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Jan 25, 2024
I knew I wanted to watch <i>Sugar Apple Fairy Tale</i> the moment I saw the key visual. The coloring is gorgeous, the fantasy aesthetic is immaculate, and the promise of a healthy dose of drama simmers underneath. Romance! Fairies! Candy making! Surely a winning formula.
However, this deceptively pretty candy apple is laced with some less-than-sweet flavors. Do they enhance the flavor, or make the dessert unbearably bitter? The answer is ultimately personal and not one-size-fits-all(-tastebuds).
Story: 3/10
It took me several tries over a few seasonal cours to make it to the end of <i>Sugar Apple Fairy Tale's</i> scant 12-episode run, because the protagonist never catches a
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break. And I mean never: every instance of Ann finally attaining her goals is immediately countered by a biting setback. Before long, I found myself wincing with every instance gone right, because it meant something else just went horribly wrong.
Some viewers eat up this kind of melodrama, but I find it very difficult to continue watching when there is no emotional catharsis. Ann is never allowed to celebrate in her successes, and it becomes a painful watch when failure is waiting around every corner with a sledgehammer.
It's unbelievable how dead-set the world is on making Ann's (and Shall's and Mythrill's) life miserable, from obvious plot beats to contrivances, right down to the gradually-revealed world building of the tradition of silver sugar makers. There's a word for this kind of story: misery porn.
Despite this, pacing is fine.
I'd also be remiss not to mention the slave-to-lover trope present in this story. It is an ick to many, and something the audience deserves to be informed of.
Art: 9/10
I was right about one thing in my initial assessment: the art never did disappoint. The characters have gorgeous colors, and the backgrounds even moreso. And the sugar confectioneries! One point knocked off for lack of sakuga (the animation is never particularly brilliant), but the consistency of the show is nevertheless impressive.
Sound: 7/10
The opening is everything I wanted from this show and more. The ending is a bit more generic. I didn't make much note of the in-show background music. The voice acting is well-casted.
Character: 5/10
This show goes out of its way to make you despise much of the supporting cast. The world of silver sugar confectioneries is ruthless, and so too are characters not above doing absolutely anything in the name of getting ahead of the pack. This specifically means fucking over Ann and her companions 90% of the time, but honestly? I respect it. I respect the commitment to writing characters who are willing to get their hands dirty, characters willing to weaponize any tool, characters who are full of vile intent and willing to be horrible people to get their way. They are infuriating, but they make the show happen.
Unfortunately, Ann herself has little going for her. Outside her primary goal of becoming a silver sugar master like her late mother, she herself is quite bland once you take away the endless setback parade. I feel like I know more about Shall's personality than Ann's, and he's the resident mysterious guy of few words.
I would have liked to see more time spent on Ann and Shall (either together or separately) outside the constant melodrama.
Enjoyment: 4/10
This was a deceptively difficult watch. The production value is good, but each episode is an emotionally infuriating affair. There is no catharsis. The ending felt on-point to me as a microcosm of the show as a whole: bittersweet, with resolution in name only (though there is a season two that I have not yet watched; are you feeling lucky enough to watch 12 more episodes for a chance at resolution roulette?).
Who should watch <i>Sugar Apple Fairy Tale</i>?
If this review hasn't put you off the show yet, you're likely to find more deliciousness in this sugar apple than sourness.
If you like the tropes I've outlined so far, you'll love this show.
If you're only here for the shoujo vibes, this show is going to emotionally drag you across the ground like a sack of bruised apples.
Overall, 6/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 1, 2022
I’m a little late to the party tonight, as season 2 of Nijigaku is airing as I write this review. As a longtime fan of the original School Idol Festival mobile game (happy ninth anniversary, btw), it pleases me to see this anime getting so much love—I also feel that as a longtime fan, I owe it a fair review.
So, how does Nijigaku stack up against the μ’s and Aqours animes?
Story: 4/10
Many people are praising Nijigaku for shaking up the Love Live formula. Unfortunately, this cause of appeal for some is also the root of one of its coremost issues: it lacks a strong sense
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of character goals, resulting in a loss of plot direction. Consequently, with loss of strong goals and direction comes loss of strong emotional pull over these elements.
