Back to idcshowmewaifus's Profile idcshowmewaifus's Profile

I am conflicted while I write this. On one hand, I cannot deny the artistic brilliance that this season is infused with - from the multiple soundtracks that are beautifully touching, the amazing voice performances from every cast member, and the oh-so brilliant animation that so often has you in awe at the human capability to create art like this. On every technical front, it's absolutely amazing. The biggest issue with this season, which is unfortunately out of the control of everyone involved in the production of this amazing anime, is the appalling writing that flip-flops between mildly entertaining and downright unbelievably bad throughout the ... entire of the second arc that this season covers. The writing is the only issue with this season, but it is the writing that serves as the rotten core to this anime that even the most breathtaking animation can't make up for. I love JJK and its characters and its power system and the awesome world its built, which is why I take no pleasure in saying this season falls short despite the marvel of every aspect to the show aside from its writing.

This review is split into two parts according to the two arcs that this season covered: Hidden Inventory and Shibuya Incident.

Hidden Inventory:
The first arc of the season takes us to 2006, over a decade before the events of the first season. This arc follows Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru as classmates in Jujutsu High, long before the former mastered his Limitless technique and the latter became the villain that we know in season 1 and JJK0. We get to watch the personal struggles with these two characters and how their stories intertwine: Gojo coming to terms with what it means to be born the strongest sorcerer in the world, and the events that led him to want to restructure the entire Jujutsu world; and Geto, struggling with being a sorcerer in the first place, and the slow degradation of his morals to become the twisted villain that we know him as in the current day. You watch as the deep brotherhood they share at the start of the arc slowly drift apart, and the burning realisation in the back of Gojo's head realising that his friend will soon become his enemy is difficult but enthralling to watch.
The most exciting fights in this season are between Gojo and/or Satoru against Toji Fushiguro, Megumi's father who has no cursed energy himself. These fights keep you on the edge of your seat as Gojo hasn't quite perfected Limitless so there is a genuine tension with every fight he takes with this man. Every one of Gojo's and Geto's fights in this arc are beautifully animated, my personal favourites being the ones where Gojo fails to use Red and his final fight against Toji. The soundtrack shines through during the climactic battles of the arc, breathing even more life and emotion into these high-stakes battles as we watch them unfold before our very eyes. On all fronts, this is the best arc of the season. It is incredibly written, visually beautiful, and sounds incredible from voice performances to the soundtrack itself. The only issue I'd have with the season, which I admit is rather nitpicky, is that Geto's descent into deciding that all non-sorcerers must be removed from the Earth felt a bit rushed.

Shibuya Incident:
The premise of this arc is incredible. Geto and the special-grade curses hatch an elaborate plan involving causing a total blackout in Shibuya and threatening to kill thousands of innocent people all to incapacitate and capture Gojo Satoru in a cursed object called the Prison Realm. Because of the intensity of this attack on the public, almost every single character with cursed capabilities comes to take part in the action. While this concept is amazing and the fights are done justice with some of the best animation I've seen from a shonen, but the writing and the interactions between characters that you'd hope to see in an event like this fall short. And while I understand that Gege used this arc to display the sheer incompetence of Jujutsu sorcerers when not backed by Gojo, but damn it's really boring to see the good guys get whooped and mollywhopped over and over until the last four episodes of the season where things really pick up and become good again. Except for maybe three fights in this entire arc, every fight is so incredibly one-sided that its boring to watch. Important character deaths mean nothing because they happen so often that you don't have enough time to digest the last death you've just seen, which I understand Gege did on purpose. The issue is, it doesn't even feel like a bloodbath, it just feels like an excellent anime constantly shooting itself in the foot by killing its most interesting characters for shock value. There are also some other baffling decisions like making the last episode of the season, which is the climax of the arc where the world of JJK changes forever, really boring and plain text on-screen. I don't know if they thought this would be a dramatic way to communicate the after-effects of this arc we've just watched but it felt really uninspired.
Despite these questionable decisions, there are still some genuinely brilliant sequences and moments in this show that make me wish I could rate it higher. Sukuna’s reappearance in Shibuya was harrowing from music to voice performance to animation. Every second that this villain was on-screen oozed with passion that had my eyes glued to the screen from start to finish. Finally, Aoi Todo’s appearance at Shibuya was the highlight of the entire season for me. He’s the most likeable character in the series by far, and his interactions and fights with Yuuji this season were the best of the season by a million miles. Todo’s character and spirit breaths life and excitement to an arc where every good guy was just getting their shit rocked from start to finish. Hearing his iconic clap sound sent shivers down my spine, because I knew that Shibuya Incident could be saved from this point on. He was the exception to this arc’s awful writing.

