
...
something evil, so why go with that ??
What's more, the reason he understands her is quite unbelievable and what's worse, nothing is done with it. So the main thing is no-thing.
As the first ep was kinda interesting and funny, the show drifts steadily into talking mannequins. I swear the way they talk, it's all so formal it's unbearable. They are often just reciting statements to each other while standing at attention or just sitting straight at the table. Do normal people do that ? No, robots do.
What else, so many characters are introduced that at some point I lost track on who is who and I couldn't even tell some girls apart as they looked almost identical. The MC starts of as the everyman but quickly turns out he's a god. Understands russian, can solve any problem, is super cool, stoic, poker face and composed, nothing sticks to him etc. When Alya faces a challenge with the student countil he just walks in and tackles it, no problemo. I mean it's absolutely unbelievable and unrelatable.
MMC's sister is a fking creepy pervert towards him for no reason.
Art is nicely drawn, animation is rather simple given that it's usually talking heads. Alya's eyes are dead bluray disc, what ? Skirts are too short but surprisingly there's not much fanservice. Most of the time (like 90%?) they spend in school uniforms buttoned up to the neck.
There is a no-ending ending. Nothing is resolved.
Waste time at your own risk.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 11, 2024
So this is a romcom. The twist is, you take your everyday average romcom's last episode and make it the first ep of LAWD.
So they confess in the first ep and it goes on from there.
The whole show is rather average if you look closely, there's nothing exceptionally good or bad about it. But I must admit after watching a few romcoms I was really missing the part where the MCs enjoy their relationship. Yeah here everything is easy and stakes are looow, any problems they have they just resolve by talking. Starts with the first ep (not a spoiler really and greatly
...
simplified):
-b-b-but we are mortal enemies
-yes but I love you and I'm sure we'll work it out
-hmm, if you say so then let's try!
After seeing countless "will they won't they's", stretchings the plot thin, delays, misunderstandings, doubts and all.. I couldn't help but smile when they met in LAWD as a couple. Reaper Princess is softly spoken, cute, has beautiful eyes and a pretty smile. I just liked it haha.
YEAH I KNOW IT'S DUMB! They are generic, they look generic, everything is generic here. And I think that just is intentional. The show doesn't pretend to be anything more. It's just easy cutesy get along well. But not cutesy but trying too hard to be serious and turns out cringy awful. It's also a parody aimed at all the stupid serious superhero shows.
Apart of MCs there are some characters from both sides of the conflict. Not much to say, nothing deep, they're all comically bad. Most are good at heart but pretend to be bad. Evil organisation comically sucks. Minions trip over their own legs and always lose. Bosses are hoplessly stupid and gawky. They have a nice bright canteen in the dark and gloomy evil HQ and so on.. You get the gist.
The amount of butts and tits is ehh.. acceptable. That is, it's there (of course...) but not in amounts that made me roll my eyes in disgust. I try to mention this as some shows go way overboard with it.
Animation is very nice. Colorful, smooth and pretty. Super nice I'd say for such a silly show.
Music was also okay.
Bottom line is that the show knows exactly what it is. It's low stakes, pure, silly, get-along-well, happy ending fun. If you don't expect anything more from it, then it's good. But if you'll set your hopes too high, prepare for disappointment.
I enjoyed it mostly because I needed that after seeing too many failed romcoms.
Score - 7 - good, it was just good, that's all to it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Aug 19, 2024
Wow. This one was interesting.. bear with me please and read on! It ticked alot of checkboxes on what I don't like but somehow kept me watching till the end. I don't really know how that happened at first. Like, it's full to the brim with cliches and conveniences. You really get alot:
-PLEASE DON'T JUST READ THE LIST ALONE - read the whole review :)
-accidents, school nurse visits
-accidental meetings when should be slim chance of
-school feels like there are 15 students in the whole building
-bumping into her boobs accidentally
-getting tooo close (subway, elevator, train..)
-visiting while ill, the other one falls asleep
-one falls on the
...
other
-school trip and all that
-conversations in the bath (through the DOOR! but not once)
-valentine's chocolates
-wrong place, wrong time, need to hide, oops, eavesdropping
-faces too close, almost a kiss but not quite
-blushing like all the time
While this list looks very clichey and a turn-down.. it really didn't bother me that much. I don't know why, I wasn't repulsed by that, I didn't ditch the show and I din't skipped forward. I guess appearences can be misleading. And it took me a rewatch to fully appreciate, the show grew on me and I realised it's much deeper than I thought at first. It became one of my very best and I'm glad I watched it. Though I admit certain areas overshadow other ones that could bother me otherwise (romcom checklist, overuse of boobs and stuff).