There is nothing inherently wrong with slice-of-life anime, but Nijigaku wants to have its cake and eat it, too, resulting in several scenes in its second half that serve to attempt to create tension, but ultimately feel stilted and manufactured. One in particular pulled me out of the moment so hard that I started laughing at what was supposed to be a tense scene. I’m typically not that kind of viewer (like, for example, I’m not going to question how these high schoolers are setting up these professional-looking stages, rigging and all, because it’s about the viewer experience, dammit), and yet!
So, in my humble opinion, Nijigaku’s story element does not live up to its predecessors. The good news is that like a fine wine, Love Live sequel seasons seem to be improvements on their foundations. There’s still time yet for the cast to tell a story just as memorable as any other from the franchise.
Art: 10/10
Holy shit! The animation in this series is legitimately breathtaking, especially if you’ve been around to remember the clunky days of stiff 3D models dancing on stages that don’t look like they’re sharing the same dimension. This is Love Live at its best.
Not just the animation is beautiful. The character art style has ever-so-slightly shifted to allow for more colored outlines, and backgrounds have been lovingly rendered in ways that make them pop with colors and values. The artist in me is geeking out over how well the principles of art are exhibited, but I’ll spare you the rant and just say that it’s hecking Pretty with a capital P.
Sound: 9/10
Love Live continues to impress in this department (as one would hope it should, given its subject matter!), and the discography continues to be phenomical. I did knock off a point for reasons that are hard to articulate… Nijigaku’s insert songs just didn’t grab me like the others have. Though I will say the rotating solo focus of the episodic inserts was a wonderful idea. Fingers crossed for some bangers in season 2.
Character: 5/10
Each girl gets a feature episode. Some are better than others. People will disagree on which constitutes better and worse episodes. I think they’re all at least sort of okay. At least they all got one this time? *coughcoughKanancough*
Enjoyment: 7/10
Nijigaku was a pleasant and enjoyable watch, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disappointed in the weak storytelling aspect this time around. As much as I want to simp for my girls and give this a 10/10… I really can’t. Outside the spectacle, Nijigaku is pretty bland. Safe, comforting, but bland, like a warm potato.
Who should watch Nijigaku?
If you are a returning fan of Love Live from μ’s and Aqours, you will be adequately entertained with this. If you are big on the concept of safe comfort anime, you will probably enjoy it even more than I did.
If you are looking to dip your feet into the Love Live franchise… maybe? It depends on what idol fix you’re after. In terms of spectacle, Nijigaku is second to none thus far, but in terms of story, μ’s and Aqours have them beat.
If you are looking for melodrama between girls, well… Nijigaku kind of does that, but it’s not very good at it. There are better anime out there.
If you need inoffensive background noise, Nijigaku could fill the role for you with a smile on its face.
Overall, 6/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 12, 2022
This show is less like a “real anime” and more like a small group’s experimental toe-dipping into the anime industry. While it doesn’t quite succeed at being an ASMR or an anime, it’s an enjoyable experience and worth looking at for the novelty if nothing else.
Story: 6/10
The show consists of a series of vignettes following a few friends as they experiment with different ASMR techniques. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s not immersion-breaking, either, which an important aspect often overlooked for excuse-plot anime.
Art: 8/10
The visuals of this anime are weirdly good. Most bite-sized anime are not so lovingly rendered as this one. I feel obligated to note
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the use of ecchi angles, which is expected but nevertheless important to disclose.
Sound: 6/10
Unfortunately, this anime suffers from a constant issue: normal dialogue overpowers the ASMR. Electric Earpick runs afoul of this the hardest, but it’s not unwatchable, merely disappointing when thinking of what could have been.
Character: 6/10
We don’t really get to know them, but it doesn’t matter so much.
Enjoyment: 9/10
The fact that this even exists puts a smile on my face. Despite the lack of ASMR quality, it nevertheless feels like a charming love letter to the ASMR community. I’d be interested in a second season of this.
