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I really wanted to like this one. On paper it checked off all the right boxes: heavy Britrock emphasis, RieRi, and all the right names attached to the staff list, but the reality is heavy-handed references (yeah we get it, the writers know alt/indie-rock) and a cliche-ridden story. The first episode got off to a shaky, but solid start, capturing that FLCL feel better than Alternative could, but it pretty much went downhill from there.

Someone should tell the writers to spend less time cooking up "clever" musical references and add some substance to the meager story that seems only to lurch from one reference ... to another.

It's a story that won't hesitate to throw you into the deep end as it references events in the past and present with no mercy for the viewer. Yet if you roll with it and look past the occasionally choppy animation, you'll find a tale of growing-up that takes a different route towards the end goal, one that often leaves you both satisfied and wondering just what the hell happened.

As I was watching it, I got the sense that a lot of the elements from the LN had to be chopped or moved aside due to time and (I'm guessing) the costs with licensing classic ... rock. Shame, because it sneaks in some very cool classic rock references, particularly in the final arc.

Still, it was everything I hoped for - an unsettling tale that forced me to watch closely and think critically instead of having everything placed before me. I highly suggest watching this arc-by-arc instead of episode-by-episode. It is so much more rewarding that way.

If I had to describe TwoCar in a word, it would be frustrating.

While I am happy to see a racing anime that isn't just an angst-ridden teenage boy completing the Shonen Hero quest by car, TwoCar never quite lived up to my expectations with mediocre racing and a sloppy plot.

First off, it isn't a racing series the same way Initial D or Capeta is. A lot of the wheel-to-wheel racing was just flat-out mediocre. While the riders made realistic motions, the bike models always looked a size too big for the environments. Initial D figured out how to make decent racing sequences back ... in 2004, so there's no excuse for this in 2017.

TwoCar is really an anime about the riders and it's not successful at that either. The main girls do little more than bicker over a man they can't have, it pretty much hand-waves an abusive relationship, and we know little about the other riders, since the "explore a team's backstory" plot is abruptly dropped halfway through the series.

If you're thinking the series reverts to the status quo within one or two episodes, you would be right. The frustrating thing about TwoCar is that every week with a strong episode would be followed up with one or two mediocre episodes which would undo the progress made in a formulaic manner. We open with the main girls Yuri and Megumi fighting, then switch to a team of the weeks' backstory, then back to the present, then to lesbian power couple Mao & Hitomi, then back to the team of the weeks' backstory, before going back to another Yuri and Megumi fight. Roll credits. That about describes the middle block of episodes up until episode 9.

It's a damn shame, since there's some good human drama. The teams we do get to see each have their own dynamics between members. There's a nice twist involving the man the main girls are chasing and I loved how the Mao & Hitomi skits would subvert our expectations for anime couples "in love".

Still, TwoCar does enough right to justify a >5 score. It respects the craft - it had quite a few clever nods to racing like the twins from Motegi (Twin Ring Motegi circuit) or rolling out the Gulf Racing livery - yet it approached the topic in an accessible manner without being condescending. The engine notes sounded crisp and had the necessary rasp expected from a motorcycle engine. As someone who's well-versed in auto racing but not motorcycle racing, I found it a nice jumping off point to spark my interest in learning more.

Credit must be given for the non-racing art - character models are tasteful and well-drawn, plus the backgrounds are lush and do a good job putting a Japanese twist on the Isle of Man TT environments. Bonus points go to picking an actual place where this could theoretically be held - volcanic activity be damned.

Ultimately, TwoCar is frustrating because it has the basic ingredients to be "good" but it never quite rises to the occasion. Instead, it chooses to be content with spinning its tires in place. It's a high-6/ low-7 series in my book.

ShoBitch is exactly what it says on the tin: a full-length anime episode with non-stop lewding and dirty jokes. It never promised anything more and I won't fault it for that.

What I will fault it for is the fact the jokes got stale about 1/3 of the way into the series. The episodes are "boy talks to girl, girl has a lewd misinterpretation, boy further misinterprets ad nauseum until we finish the episode". What variation comes in the form of other girls (the younger sister and the best friend) but they more-or-less repeat the "who can make the lewdest statements" game. Don't get me ... wrong, there's some fun to be had, but it's hard to see why they decided to stretch it into full-length episodes instead of sticking with a 15-minute length à la Aho-Girl. Variation doesn't come until we're well into the series when we're introduced to the other main male character, but he arrives a little too late. We're left with characters who make you wonder if they've experienced sexual trauma or were isolated from people.

Still, every so often it lands a nice joke, whether it's the imagined yuri between the main girl and the main guy's Haruka best friend or the main guy finally having enough of these antics, but there's not enough. You will laugh, but not as often as you roll your eyes.

Ultimately, ShoBitch is redeemed by Aoi Yuki, who plays Akiho, the "good girl" who manages to lewd every conceivable situation. As we've come to expect, she plays the role with just the right amount of naivete, so you almost believe a near-adult woman could believe these things. That's about it for the characters. Everybody else is a trope: self-insert MC with his clingy younger sister, the lesbian friend, the will-they-won't-they best friend and the overly-sexual gay guy who isn't subtle at all.

I've also argued ShoBitch has a halfway decent romance lurking below the low-hanging fruit which rears its head every now-and-then. We get to see the main boy and the main girl develop their relationship beyond mere interest up until the credits roll for the final time. I was shocked as this is something missing from better series.

It's a fun romp in short bursts. Don't go in expecting anything that pushes the boundary in any new & innovative way. Definitely don't binge it.

As an engineer, this is like some kind of fantasy porn - the idea that I could show up in a new place and get shitloads of R&D done in the here & now AND have it work on the first try was oddly satisfying, not to mention having the stuff go into limited-production without a hitch or the part where I'm beloved by an entire kingdom.

I was watching this with a group of friends who read the LN; they were a little less than pleased with how much the plot is excised. Even as someone with no knowledge of the show, I was a ... little peeved at how often they went with the "exposition dump" to speed through large chunks, and that leads into my major criticism of the show: the lack of character development. Ernesti shows up. Ernesti does good works. Ernesti is beloved. Anything and everything in between is just there to remind us of those three things - Addy's dialogue is basically "GEE ERNIE! YOU'RE THE BEST!" The only two characters who get anything resembling development are Archid and Edgar and it's a shame, because what glimpses we get from these two would make for a much better story.

Knight's and Magic (why is the apostrophe there?) somewhat redeems itself in the final arc. It gives us some semblance of character development, but more importantly, it gives Ernesti a challenge requiring more just drawing up some machine and handing the drawings off to the elves. Again, it's a shame we didn't get more of this during the series; it really would have made the show a lot more fun. At least Ernesti is likable.

With that said, I will say that it's at least unique. Sure, it's "Yet Another Isekai" but it's not everyday we get a series which delves into the engineering aspects of building a giant fighting robot. And, for the most part, it works. The universe has consistent rules and laws of physics and very real consequences.

All in all, I'd say it's a solid 7 (out of 10). A fun and unique concept, but it falls short on execution.