This is a show that I can blindly click (let's be real, mostly) anywhere and enjoy watching. That I think is the highest acclaim.
On the visual side, all good (if not percect). I can't complain. The 2 main characters are a bit out of proportions, that's what bothered me. She is really tall and really big breasted and he comes off almost like a child. They kinda look like a mom and a son. Her breasts are ideally at his eye level, so we do get alot of that.. unneededly to my taste, I just ignore that, treat it as a obligatory fan service. But that aside, art is fine, nice backgrounds, good animation, lots of details, different angles. Some things are quite subtle and I caught them only viewing the second time.
We have 2 main characters.
Anna is the quiet hero and the true workhorse here, she's the real star of the show. She acts tirelessly while Kyo is locked in his head overthinking everything. She never gives up, she's always positive, thoughtful, cheerful (but not at no cost). Most of times she takes the initiative. Although we often see how difficult it is for her and she's battling her own insecurities, overcome her shyness, making tough choices and sacrifices. All in silence, we don't get to hear her thoughts. Perfect example is valentine's day - just imagine the roles reversed and how many pages of text we would hear from Kyo... That makes her character so much more interesting. It may seem too perfect but there's always a touch of reality there. Anna wins my heart, please pay attention to her (just not the boobs..), you'll hear Kyo all the time but please pay attention to Anna.
Kyo, whose constant stream of conciousness is pouring into our ears, sometimes I wasn't sure if he's talking or thinking when we didn't see his face. Sometimes it was too much and I wished he would just stop. He is also quite slow to realise things. I was often screaming in my head FFS dude open your eyes! He does improve with time but still a tough case to bear at first. That said, he does have alot of struggles and some of them did grip my heart. He's talking so much that I think I became a bit numb and it took me a second time to listen more carefully and actually understand him.
The other thing bothering me at first were Annas motives. As we don't get any of her thoughts, we don't know what drives her and made me wonder why she decided to go after him. At the beginning he had no obvious qualities for her - little, silent, shy, isolated, retreated. Though I think after a careful watch I got some ideas. So I don't have any issue with that now.
Side characters are great (*mostly developed in 2nd season though). They have a little of their own stories but in general they are good people. Noone came off as irritating, annoying or unlikable to me. No evil people, no bullies. No drooling perverts. No stalkers.
Honorable mention to Kyo's sister. Usually teasing him a bit but really she has a good heart and is loving and supportive to her brother.
Music is very good. Varies from pop tracks to instrumental. Some background tunes. Some interesting, emotional instrumental pieces. And some surprising pearls like "Disc 1-9".
English dubbing. Miiixed. Anna's voice actor was perfect! Nice, warm voice with lots of variance, quirks and nuances. It was a pleasure to listen. A strong point to me as I am a sucker for a nice dubbing.
Kyo's stuffy nose voice, not so nice, needs getting used to (since it's on basically non-stop). That just needs to be endured.
In summary, solid 8.. um, no! 9 !
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 19, 2024
Wow. This one was interesting.. bear with me please and read on! It ticked alot of checkboxes on what I don't like but somehow kept me watching till the end. I don't really know how that happened at first. Like, it's full to the brim with cliches and conveniences. You really get alot:
-PLEASE DON'T JUST READ THE LIST ALONE - read the whole review :)
-accidents, school nurse visits
-accidental meetings when should be slim chance of
-school feels like there are 15 students in the whole building
-bumping into her boobs accidentally
-getting tooo close (subway, elevator, train..)
-visiting while ill, the other one falls asleep
-one falls on the
...
other
-school trip and all that
-conversations in the bath (through the DOOR! but not once)
-valentine's chocolates
-wrong place, wrong time, need to hide, oops, eavesdropping
-faces too close, almost a kiss but not quite
-blushing like all the time
While this list looks very clichey and a turn-down.. it really didn't bother me that much. I don't know why, I wasn't repulsed by that, I didn't ditch the show and I din't skipped forward. I guess appearences can be misleading. And it took me a rewatch to fully appreciate, the show grew on me and I realised it's much deeper than I thought at first. It became one of my very best and I'm glad I watched it. Though I admit certain areas overshadow other ones that could bother me otherwise (romcom checklist, overuse of boobs and stuff).