Who should watch this anime?
If you like experimental shorts, it’s worth a viewing.
If you like ecchi anime and ASMR, temper your expectations, but consider giving it a go. It’s so short that at worst, you’ll be mildly disappointed at what could have been. And while real ASMRtists do it better, it just may put a smile on your face, too.
Overall, 6/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 21, 2021
Tensura Season 2 Part 1 went out on a relatively high note, and the hype for the continuation was real. This was my most anticipated summer anime of 2021.
I am in shock and awe over what a disappointment it’s been.
Story: 1/10
At the end of S2P1, it was clear that Rimuru would be spending the next arc taking down the antagonist, Clayman. The stage is set for an epic war between demon lords. Episode one rolls around, and the entirety is spent with the main, supporting, and minor characters talking it out. Okay, fair enough, it is the first episode, so it’s alright to spend
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it setting up the epic action teased to come.
Then the second episode’s credits roll, and wouldn’t you know it, Rimuru and his pals are still talking it out in Tempest.
Then the third episode’s credits roll… and the fourth’s…
Wouldn’t you know it, we’re six entire episodes in and there has been no demon lord showdown as promised, but a whole lot of talking heads. If I wasn’t already three cours into this show, it would be an easy drop for this absolute travesty of pacing alone.
Action finally starts with the seventh episode, but it amounts to little more than dick-measuring contests of power levels. No threat Rimuru’s underlings face are enough to create even an in-universe sense of urgency. As viewers, that’s one thing, but when the characters themselves show this level of apathy, why are we watching them? It’s the story equivalent of beating the stuffing out of early-game enemies after beating the final boss of a video game… but for entire episodes. It’s as senseless as it is boring.
Speaking of Rimuru… what in the actual nine circles of hell was that Clayman fight? Episode ten ends with getting our hopes up with the promise of finally(!!) delivering the epic Clayman fight we were promised, and then the writing comes in and smashes the tiny strand of tension the narrative had finally managed to build up in favor of an episode worth of braindead sitcom gags that have no place in the middle of any fight sequence, much less to the death. This is paired with one of the dumbest plot reveals I’ve ever seen in my anime-watching career. Tension looks like it’s going to come back… and then evaporates moments later, rinse and repeat for as long as the airtime needs to fill the time slot. The sheer audacity of this entire trainwreck of bad writing is enough to put Tensura S2P2 alongside the very worst dregs of cheap cash-grabbing isekai properties.
Art: 3/10
I can’t in good conscience give the art anything high when so much of the show has been the cast sitting around and talking with the enthusiasm of a cold bologna sandwich. While no animation jumps out as janky or mismatched, I know what Tensura is capable of showing us, and so I can’t help but be disappointed.
At this point, the new character designs a have lost their charm as well. No more monsters for us, part of the selling point of the original imho, just generic mass-produced bishonen and bland waifus. The demon lords could have been really cool, but instead they have been designed as generically attractive human(oid)s in generic outfits designed to market sex appeal. It’s disappointing that this once-beloved anime has fallen so low.
Sakuga might have made Tensura worth watching despite the atrocious state of its story. Unfortunately, there is very little, if any. Even the fight scenes somehow feel as comparatively devoid of life as the strategy room scenes. The best sakuga is found in the OP and ED sequences; speaking of which, why the slight updates halfway through the show? It’s not like it was particularly spoilery, so was it just not animated in time for the release, or what?
Sound: 4/10
The OP and ED are okay. The rest of the soundtrack is nothing to write home about. The voice acting is hammy, but not as horrible as the other aspects of this show. Actors can only do so much with the script they’re given, after all. In that regard, the VAs are the most impressive aspect of the show. Thanks for trying, VAs, but you couldn’t save this one.
Character: 1/10
The cast has undergone sitcom-ification. The script has never been Tensura’s strong suit. With a dearth of action scenes, any potential character of Rimuru’s posse has been killed in favor of unfunny jokes and tired cliches. Veldora suffers from this the worst, going from an intimidating dragon of few words to an insufferable buff bishie who’s about as intimidating as any character whose purpose is to be the butt of jokes.
