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Got A, Strange Magic.

The anime fantasy genre has taken a beating by shovelware chancers and wish-fulfilment peddlers who would often turn their half-baked video game mechanic-plagued (slavery white-washing) fantasy sandboxes into the same uninspired swill the industry has been pumping out since Sword Art Online came along and ruined everything. There are always exceptions, but it takes something like Frieren: Beyond Journey's End to remind us what incredible fantasy anime can be.

Of course, Frieren had a head start with its story being an adaptation of the incredible manga. The Hero's Party triumphantly returns after their victory over the Demon King. The story picks up ... fifty years after the Hero Himmel dies and the millennium-old Elven Mage Frieren he travelled with realises too late how short the life of a human is, wishing she got to know him better after ten years. So she sets out on her journey of self-discovery and people-watching whilst she indulges in her hobby of collecting niche, seemingly useless magic by doing whatever chores passing people need from a travelling mage. Along the way, she picks up an apprentice, Fern and a warrior and apprentice of one of her former travelling partners, Stark. Together, they awkwardly make their way north, retracing the Hero's Party's journey to find Heaven in Ende.

If you're craving a non-isekai fantasy story with zero RPG mechanics like stats screens, skills, levels, etc, about very awkward people getting to know each other and the other wonderfully quirky cast of also very awkward people they meet along the way within a world rich with interesting culture and lore along with an imagination-based magic system then fuck, you're eating so well with Frieren. Fantasy anime has been made great again. Of course, there are Dungeons and Dragons/Dragon Quest comparisons to be made with its story tropes. Still, they don't get in the way of the main narrative of Frieren's journey to reconnect with the memories she made on that ten-year journey that changed everything about her despite living over a thousand years.

Frieren herself is not only a beautiful elf but also strangely beautiful as a person. She could almost be described as 'alien' in the way she experiences time and the world differently from humans, but the effort Frieren puts into trying to get to know and treasure the people close to her, like Fern and Stark, thanks to the principles ingrained into her by Himmel which she subconsciously recalls through flashbacks of the Hero's Party journey makes her so endearing. She's also hilarious. Her inhuman perspectives can land her in a lot of awkward situations with others, and the pride she takes in her weird spells or magic items, one of which can melt a person's clothes off, are entertaining, as well as the central joke of her always falling for mimics despite being so old and wise. Her apprentice, Fern, has to grow up constantly worrying that Frieren's perception of time will mean they'll stay in one place for years instead of weeks. Yet she and the cowardly warrior Stark, who must be protected at all costs (despite being overwhelmingly powerful), grow from kids to adolescents to young, capable adults thanks to her help and guidance.
Contrast with the demons of this world, who are selfish, magical humanoid monsters who have learnt human language for the sole purpose of deceiving and killing humans. Demons are a massive threat in this world and genuinely evil.

Coupled with the incredible storytelling is the fantastic animation. People have forgotten that Studio Madhouse is one of the best animation studios. Still, Freiren proves that with good scheduling and a talented team, movie-quality anime doesn't need to be made by grinding artists into dust *cough* Mappa *cough*. Everything from the art, the animation, the backgrounds, and the lighting is stunning. It's been a while since I've gotten hyped about watching mages shoot magical beams at each other, and the different moments of combat are phenomenal.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End is one of those anime that comes along once in a generation. It's a beautiful story exploring the human condition and a glorious glimpse at the peak of anime as an artist's medium. There's very little to criticise. If I had to nitpick, I think the "Babies First Book of German Words" approach of naming characters and places pulls you out of the immersion if you're even slightly familiar with the German language.
If you're the kind of person who played Breath of the Wild and the first thing you did after you jumped off the Great Plateau was wonder if you could reach a mountain in the distance just by walking there, then you'll love this anime. If you're not, you're probably going to love it anyway.

10/10 Practically Perfect.

Mother of the Magical Soldier Girl's Dormitory.