I love JJK but the writing in Shibuya Incident was so horribly bad that not even some of the coolest animation, fight sequences, and sound design could save it. The only reason why I haven’t given it lower is because Hidden Inventory was near-perfect.

Mini Dragon is a series of two minute animated shorts that follows the antics of various characters from Dragon Maid. With little to no story, KyoAni have clearly only made this to add fuel to the hype train and get people excited for Season S. Mini Dragon does its job - it provides us with cute moments, and uses its weird story and characters to create fun situations. The art is just as surprisingly great as season 1's art, and the sound design is okay although it's nothing to write home about. If you enjoyed season 1, you'll definitely enjoy this.

Only read this manga if you love lap pillows and love them as a concept. Otherwise, this manga is a whole lot of nothing. However, I really really love it. The story follows a highschool student who loves sleep more than anything else, so much so that he spends literally all of his free time at school trying to sleep. There's just one problem: a really cute and annoying kouhai won't stop interrupting his sleeping time! Only five chapters have dropped, but it looks like a typical highschool harem romance manga. If you love lap pillows and cute moments that relate to sleep, this read ... is definitely worth your time. Otherwise, I don't think any other type of reader would enjoy this. Honestly, it probably deserves a 6/10, but I've given it a 10 on MAL because I love it so much and I want the author to succeed. For a more detailed review, read the following.

The story is mildly interesting at best, and its characters are horribly one dimensional. This may be a bit of an unfair criticism because there are literally only five chapters (one of which vaguely hints at a backstory of the MC), but I seriously doubt that we're gonna see some crazy character development and drama. As I said previously, the whole story revolves around lap pillows. If you dig lap pillows, you'll like this but if you don't, reading this'll be a waste of time. While the characters are one dimensional, I still like them. You've got he annoying kouhai, the disgruntled senpai, and the affectionate classmate (we don't know why she's affectionate though!). I like this cast; they're entertaining enough to keep you wanting to read the next page.

The art is definitely its highlight. It is exceptional. There were no moments that struck out to me as ugly, but there were definitely times where I thouht "wowee this is some great art". At the start of every chapter, we are welcomed by some fantastic art of the kouhai that is profile picture worthy. The great art only accentuates the warm feeling you get when witnessing the cute moments happening in the story. It's really good stuff!

Overall, its a generic yet servicable work. I think lap pillows are super cute, so this manga is one of my favourites because so. I've probably said it around 300 times by now, but if you don't like lap pillows this is an awful read. I follow the author on Twitter, and it's honestly so funny to see this guy rant about whatever anime he's watching or gacha game he's playing. I've been reading since around September, and only 3 chapters have dropped since then so I'm a little annoyed that he frequents Twitter but this guy is only human.

Smoking. Meditation. Masturbation. Lifting. These are all things people do to reduce stress, or to make them forget of the troubles in their life that haunt them. Me? I do all of these things, AND I watch Yuru Camp. Yuru Camp is slice of life in its most bare form, with the show focused on a cast of cute girls who go camping. That's all the show is. No drama, no romance, no major flaws in any of the characters - just cute girls camping. It's a mindless watch with bubbly lovable characters, beautiful art, and a fantastic soundtrack and sound design. This show cheers ... me up after an especially rough day, and that's all it has to do to warrant a 9/10 rating from me.

Its story is almost nonexistent. While there are some faint traces of a plot and character development, almost every episode follows the same structure: a portion of the cast are camping together, while the rest of the cast are up to their own funny little stories. Nobody's praising the show for its story, and that's justified by me. The show's characters are also quite one-dimensional but they're all funny and have enough quirks to separate themselves from eachother. Now onto the shows best features: its art and sound.

This show is total eyecandy accompanied by fantastic sound design and music. 'Every frame a painting' has never felt so right to as a result of the dropdead gorgeous and seemingly handpainted backdrops. The characters too are animated smoothly and are expressive in their movements. Yuru Camp 2 is probably my most favourite anime in terms of visual achievement. The sound design is amazing too! Close your eyes during the parts where the acst are camping, and it feels like you're really there. The voice actors did a great job in bringing their characters to life too. Paired with a fantastic opening and ending, and you've got a audio masterpiece right here.

Overall (even though I only learnt this word a few days ago hehe), Yuru Camp 2 is peak iyashikei. It does such a superb job in putting you in a relaxed state, while also treating you to some beautiful shots accompanied by great sound design. There is literally almost no substance to its story, but that's okay with me. You will definitely not like this if you hate slice-of-life or the cute-girls-doing-cute things trope, but I'd recommend this to everyone else.