This is a show that I can blindly click (let's be real, mostly) anywhere and enjoy watching. That I think is the highest acclaim.
On the visual side, all good (if not percect). I can't complain. The 2 main characters are a bit out of proportions, that's what bothered me. She is really tall and really big breasted and he comes off almost like a child. They kinda look like a mom and a son. Her breasts are ideally at his eye level, so we do get alot of that.. unneededly to my taste, I just ignore that, treat it as a obligatory fan service. But that aside, art is fine, nice backgrounds, good animation, lots of details, different angles. Some things are quite subtle and I caught them only viewing the second time.
We have 2 main characters.
Anna is the quiet hero and the true workhorse here, she's the real star of the show. She acts tirelessly while Kyo is locked in his head overthinking everything. She never gives up, she's always positive, thoughtful, cheerful (but not at no cost). Most of times she takes the initiative. Although we often see how difficult it is for her and she's battling her own insecurities, overcome her shyness, making tough choices and sacrifices. All in silence, we don't get to hear her thoughts. Perfect example is valentine's day - just imagine the roles reversed and how many pages of text we would hear from Kyo... That makes her character so much more interesting. It may seem too perfect but there's always a touch of reality there. Anna wins my heart, please pay attention to her (just not the boobs..), you'll hear Kyo all the time but please pay attention to Anna.
Kyo, whose constant stream of conciousness is pouring into our ears, sometimes I wasn't sure if he's talking or thinking when we didn't see his face. Sometimes it was too much and I wished he would just stop. He is also quite slow to realise things. I was often screaming in my head FFS dude open your eyes! He does improve with time but still a tough case to bear at first. That said, he does have alot of struggles and some of them did grip my heart. He's talking so much that I think I became a bit numb and it took me a second time to listen more carefully and actually understand him.
The other thing bothering me at first were Annas motives. As we don't get any of her thoughts, we don't know what drives her and made me wonder why she decided to go after him. At the beginning he had no obvious qualities for her - little, silent, shy, isolated, retreated. Though I think after a careful watch I got some ideas. So I don't have any issue with that now.
Side characters are great (*mostly developed in 2nd season though). They have a little of their own stories but in general they are good people. Noone came off as irritating, annoying or unlikable to me. No evil people, no bullies. No drooling perverts. No stalkers.
Honorable mention to Kyo's sister. Usually teasing him a bit but really she has a good heart and is loving and supportive to her brother.
Music is very good. Varies from pop tracks to instrumental. Some background tunes. Some interesting, emotional instrumental pieces. And some surprising pearls like "Disc 1-9".
English dubbing. Miiixed. Anna's voice actor was perfect! Nice, warm voice with lots of variance, quirks and nuances. It was a pleasure to listen. A strong point to me as I am a sucker for a nice dubbing.
Kyo's stuffy nose voice, not so nice, needs getting used to (since it's on basically non-stop). That just needs to be endured.
In summary, solid 8.. um, no! 9 !
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Aug 17, 2024
Seeing the first episode I was intrugued by the calmness of this show. It went peacefully, sentences were almost whispered, not much music, minimalistic art. Kinda liked it. The humor was also quite different - as the rest, calm, quiet, but quick.
Unfortunately all went downhill later on and my amusement was replaced with pain and labor of watching until I felt like just skipping forward. Up until the realisation came - I don't care anymore. That's a bad sign, right ? The show was heavily dragging with sentences separated by long silence, the sliding shots, recaps, repeats and other fillers. It could easily
...
be half the episode count without any loss.
The characters were not engaging much. The girl, Takahashi, had some quirks which I liked, a weird but interesting sense of humor, calm, quiet voice --but in general was pretty bland. The boy, Yano.. oh boy. At certain times he behaved badly towards his girlfriend, pushing her or hurting her hand and it was left unaddressed. I think it was implied he had sex at what age, 13 (two years before 1st year of high school)?? Is that supposed to be ok ?
With what was going on in his head he needed therapy not a girlfriend. I'd call him an asshole.
There was a sex scene that was just cringy and hard to watch.