If you've read the Japanese title of Chained Solider and are worried about the "slave" part, you can sigh in relief. This show isn't interested in worryingly whitewashing some of the worst atrocities in human history for the sake of sad incels who wish they had subservient waifu, sex slaves. This is a battle-harem anime about a guy who can turn into a Kaiju monster under the chained leash of his smoking hot commander Waifu's ability. The price she pays for using him in battle is to reward him with whatever he subconsciously desires after he's turned back, which ... in his case is to have his balls stepped on, his face buried betwixt her thighs as the main protagonist Yuuki takes off her tights or whatever kinky, surprisingly hot activities he subconsciously wants her to do to him. Degenerates assemble.

In a world where only women get superpowers and portals leading to a place called Mato filled with monsters can open up can claim victims at random, aspiring hero Yuuki spends his time looking after the waifus (and his cute senpai) of the anti-Demon Corps 7th Corps as their housekeeper whilst he's not fighting monsters. It's a bit like Mother Of The Goddess Dormitory but with more action and without the paedophilia. Speaking of the action, it was shockingly good. Despite some ugly CGI, the animation is dynamic, fast-paced, and fun. What sets Chained Soldier apart from other action anime is its interesting set of powers wielded by the girls. Some are less interesting, like turning into a giant or turning arms into guns; however, some range from gaining super-strength whilst asleep to manipulating space and rewinding time by making Jojo poses. Even Commander Kyouka's enslaving ability is interesting in terms of how it can be implemented. She can even pass on the ability to other corp members, which empowers Yuuki in different ways.

It also means they must reward Yuuki in different, increasingly lewd ways. Have you ever wondered what having a giant woman sit on you would be like? This show understands that if you're going to have ecchi scenes, you've got to make them hot, and wow, did the animators at Seven Arcs understand the assignment given to them? The kinky slave stuff is also a genius way to expedition dump an entire military briefing or a world-building explanation to Yuuki without it becoming boring because you're too busy watching him having his lip bitten, panties flashed, titties rubbed against his back, or his balls stepped on.

There are some problems. As I said earlier, the CGI can be a bit off-putting due to how ugly it can sometimes look. The first two episodes are also not very good because Yuuki comes across as a bit of a wimpy harem protagonist who constantly overreacts to seeing the slightest bit of skin. However, once you get past the first two episodes, it becomes easier to root for him, and the show becomes much more enjoyable to watch.

Chain Solider is pretty good. It hits that sweet spot of not taking itself seriously enough to get away with all of its nonsense while telling an average action story. It won't be for everyone, but if you like good action and kinky Ecchi trash, then you'll get a kick out of this.

7/10 Good.

Don't Come To The Adventures Guild Tomorrow…

My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me is a breakthrough of bleeding-edge light-novel technology with a heavy emphasis on "edge." It's a half-Isekai, half-death-game anime about a school bus full of Japanese high-school students willing to abandon their friends for dead or become potential sex criminals as soon as they either receive or don't receive superpowers from a sketchy sage.
Of course, none of that matters because the main protagonist, Takatou, can just kill anything by pointing at this target and saying "die", which he only used to ... save his classmate and potential love interest, Dannoura, from a dragon and his potential rapist otaku classmates because he liked the way her boobs felt against his arm when she clung onto him out of desperation one time.

The rest of the story is literally hard-to-follow nonsense that bounces between medieval fantasy, sci-fi, and zombie apocalypse—you name it, it's in here. It's hard to say just how absurd, and not in a good way, this show is. You have to see it to believe it.
The characters are just as ludicrous as the story. The only character who ironically doesn't fall into this category is Takatou, whose instant death ability is so overpowered that it makes him rather dull. Whilst his ability and how he solves any challenges with it is the joke within this comedy, it quickly becomes tedious. What doesn't get boring is Dannoura's reactions to seeing him quickly breeze through any roadblocks, no matter how godly or Eldridge they may be. It is the same with the enemies who try to use their overpowered abilities to try and find loopholes in Takatou's ability, only to fail miserably.

Nearly everything about the production of this anime is terrible. The animation is janky and awkward, and the characters' movements sometimes clip into other people or obstacles. The music sucks, and the CGI is bad. The way episodes are edited either makes the pacing feel like it's going at breakneck speed or at a standstill. Sometimes, you can watch an episode without knowing what's happening. On the surface, it's the usual light-novel shovelware garbage train wreck.