A decade after its release, I finally got to experience the animated wonder that is K-On!! I'm not the first to admit this by any means, but originally I thought this show would be nothing more than a chick-flick that I'd find my 12 year old cousin watching. But if you cast those aspersions aside and give K-On a shot - you'll find a joyous tale of high schoolers than handle themselves so haphazardly you can't help but smile, laugh, and cry tears of joy along with them.

Usually I like to include a one paragraph summary of why you should or shouldn't watch the show. ... I feel like I can't do that for this show. There is just so much I want to say about how amazing this show was to watch. This is all I can say: please do yourself and watch this show if you're on the fence about it. This show delivers such a satisfying emotional experience wrapped in a sweet layer of lighthearted humour. I can't recommend it enough. If you need an exhaustive elaboration on everything I love about this show, read ahead.

Story - 8/10

The main gripe I had with Season 1's storytelling was that it felt too restrictive - that is to say about 50% of the show took place in the club room. I can safely say that Season 2 hits the ball out of the park with its story. Hokago Tea Time (the name of the main casts' band) spend a lot more time away from the club room by going to concerts, festivals, and school trips. There's also a 2-episode arc near the end of Season 2 that is a total treat to watch! While K-On is meant to be a lighthearted show, it also deals with the topic of graduating and saying goodbye to some of your closest friends - which is something I definitely resonate with and have to give props to. The story is just done so much better and had me in both tears of sadness and joy.

Art - 9/10

As I've come to expect from Kyoto Animation, they really outdid themselves with some absolute visial spectacles throughout the show. Maybe it's because my eyes are not trained well enough, but I seriosuly thought this show was like three years old and was totally surprised to see it was made over a decade ago. Whenever the characters are outside or in a place where lighting is different from the indoor standard, it is just a spectacle to behold. The way the light bounces off of each character in different ways just adds breadth to the show and makes it, to put it simply, so nice to look at. But the show definitely looks its best when the cast are away from school. Whether its the bustling city of Kyoto that's only one screen away from realism, or the star-studded night sky of the concert festival - there's going to be something that sticks in your head. One more thing I absolutely love about the show's art is its ability (or should I say inclination) to swap art-styles so effortlessly just for a visual gag. I absolutely love that kind of comedy in anime and K-On delivers.

Sound - Answer's obvious (11/10)

I'm going to quickly mention the show's original soundtrack before getting into the audio heaven that is Hokage Tea Time's songs. The original soundtrack is nothing to cast aside - it holds itself well enough against HTT's songs so that you don't forgot it. There were three tracks in the original soundtrack that I enjoyed thoroughly. Now, onto Hokage Tea Time's original songs. GOD, were they good. Right after you hear HTT's first live performance (which I believe was Fuwa Fuwa Time?) to the final note of HTT's last song acting as a sincere farewell to the school and the memories they've made, you know you've just blessed your ears with something wholesome and unique. While I do agree that most of their lyrics aren't too meaningful and are perfectly comprehended at a surface level, I don't speak Japanese so it doesn't bother me too much. All their songs gladly wear their hearts on their sleeves and speak to your emotions so bluntly, that you can't help but have a silly grin on your face while reading the lyrics. In fact, the last song that HTT played together on the show hit me so hard in the feels I cried in front of my mom while watching the episode, and it gives me this sentimental feeling whenever I llisten to it. I recommend listening to the Hokage Tea Time mixtape on YouTube that includes all of the little comments and mistakes they make while recording. It's just so perfect.

Characters - 10/10

Season 2 did absolute wonders for every single character in terms of character development and likeability. While I was originally a Yui, Mugi, and Ritsu supremacist, Season 2 completely changed my perspective. Each character gets around two episodes around them that fleshes them out as greater and more interesting characters. I can't even say anymore that I have a favourite from HTT, becasue they're all just so lovable and a joy to watch. Even the side characters like their club supervisor Sawako and Azusa's friends Ui and Jun get their own episodes. You can't help but appreciate the detail they put into these characters, even if just a little, that make you enjoy the show even more.

Maybe it's just the killer tracks that I can't help but mumble along to since I can't speak Japanese. Maybe it's just the absurdly funny Yui and Ritsu combination that never fail at putting a smile on my face. Maybe it's just the totally lovable cast that is at times so annoying yet endearing. Maybe it's just the fact that this was the first anime that moved me to tears of joy and tears of sadness. Nevermind, it's all of those things. There is just so much to love about this show that I can't express in a single review.

I never thought a lighthearted and carefree comedy about five highschool girls who spend most of their time drinking tea would make me smile, laugh, worry, and cry all in one season. But I'm glad it did. If you do decide to watch this show, take your sweet time. Because you only get to watch this show for the first time once, and that is one of the most inexplicably greatest things I wish I could have back - just so I could watch it all over again for the first time.