There was music, but it was completely off to the mood, artificial. Can't really say much more.. I think that sums it up.
Art was uneven. At some point I was noticing the animation was given enough care, other times - ONE EYE! Sorry you can't overlook it when you see for the 15th time someone has only one eye for no reason. Sometimes it looked like hair was covering the eye and they didn't draw it but next time -- it's just not there. It was distracting and looked lame. I'd call the art rather basic. Even some backgrounds weren't filling the whole screen at times. I guess one could treat it as just an art style but I didn't. It looked half-baked to me.
Therefore I can't recommend this title. I lost interest, got bored of it and just stopped.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 15, 2024
WHAT THE HELL I JUST WATCHED ?!
What a waste of time. This romantic comedy had very little romance. Had some comedy I must admit, I smiled a few times. But mostly it's tits, butt, clothes, butt, tits, makeups, dressing up, clothes, more butt and tits. That sums it up, that's all! The balance of content is ridiculous here - I guess they tried to warn us with the title.. From the middle I was mostly skipping through endless discussions about clothes and cosplay in hope of reaching something meaningful. And I didn't find it. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK! Up until the ending, which felt
...
so hamfisted like they at the last moment realized hey, that supposed to be romantic show, lets shove something in there for good measure. Maybe it worked for some but it was so little, so out of place with the rest of the show, it didn't work for me. They are making a second season and I really hope they will not repeat the same mistakes. I REALLY, REALLY ADVISE - if you plan to watch it regardless, wait for the second season. See if it'll turn out MUCH better, then maybe it's worth investing the time to at least fast forward through the first one.
UNLESS you expect tons of cosplay, clothes, boobs and butts, served non stop........ then go ahead.
Characters. Eh all two of them, really.
Goju is a shy guy that supposedly alenated himself because of some vague childhood trauma. A girls laughed at his dream of making dolls. It's not very believable. He's calm, hard working, sensible. He worries alot, he's dedicated and focused on helping Marin. Good cook, cares about family etc.. Overall a nice guy. He would be a great pair to a girl with somewhat similar qualities, that could create a better romance. But instead he's paired to --
Marin. She's your typical pixie dream girl. Ubelievable, manufactured, synthetic. She has absolutely NO sense of boundaries and shame towards Goju and in about every episode (if not every other scene) she tortures him by showing off her body for about any reason. He's enduring it like a hero but she's basically clueless about how can he feel. She has a vague background, she is always cheerful, positive etc. To the point of being unbearable. Has alot of friends (which are not present anyhow in the show). Of course she lives alone and works as a model... And happily jumps in the pool when she can't swim. Because it was hot. About the only thing that surprised me was that sometimes we had access to her thoughts, which made her only a bit more nuanced. I guess it's not common in such shows - it's usually one of the two that we hear thoughts of. Though the ratio here is way off. We have constant stream of Gojo's thoughts but just a few instances of Marin. Maybe she doesn't think that much..
Animation. Is nice. I may be picky but they are using rotoscopy quite often. This gives a very specific feeling to the animation. Like it's not animation naymore, it's a bit like cheating - recording live action and tracing the it to animation. It looks a bit off. I'm not a fan of it. Otherwise characters look strangely shiny, not a fan either. But overall was okay.
Can't comment on music, I can't remember anything about it.
I'll sum up by saying this. How many moments from the show I desire to revisit, because they were interesting or evoked certain emotions I'd like to relive. Zero. Nothing left an impression in my memory. Sadly, it's a disposable show to me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 10, 2024
This show.. I frankly don't know what to say.. I have so much conflicting thoughts about it. It's kinda good but not quite nails it for some reason. It's like it pushes the right keys but the melody comes out of tune. There are also alot of cliches and the show felt artifical at points. Like the first name, last name stuff. I am tired of this being a problem in about every romcom. Some things are suspiciously convenient like the parents being almost completely absent from home because "work", so they can hang out. Some things pop up at random and feel forced, like
...
they are ticking the checkboxes from a romcom checklist. One minute I was engaged and happy but the next minute was "oh, we're doing this trope now".
It was refreshing and pleasant at times but there was often a feeling that the show is lost and doesn't know where it's going or what it wants to be.
There were not much tension and cliffhangers. Somehow they didn't end episodes in that way.