Underneath though, the sheer audacity of My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me makes me want to recommend it for some reason. This show is terrible, awful even. It is the kind of story written by a teenager who wants to bring a gun into school to shoot all his classmates for picking on him but doesn't have the guts to do it, so he writes an indulgent fantasy about himself murdering the people he doesn't like without consequences. However, I will admit I enjoyed the first couple of episodes… until the joke got old. Oh yeah! It also has the ugliest, most infuriating mascot character. This show is garbage. Watch the first few episodes.

2/10 Bad.

So Fluffy I Could Die.

If you're the type of person who enjoys light-hearted isekai and is also an animal lover or a crazy pet owner whose heart bursts out of their chest at the thought of touching fluff and floof then you may appreciate a couple of episodes of Fluffy Paradise. It is a story about an overworked office lady working herself to death and then reincarnating as the daughter of a noble family in another fantasy world with a Snow White ability to make every animal love her so she gets to touch, pet, and play with as much fluff and floof, fur, ... feathers and dragon scales all she wants. It's a show for real animal (and monster) appreciators. Although, as Neferima Osfe, her mission from god is to judge whether or not humanity should be wiped out for being habitual animal and monster abusers, so the show isn't exactly as light-hearted as it may seem. It ultimately ends up shooting the narrative in the foot.

Fluffy Paradise's first couple of episodes are entertaining. Nefe is not only incredibly adorable herself, but the show goes the extra mile to make every animal she comes in contact with feel uniquely adorable, whether that would be a dog, a bird, an all-powerful (Scandinavian(?) elemental tiger named Lars, or a giant deity fire dragon. As expected of a factory-milled light novel adaptation, the animation is usually bare. Still, whenever there's some fur on screen, and Nefe sinks her hands (or herself) into it, I can't help but wish that was me, so I think it is fair to say the animators at EMT Squared understood the assignment given to them. I also like how animal appreciation is used as a way for Nefe to make connections with other people who also go on to appreciate the creatures of the world more. It's a nice bit of character writing.
On a side note: That ED man… it's so cute! And Fluffy!!

Unfortunately, after episode 4, politics started to kick into the narrative, and I have to say, the writing and world-building aren't great. Suddenly, you begin to remember that Nefe is a mentally 20-30-year-old woman in the body of a 4-year-old girl lecturing her abusive teacher and racist on beast-person racism… Suddenly, you realise there isn't a central antagonist to carry the elementary and uninteresting politics the show clumsily implements, and worst of all, the show forgets that it's supposed to be about a small child frolicking with fluffy animals, hence the title. When the anime does wake up and remembers to shoehorn in a fluffy animal for Nefe to become excited over, it feels more like an intrusion to the plot than a naturally incurring event. Hell, the story itself doesn't seem all that interested in the story. In one episode, Nefe and the gang work to expose a corrupt noble, but Nefe only gives footnotes on how they solved the problem due to seemingly running out of air time. If the show isn't interested in telling a story, why should I be interested in watching it?

I say that, but I watched the whole of Fluffy Paradise and enjoyed most of it despite its flaws. Like I said, in the beginning, the first couple of episodes hook you. Everyone loves animals, after all, and they deliver that fantasy of living a blissful life, loving and being loved by all of fantasy Earth's creatures. I wouldn't particularly recommend continuing after getting your fluffy fill. Still, if you do, you'll be in for some mediocre light novel fantasy politics storytelling with literal fluff in between. Also, Klobots are just different breeds of dogs standing on two legs in this world, which I will admit I found funny and adorable.

6/10 It's Okay.

Pon-thetic.

I was personally quite interested in The Way of Pon when it was first announced. A cute-girls-doing-cute-things low-stakes slice-of-life anime about a bunch of insanely cute girls, who were designed by the mangaka behind The Quintessential Quintuplets, hanging out and playing Mahjong. Unfortunately, cute character designs are the beginning and the end of my interest in this show and my investment doesn’t span over four episodes.

Not that you’ll be able to watch this anime if you live in the UK. Because this is an Amazon Prime Original if you live in a certain region then fuck you. As of the time of writing you’re ... going to have to either make a voyage on the seven seas, make use of a VPN or wait and hope Amazon will be benevolent enough to dump the whole season on your lap once spring arrives.