Clayman, the villain, is basically Baby’s First Antagonist. He’s as one dimensional as they come. Considering the arc focus is supposed to be between him and Rimuru, it’s extremely disappointing. If we have to be stuck in talking-head limbo, why not explore his motivations beyond being an evil, power-grabbing stereotype?
Clayman is so transparently evil, arrogant, and abrasive to everyone(!) that it makes one wonder why none of the other demon lords have put him in his place. He feels like the author tried to evoke Roswaal from Re:Zero on a surface level, without the love and care that made Roswaal a compelling character. After being hyped up as an antagonist for so long, calling this a disappointment is an understatement.
The other demon lords come off as a mix of arrogant as well as dumber than a sack of rocks, which is a combination of traits as odd as it is infuriating to watch for characters that are supposedly the cream of the crop. It comes off not as regal or powerful, but as an attempt to make the lowest common denominator of the audience feel smart. It’s hard to have respect for them as characters.
Seriously, Tensura… it’s been a while since I’ve been so uninvested in a major faction reveal of all things. Not a single new demon lord is worth singling out to write about. There’s a certain level of horrid writing you have to reach to kill that kind of natural hype.
Enjoyment: 1/10
I enjoyed the original Tensura immensely. It has a charm to it that I still believe sets it apart from your mixed bag of the seemingly endless amount of Isekai anime series churned out every seasonal cour, copycatting each other in an ouroboros of bad writing. S2P1 departed from the feel-good vibe of the original season in favor of edge, yet for all its controversy, I found it to be a strong enough and satisfying sequel.
This one, though…
I knew Tensura jumped the shark the moment Veldora began guffawing at manga in what was otherwise a high-profile political meeting, but I was determined to see it through to the end. Despite this, I couldn’t have anticipated how much worse the show got. I expected the show to throw me a bone, a reason to keep watching besides the sunken costs of having watched the earlier seasons. It never happened.
Regarding any potential future seasons of Tensura, I would much rather watch an obvious bargain bin isekai anime where things actually happen than listen to the Rimuru Simp Squad kiss ass to their idol with just enough drip-feeding of plot to bait me into watching again next week, only to be let down again by more sitting and talking, a smattering of unhumorous, forced gags, and maybe watch someone gloat about their power levels if we’re lucky.
If you enjoyed the previous Tensura seasons, do yourself a favor and pretend like S2P1 was the series finale and S2P2 never got funded.
If that isn’t enough to stop you, at least turn it into a drinking game. Maybe the alcohol will help wash the bad taste of the writing out of your mouth.
Overall, 2 out of 10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Mar 16, 2021
I love me some generic Isekai trash. I’m content to watch a quirky, overpowered protagonist carve a niche out for themselves in generic fantasyland with whatever twist they bring to the formula. Even if it’s narratively stale, I’m usually satisfied, and I’m likewise happy to recommend whatever I just watched to my anime-watching kindred spirits.
I can’t recommend Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne! (henceforth abbreviated God Bless Me?) to anyone, though. It’s a shame, since it began with such a cute premise.
Story: 1/10
The story begins with a simple enough premise. Mile, with her freakishly high power level, does her best at the
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Hunter Academy to be as average as possible. Though she blunders in hiding her skills, she succeeds in making friends and forming an adventuring party with them. Thus begins the shenanigans. Easy enough premise to run with for twelve episodes, right?
Unfortunately, wrong. As a comedy-centered show, the “jokes” are weak and frequently rely on otaku pandering. This is most disappointing, because even though I’m weeb enough to understand, for example, their nendoroid and Doraemon references, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s simply not funny. The writers of God Bless Me? think that shoehorning an anime reference and ribbing the audience with a hamfisted “hey, look, we know Japanese pop culture too, look at how hip we are ;D” makes laughs. It does not. It just makes watching the events play out on screen even more awkward than they already were.