MC relationship is very mature. It's the refreshing part, the best part of the show. Sorry if I'll write this too many times.
It's how it could be with real people. Gosh I so like this part of the show.. They process their feelings externally instead of obsessing in lenghty internal monologues and then being misunderstood/silent/offended/angry/sulking/running away/whatever. THEY JUST TALK!! Just get to middle of ep3 to know what I mean (plus the tea brand Ripton LOL).
There's no friends conspiring on how to hook the x and y MC, because they dont know! MCs just handle their shit on their own. I love how they just accept thigs and move on and not bring it back dozen times over.
There's no AAAAAA I TOUCHED HER SHOULDER OMG HE LOOKED AT ME SUCH AN EVENT CAN'T SLEEP FOR A WEEK. Nope. I WANNA GIVE HIM A CHOCOLATE ON VALENTINES DAY BUT I'M TOO EMBARASSED AND I WILL RUN AWAY AND BITCH ABOUT IT FOR 3 EPISODES. Nope. AAAA HE DIDN'T PICK UP MY CALL I'M GONNA FLIP OUT AND STOP TALKING TO HIM AND LOSE MY MARBLES OVER THAT INSTEAD OF JUST ASKING. Nope. I FINALLY CONFESSED BUT LET'S RETCON THIS AND PRETEND IT DIDN'T HAPPENED. Nope.
May be even too perfect for some.. For me - fking awesome.
There is some weird stuff that may set some people off (ep 8-9, you'll know..). For others it can be just a sign trust and dedication. Quite a personal judgment. For me, eh, you guessed, mixed feeligs. But not something I'd ditch the show over.
It feels like they rushed some things too fast (breakneck pace in fact..) and didn't know what else to do with the runtime left.
Overall I liked the main relationship, it worked for me. Though I admit I'd like there have been more time devoted to MCs relationship(*). Some shows center too much on main characters and leave supporting ones underdeveloped. And here I feel the opposite is happening. Almost like MCs are not entirely MCs, they're pushed to background. Supporting characters got alot of time and, surprisingly, more emotional dillemas than MCs. And in hindsight, the distribution of events for main ship through the whole show is just bonkers. It races waaaaaay too fast forward for first half. Wait I said that already..
Honorable mention goes to Kyousuke, the most irritating, out of place, misfitting, ham-fisted, interrupting, arrogant, stupid, unneeded, useless, random, moron, asshole, unexplained, no background piece of sh..acharacter in the show. Yes I don't like him. Yes I know he's canon. Still don't like him.
Silver medal for the pedo teacher in the very first scenes of the 1st ep - what a way to start a show, congrats.
English dubbing. I don't know.. acceptable ? Hori's voice actress is like.. it's like the whole show, I can't quite feel it. It's not bad, she does a decent job and is unique, but something's off with her voice. Her sentences feel rushed and not containing enough emotions, like the priority was to fit something long into too short timespan. See around 21 min of ep7 to know what I mean.. it should be emotional and spoken from heart but comes off as a dry statement like a fucking voice mail. I just saw an interview with the voice actress and.. she just is like that. I'd expect a bit more from a pro voice actor than to just play herself.
I liked the music. Mostly just typical romcom tunes (no complaints here, good quality). Some pieces catching my ear (Spring is Miles Away, Hottest 36.5 Degrees - good stuff). Soundtrack seem pretty diverse - dozens of tracks. No complains.
Animation was nice. Can't really say much, decent work, enough frames, nice backgrounds. Well, maybe Kyoko's eyes looking like a fireplace - kinda strange.
Ending was eh.. overdone. They should put a period at 12th ep and it would be better. Lord of the rings ending vibes.
To sum up. I really loved some parts of the show (I think it's obvious which) but other not. Very, very mixed feelings. Feeling of a missed opportunity. I tried to watch Missing Pieces but I mostly skipped through it, it was all over the place with chronology. There are multiple ways to view the show to be more coherent. People even made edits to combine the main season with missing pieces in chronological order. That shows peoples dedication but also how messed and confusing it is.
**The show is worth watching for the MC relationship alone.**
If I am to judge by my "rewatch factor" (the desire to watch again, be it full or just fragments) - I'd rewatch that part alone and pretty much skip everything else. I think OVA did a better job here, with main focus on MCs. Sadly, no eng dub and completely different caliber of the production.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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