Not that I can recommend that you go out of your way to watch Way of Pon. It is a thoroughly mediocre story about ganki girl Nasiko getting kicked out (literally) of her home by her parents for being too ganki, taking over her dad’s old parlour and turning it into a place for her and her friends to hang out and discovering a Mahjong table. Also, a magical Mahjong-Phoenix… thing appears from nowhere that only Nasiko can talk to… I guess?

The thing about Mahjong is that it’s not a very interesting game to obverse let alone try to make an entire season around. You can only have your cute girls sit around a table and make Kaiji and Yu-Gi-Oh references so many times until the joke becomes stale so the show mixes it up by having an episode dedicated to the girls making curry or mobile gaming which is just as thrilling as it sounds. I don’t dislike the girls. I like them a lot. They’re incredibly well-designed and they all have likeable personalities (Haneru with-standing as she’s only just been introduced by the end of episode four) but the script feels very safe and very mediocre.

Speaking of designs, despite the overall art and hand-drawn animation being pretty good, the digital backgrounds and the use of CGI are not. Some of the digital backgrounds have a strange fish-eye lens effect to make the interior of the parlour seem more spacious, but it doesn’t blend well with the characters and art. The CGI hands used when the girls push all of the mahjong pieces into the centre to be shuffled or when they’re making places are distractingly uncanny like they're disembodied from the characters. It’s not OLM’s best showing.

The Way of Pon isn’t good or bad. I hate to use the word, but “mid” is the best way I can describe this anime that you’ll have to pirate unless you live in a territory that Amazon has decided to permit you the honour of watching it weekly. I came for the Quintessential Quintuplets character designs and I left to watch something else. There are much better cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime out there, like Yuru Camp! I’ve been catching up on season 2 because season 3 is coming out in spring! It's a great show! Watch that instead.

5/10 Mediocre.

The Boyfriend Is Me.

Whilst other protagonists of lesser harem romcoms are endlessly spiralling around in an endless malaise of ‘will they, won’t they’ bullshit with all the women who are attracted to them for reasons unknown just so a plot can happen, Rentarou was at the forge, sharpening his blades and pouring his soul in them. As he draws his two new Zanpakt- I mean four leaf clovers, one containing the soul of ecchi harem romcom bullshit and the other containing the soul of good writing, self-awareness and parody almost rivalling Gintama, he comes to the self-realisation that he is him and that The 100 ... Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You is currently the peak of trashy harem anime.

Rentarou is so full of love to give by the time he’d started high school he had already taken 100 shots at love only to be turned down every time despite everyone around him acknowledging all of his rizz. It turns out the god of love screwed up his paperwork whilst he was watching Castle in the Sky and he has accidentally assigned Rentarou with 100 soulmates that he’ll meet throughout high school with the small caveat that if he doesn’t find and happily date his 100 soulmates they’ll be sad and die from unfortunate circumstances. Rentarou, being the greatest Chad of our generation, sets out to find and love all 100 girlfriends.

That pretext is only an excuse to have one guy date a hundred girlfriends, but where 100 Girlfriends stands out from its harem anime contemporaries is that it knows exactly what it is and it takes full advantage of that knowledge for the sake of humour. Even the characters know they’re in a harem anime. If you think this is another Rent-A-Girlfriend-style harem anime that takes itself way too seriously despite being complete garbage then you’d better think again. 100 Girlfriends is fully committed to its absurdest premise and outrageously shameless humour whilst also managing to create a harem of genuinely likeable characters who all have believable relationships not only with Rentarou but with each other.