An unignorable amount of “humor” also centered around Mile’s (who, I would be remiss to not mention, is around 12 years old or so) insecurity about her chest size, with gratuitous comparisons to her teammate Reina and innkeeper’s daughter Lenny, who are in the same general age range, all with lovingly gratuitous camera framing at the obviously underage chests in question. Ew. Worse yet was Mile’s occasional perverse behavior around said chests. Ew ew ew ew ew. I feel filthy even writing about it for the sake of this review.
Without spoilers, I can say the final episode was incredibly disappointing and a thematic 180° to the thematic build-up of the eleven episodes before it. One would think Mile’s story arc was building up to a heartfelt show of the power of friendship. Apparently not.
Art & Sound: 3/10
I normally score these apart, but they share a common feature this time: they’re not atrocious, but they are absolutely lazy outside the main squad. This can be felt especially hard at the finale. Lazy design, lazy voicework.
Character: 2/10
The main squad, Crimson Vow, is composed of four cookie-cutter character stereotypes. While Mile’s backup crew does get a bit of time devoted to their backstories, it doesn’t feel like they grow at all during their respective spotlights. They felt like afterthoughts, with limited consequence to the actual development of said characters. Of course, a slice of life style show doesn’t need significant character development as long as the characters command presence and synergize among themselves... but the writers mostly failed to achieve that. What we’re left with is a core cast of cardboard cutouts that look like young girls.
If the writers couldn’t care to carve out engaging personalities with their leads, you can be sure that the supporting and side characters were devoid of life. Lenny was memorable enough for me to remember her while writing this review, though, so I can give the show that. You deserved a better show, Lenny.
Enjoyment: 1/10
God Bless Me? could have gotten away with being an enjoyable-yet-forgettable niche title. It could have been a cute, Isekai-flavored slice of life, or a comedic parody of Isekai power levels. Such a shame it turned out to be otaku creep-bait, instead. Maybe when it reincarnates again, it will have a better creative team behind it.
Final score: 2/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jan 18, 2020
Cautious Hero is the lightly-salted-cheap-ramen-noodles-in-cheap-broth of isekai anime. It’s not bad by any measure. It fills you plenty. Hell, it feels good to consume. But, one can not deny its lack of sustenance. Though, dear readers, is that really a bad thing, necessarily?
Story: 4/10
After reading the title, you already can make more than a few educated guesses about the plot of Cautious Hero. An experienced anime goer won’t be holding their breath over any twists and turns. That’s okay though, because that’s kind of the point.
The humor of Cautious Hero hinges on the viewer being familiar with the Stations-of-the-Canon of stereotypical isekai hero stories (the
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starting town, the demon generals, etc.), and letting Seiya’s questionable choices play out. It’s simple, but it works and the humor typically hits.
Art: 7/10
I know, I know. But stay with me for a moment. One word: Ristarte. Specifically, the many glorious faces of the goddess Ristarte reacting to Seiya’s BS. Her face contortions are reason enough to watch the show, or at least keep tuning in episode after episode. Yes, really.
Other than that, the character designs range from blandly forgettable to blandly-forgettable-sex-appeal-edition. The way the show’s opening plays up the minor goddess characters, having them take a significant chunk of that opening theme acting sexy and cool when in reality they’re mere supporting characters with not a lot of screen time... just doesn’t sit well with me.
Really, who wins in this scenario? The people who watch the show because of these sexy characters will inevitably be disappointed when their waifu gets hardly any screentime at all. The people who don’t watch the show because of these sexy characters get cheap cash grab sex appeal thrown in their face every time the opening plays.
Backgrounds are similarly devoid of anything that might set it apart from the general isekai soup. Were it not for Ristarte’s glorious mug, the art would’ve absolutely tanked.
So yes, Ristarte’s face carries the art score single-handedly, but oh, carry it it does.
Sound: 5/10
Not much to say in the sound department. I would be doing this review a disservice if I didn’t mention that Ristarte’s voice actress did a fantastic job in particular delivering her lines, but unlike her comedic faces, it can’t save the otherwise flavorless remainder of the audio here.
Character: 3/10
No surprises here. This is a sitcom gag anime, so the bar was never set high. Even the two leads wouldn’t be particularly compelling if taken away from the situation they’re in.