Rentarou isn’t your typical harem MC. Not only is has insanely likeable, but he takes initiative and puts himself out there for his girlfriends. He’s sincere in understanding and loving every one of his girlfriends and whilst he does help them overcome some of their unique circumstances he doesn’t free them from their problems. He plays more of a supportive boyfriend role whilst the girls lean on him and the other girlfriends to overcome their challenges unless the story requires his insane power level.
Of course, the girlfriends are the entire reason 100 Girlfriends is such a good show. All of their designs range from insanely cute to insanely hot, courtesy of series manga artist Nozawa’s ex-Doushjin/hentai days, and they all represent certain conventional/ nonconventional anime/manga ‘dere’ tropes that the story likes to explore, expand upon and have fun with. The five girlfriends we know of are Hakari the lustfully thicc one, Karane the Tsundere who acts as the straight man in the face of all the absurdity. Shizuka the bookworm who suffers from a communication disorder and can only communicate through her favourite books, Nano the kuudere who is so emotionlessly efficient she might be a robot, and Kusuri who is willing to try meth and loves making drugs with various side effects. They’re all perfect. I love them all.

Of course, I wouldn’t be praising the anime adaption to high heaven if it wasn’t for the animators at Bibury Animation Studios who 100% understood the assignment given to them. It’s easy to get distracted from all the great character writing and funny jokes from how good the art and animation are. Rarely do character’s faces fall off-model whilst other parts of their bodies jiggle and bounce and despite the manga already being pretty degenerate, the animators seemed to have full creative licence to add as many gags and references and body inflation as they like. It’s really wonderful to watch an anime where is obvious the creators had so much fun making it. Especially a harem anime.

If I had some nitpicks I’d say that the Crunchyroll subs can sometimes be a bit… much. As a diehard fan of the manga, I know what the characters should be saying but seeing some of the dialogue replaced with relevant internet lingo comes off as a bit try-hard.

Apart from that, The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You is brilliant. A show spouting the virtues of inclusivity and pro-feminism disguised as a harem anime for degenerates. A harem anime that made Girlfriend Girlfriend completely irrelevant as soon as it started airing. Of course, like most harem anime there is a lot of anime bullshit that will likely turn off those who hold anime to a high standard but 100 Girlfriends fully earns its degeneracy because it doesn’t rely on it. This is one of those shows which is all about having fun and you really shouldn't think too hard about some of its more questionable material. With a cast of characters who are all loveable, and assertive and a relationship(s) that is so fun to watch, 100 Girlfriends fully understands that relationships are more akin to projects to be worked upon and improved together rather than end goals. And there are still 95 of these projects to watch unfold. I can’t wait for season 2.

10/10 Practically Perfect.

Vampires, Financial Crashes, Chunibyo & Other Delusions.

His Eminence returns for a second season after his wisdom of the shadows created one of the best modern isekai parodies in memory. However, six months of production between seasons one and two is a short amount of time, and I would argue that season two suffers a bit from season one’s success.

The moon is red. We have little time. The hour of awakening draws near! The frenzy has begun, and the Cid Kagenou is still completely unaware that the world's plot and backstory he made up on the fly for fun so he can role-play as the OP ... leader of a secret anti-hero Power Rangers faction is 100% real, actually, and his harem of six-hundred and sixty-six skin-tight slime-suit warrior-women called Shadow Garden is fighting a genuine war with the Cult of Diablos (which Cid also thought made up). Cid being the most overpowered person in the room at any time, balanced by his complete unawareness of any situation, is still extremely funny, and the lengths he goes through to hide his secret identity and power behind his average mob persona are still just as absurd.
The season sees Cid’s sister, Claire dragging him to the Lawless City, a slum of Red Light Districts and crime ruled over by three magical factions one of which just so happens to be resurrecting their vampire queen, so he can make a name for himself. Cid soon realises that if he wants to continue his chunibyo dream of being the Eminence in Shadow he's going to need a lot of money.

This season was great. It is still a hilarious story with a lot of well-thought-out and written characters as well as a sheer level of fun and shamelessness you can only get from artists who understand exactly what the assignment is. However, season two tried to cram one and a half’s worth of light novel material into twelve (eleven) episodes and a few characters and the first arc suffers for it. The show neglects Beta, Cid and Claire some important backstories which further enrich their characters. Especially Claire who, if my theory is correct, will be the one to defeat Cid in the future. I’m pretty sure Victoria was never introduced by her name once, yet she was presented as an important character. The Red Moon Incident and the Major Corporate Alliance Conflict arcs felt very rushed. I didn’t mind that too much for the MCAC arc as it isn’t the most interesting arc to watch, but The Red Moon arc was actually an important moment in the story and after season one’s carefully paced and thorough adaption of the first two light novels, it was disappointing to see Eminence adopt a similar adaptation strategy to your average light novel anime. However, the Black Rose Wedding arc was really well done.

The art and animation are still very good, but six months of production time between seasons one and two is not a lot of time. There are quite a few moments of reused animation scenes which, when not used for comic purposes, give fight scenes a sense of de-ja-vu, robbing them of their impact.

Despite my grips, we must remember the hour of awakening draws near. The frenzy has begun and the Eminence in Shadow’s general premise of an OP protagonist role-playing and unwittingly leading a secret faction against a secret cult is still intact and still objectively funny. It is becoming increasingly harder to believe Cid hasn’t clocked on to what’s happening as the consequences of his actions, but I think that’s what makes the show funnier. It needed more time in the oven and a few more episodes to flesh out some of the cut content, but it’s still fun, funny, shameless and well-written. I’m looking forward to the movie.

8/10 Great.

Not Berserk.

If you’ve ever felt slightly self-conscious about the name your parents gave you at birth, feel comfort in the fact that it will never be as hilariously stupid as “Fate Graphite”, the main protagonist of Berserk (not that one) of Gluttony, an anime 100% less generational manga than it’s promotional title font tries to emulate to trick weebs into watching it, and 100% more *sigh* light novel garbage.

Fate is one of those born with a deadly sin. The sin of Gluttony leaves Fate in a constant state of hunger, always eating but never satiated. It's not until one night when his hunger takes ... over and he eats a man who tries to kill him that he suddenly feels full. After discovering this pleasure and satisfaction he goes out into the world, eating monsters and the corrupt holy knights who oppress the people, absorbing their powers after every meal. Nevertheless, he must live amongst the populous and alongside his childhood friend, Roxy, ever fearful that his hunger might take over and he’ll eat her.

What a cool premise for a story. Shame that I made 70% of it up and it is actually another *sigh* light novel medieval European fantasy anime with a world that operates on RPG video game logic with skills, levels and states none of which matter because the protagonist is always the strongest motherfucker in the room despite always being level 1. Fate may have the skill of Gluttony which leaves him in a state of hunger but he doesn’t satiate it by eating. He just has to kill monsters or the people who bully him. He then takes their states and abilities, some of which are super useful -like telepathy when touching someone- that the show will completely forget about.

The cast is just as vapid as the world-building. Greed the sword and Myne the carrier of the skill of Wrath are pretty much one-note for the entire season. The introduction of Eris the carrier of the skill of Lust could’ve made an interesting villain if the story knew what her motivations are.
His love interest Roxy is the only holy knight who isn’t corrupt, bullies Fate and the peasants in a cartoonishly evil manner and even has romantic feelings for Fate for some reason…

Despite this story possibly being an outlet for the author to get back at his past bullies whilst getting the girl, I will admit something is entertaining about this show that keeps you watching. The tension of Fate's Gluttony going berserk is there in the first couple of episodes, but if you’re looking for a show where consequences matter this won't be for you. It would be more accurate to call the show Mild of Gluttony. Honestly, I should've dropped the show around episode 7.

Berserk of Gluttony is not a good show. Mediocre art and animation, basic and braindead storytelling and characters, and a male power fantasy made to make you feel like you’re beating up your bullies. Whilst it is entertaining if you completely turn your brain off, this is the kind of show for that teenager in the trench coat who goes up to his crush and warns her not to come to school tomorrow.

3/10 Wasted Potential.

Welcome To Demon Hunting, Akuma-kun.

Akuma-kun 2023 is a middle-shelf Netflix anime. Not excellent but not a stinker. In fact, it's pretty good. I’ve never watched the 1989 anime but this sequel does an excellent job of introducing new viewers to the world and story without it feeling alienating.