Usually this section is dedicated to a rant, but the whole cast is so bare bones or one note that there’s not a lot to say.
...that’s terrible in its own way, isn’t it?
Enjoyment: 5/10
In general, I find it very difficult to score fives. The critic in me so badly wants to skew things for the positive or the negative. For this reason, the averageness of Cautious Hero might be it’s most impressive feature, as unintuitive as that sounds. It’s the epitome of a mass marketed comedy, narratively safe and full of cheap appeals.
Who will enjoy Cautious Hero?
Do you want a corny jaunt into iseaki land? Sign right up, this is for you.
Do you want to watch something that’ll entertain in the junk food sense? Something you don’t need to take seriously, and in turn won’t take you seriously? Go right ahead, here’s the popcorn.
If you want anything out of a show that’ll actually make you think about it later, or even want to think about it in a creative sense, this is not for you. But you probably knew that anyway looking at the title, right?
Overall, 5/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Sep 29, 2019
I’d like to think it was fairly obvious from as early on as the initial promotional materials of Okaasan that this wasn’t going to be a high-quality, well-written ride. But, of course, anime doesn’t have to be classy to be entertaining. So let me ask this question instead: which audiences will Okaasan entertain, and will it be worth your time?
The answers are very few, and probably not. Only a very specific audience will be able to overlook the serious flaws of Okaasan.
Story: 1/10
The story of Okaasan starts out as standard Isekai fare, but quickly devolves into a strange, contrived-even-for-Isekai mess. Many of the problems Masato
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and party face should have been nuked at the dev level. What are the devs of Okaasan Online doing, letting this conga line of deranged griefers do as they please, quite literally threatening to break the game for everyone else? It’s baffling that they lack any sense of PR and any sense of protecting their own assets.
The intra-party conflict moments are marginally better, but still rely on unrealistic and nonsensical anime logic to create and solve problems. Absence of internal logic is a running theme in this anime.
Art: 4/10
Not much to say about the art of Okaasan. It’s standard fare for low budget animations. It isn’t particularly offensive in any way, and that makes it one of the best parts of the show. The designs are nothing special, but they’re nice to look at in a vacuum, when the characters aren’t making you want to smack your head against the wall.
Sound: 5/10
Again, not much to say. The opening and ending are not stellar, but they are mildly catchy. Insert tracks fit well enough with their scenes as to not be a bother.
Character: 1/10
This is another category where Okaasan utterly fails. Unfortunately, the characters of Okaasan are less characters as much as they are a loose collection of tropes from better characters, written with the consistency one might expect if a different schoolchild were assigned to each episode, were given a loose character outline, and asked to write a story. Mamako herself is the worst offender in this sense, her poor self-awareness varying wildly from episode to episode, from bad, to lethal, to just plain stupid, to even stupider yet. But, every character suffers from this lack of consistency to some degree.
Worse yet is the utter unlikability of what little consistent traits there are. You’ll want to smack Masato for being a whiny prick to his mother and everyone else. After a while, you’ll want to smack Mamako for enabling Masato’s entitled behavior. Then, you’ll want to smack the devs for apparently being content to let other players run muck-wild, brainwashing and enslaving other players, among other things. And so on and so forth.
There’s one more problem with the characters of Okaasan, the problem of how rotten behavior in general is universally dealt with. Several mothers and children in this show are downright abusive to their other half, and every single time the show doesn’t even slap the abuser on the wrist, sometimes going explicitly out of the way to say it isn’t their fault they’ve done such awful things. Every single time. Because I guess Mama’s love is all, amirite? Strangely, said characters are put on a bus before they get a chance to relapse...
Enjoyment: 1/10
There was no enjoyment to be found in this wasteland of a show. Okaasan’s writing is undeniably bottom-of-the-barrel garbage. The very best thing it can show for itself is its low-tier art and mediocre sound. Watching the show at all is an exercise in masochism.
So, in conclusion, who should watch this show?
If you are seriously horny for Mamako, then go for it, but don’t say I didn’t warn you that it’s bad.
If you came looking for a corny Isekai adventure, stay far away and don’t come back. There’s nothing funny or amusing about Okaasan in the slightest and it’ll only leave you feeling incredulous and angry.
If, for some reason, you purposely want to watch a terrible anime, then look no further. This is the one for you.
Overall, 1/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Aug 1, 2019
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Precure crossover movies are a staple of the series. One comes out every year, like clockwork (or two, if you’re Hugtto). For better or for worse, these movies are non-serial to the series themselves and don’t require viewing to get the full season’s story. Miracle Universe is a lackluster title you can safely skip indefinitely.
Story: 2/10
The set-up of Miracle Universe follows every Precure movie set-up: the girls go about their daily lives for a bit, a monster appears and threatens to destroy some place/someone/everything, the girls fight the monster, status quo returns. This is to be expected, and
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I hold no points against Miracle Universe for following the formula of its predecessors.
However, this incarnation was especially disappointing because of the inclusion of one of my most-hated tropes, the “surprise villain with no foreshadowing”. This is a terrible way to structure a story for two reasons: First, robbing a character of honest development robs them of emotional payoff. Second, in a more broad sense, any sort of long-term twist without foreshadowing threatens the disillusionment of an otherwise-invested viewer.
Additionally, the moral of the movie was clear as mud. Is it “learn your place and don’t try to help when other people are better at the task”? Is it “fixing your shortcomings isn’t possible without others”? They’re both contradictory options, yet they seem like equal candidates.
Art: 4/10
The key visual art and the beginning of the movie are deceptively colorful and captivating, yet...
As the camera rolls on, it becomes increasingly obvious that for every beautiful movie-exclusive animation sequence, there is corner cutting in another scene. This becomes especially jarring in the last third’s fight, where there are lots of questionable extended shots. The girls even suddenly become 3D at one point for no discernible reason. Those particular shots didn’t seem like they’d be particularly worse to animate in 2D compared to the ones in the beginning of the movie, so did they run out of budget?
Sound: 6/10
Not much to say here, because all the good tracks in this movie already play in the series proper. Strange, because Precure crossovers have a good track record for rockin’ vocal inserts. I was expecting a standout track here, too, yet there was none.
Character: 1/10
Spoilers begin here.
Piton is a terrible and annoying character. His very first scene opens with him giving attitude about his job. Great, our first impression of this guy shows that he’s whiny and lazy at work. A few moments later, he causes an evil blob to be unleashed in the factory (which, as far as we’re aware, is solely due to his not paying attention to his work duties), and runs away instead of trying to contain his mistake, or inform his superiors, or, y’know, normal work responses to a big problem.
As he’s running away, he manages to summon the Precure, who start to fight the evil blob on his behalf, but don’t manage to destroy it. His response? He calls them fake Precure. Yeah, fake Precure, the ones fighting the evil on his behalf, selflessly. The ones people who, me included, are presumably watching this movie for because, shockingly, we’re fans of Precure and not this random chicken. And to top it off, we’re supposed to like this guy, as the movie-exclusive protagonist.
I don’t know about anyone else, but that’s a big character nope for me. His repeated exclamations of “fake Precure” throughout the movie felt insulting as a viewer and as a fan. What little growth he exhibited by the conclusion wasn’t enough to make me feel the slightest catharsis. Not only is he a poor character, but he is a terrible choice for a movie lead and I hope the next crossover writer can recognize that a character like this only alienates the viewer from the get-go.
The villain is similarly bad as well as flat and nonsensical, as I described above. Even the cures can’t save the movie from these two bad characters, as despite being good, compelling characters, all except Hikaru have so little screentime it hurts.
Enjoyment: 2/10
This film is only good for entertaining little kids, if that. Anyone with more media experience than that will find themselves annoyed at the unlikable characters, the senseless plot, and the jarringly corner-cutting animation. These issues make it difficult to suspend disbelief enough to actually immerse in the movie itself.
Overall, this film gets a 3/10. Its problems are obnoxious, and its potential good qualities like its colorful visuals are better experienced in the series proper. I can’t recommend this film, even to a Precure fan.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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