In a world where demons lurk and make contracts with humans, it's up to the new Akuma-kun, a title handed down by those chosen by the Flute of Salomon to fight against demonic forces with the help of his trusty demon companion Mephisto III… which is easier said than done when Mephisto III is a weaker, half-breed demon ... and Ichirou, the new Akuma-kun, is an emotionally stunted genius whose cold and calculated attitude and approach to people, demons and the cases brought before him rub people the wrong way. This gives Ichirou and Mephisto a Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson character dynamic which is unfortunate because neither of them is particularly likeable at the beginning of the series. Especially Mephisto, who is supposed to be Ichirou's social and moral parameter but ends up being dead weight most of the time as Ichirou’s almost 100% right about everything nearly all the time. However, they both grow on you further into the season as they develop as characters and thanks to the wide range of side characters they interact with.

As a supernatural mystery anime about two people solving demonic crimes, I was a bit weary that the show would use magic to pull a solution out of its ass because the writers couldn’t be bothered to write a good mystery. Thankfully that's not the case. The plot of Each episode revolves around a different case involving different demons, but the show gives the viewers all the information they need to piece together the mystery for themselves and satisfyingly follow Ichirou's thought process to its impressive conclusion.

I love the art style. It feels like a mixture of the old 1989 Akuma-kun anime and the creepy yet endearing Halloween vibes of Soul Eater. The characters are colourful and striking and I especially love some of the demons’ designs. It lends itself well to animation too. Overall it's a wonderfully crafted anime.

Akuma-kun 2023 is pretty good. It won’t be everyone’s thing and I will admit the finale was a bit lacklustre, but I had a good time with it regardless. It's one of those shows you have to let the 3/4 episode rule apply before you decide on whether or not you like it.

7/10 Good.

The Pens Edge Is Mightier Than The Gun.

I hate the lazy line “It fell off” anime fans with the attention span of a Chihuahua on G-Fuel use to write off stories that slow down their pacing to build up narrative tension. However, The Kingdoms of Ruin is one of the few anime I will allow the description “It fell off” to accurately apply.

Humans have overtaken magic with advanced science and now plan to wipe out the witches for good in a bloody and very edgy genocide. After his beloved witch teacher Chloe is humiliated and murdered in front of him and a crowd of propaganda-brainwashed ... masses, Adonis vows to destroy the human race with the magic he was taught by his teacher. It's a tale of bloody violence and revenge folks and I love John Wick.

I was fully on board with this anime to start with. If you’re into gritty revenge plots, fantasy settings and fast-paced carnage, Kingdoms of Ruin had it in spades. I was on the edge of my seat watching Adonis decimating an entire country to the ground, destroying the humans that fully deserve his wrath after the excellent setup of the first episode. Learning about the world, Adonis and Chloe’s place in it, the witches, and the narrative twists along the way was a joy. It even offsets Yokohama Animation Lab's poor art and animation. In a season filled with edge lords, The Kingdoms of Ruin stood on top… for a while.

Unfortunately, after episode six the show flatlines. We have three very slow-paced episodes, two of which had nothing of meaningful, narrative substance to them but were instead filled with bizarrely out-of-place comedy humour between two people who haven’t had any character chemistry since they partnered up. By the time episode ten aired and the fighting started again, it was hard to ignore the janky animation and the lifeless fight choreography. A pair of potentially interesting new characters had just been introduced only to be off-screened to build up hype for the next bad guy and it was at this point I realised I don’t need to keep watching The Kingdoms of Ruin anymore. There are better shows worth my time.

Apart from the completely meaningless episode 8 and the “sex robots have feelings too, waaa” episode 9 the main issue that kills the pacing of the show is Doroka. Doroka is constantly trying to take the moral high ground over Adonis’ actions by reminding him that killing is bad and that humans and witches should get along. The problem is Adonis anger is 100% justified to the viewer so having a pink cinnamon roll get in his way every time he's in a fight to the death or watching her brethren getting slaughtered by the military of a fascist regime hell-bent on killing her kind by spouting meaningless words of peace and kindness is really infuriating. She is also supposed to be the comic relief character but this also falls flat because Adonis doesn’t want anything to do with her and has threatened to kill her multiple times if she gets in his way again.

The Kingdoms of Ruin has a great first six episodes. I enjoyed them. However, I cannot recommend going any further as it does “fall off”. It reminds me of how Darling in the FranXXs went from a must-watch to a disaster after episode 15 (or possibly 16, I haven’t watched it in a while).

4/10 Disappointment.