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Have you ever seen a manga with a really stupid premise and thought to yourself, "Wow this sounds stupid, imma read it ironically for the lolz." Then, 20 chapters later, you realize, "F***. I'm invested." That's exactly what it feels like reading this manga.

As the premise goes, one day, Princess Era of the mermaid kingdom, through some absurd circumstances, goes on land and gets her first taste of fish. What was initially horror soon melted into pure ecstasy as she discovers the wonders of Japanese seafood and the impeccable flavors of her sea friends. With each chapter we have no choice but to bewilderedly watch ... as Era tries out yet another seafood dish made from the corpses of her former friends. As such, Mermaid Princess is a simple episodic manga, each chapter covering a different type of sea creature and how it could be prepared in a delicious manner. This is really stupid, and it's what makes this manga work. There's just something absurd about watching a mermaid princess performing cannibalism (is it still cannibalism if the food wasn't prepared by Era herself?) that makes you want to keep on going to see what happens.

As we all know, episodic SOL is the supreme form of manga, as it's essentially a way for the author to see how much wacky shit they could get away with. And oh boy, this manga sure is that. Each chapter starts off by introducing our new Victim Of The Week, providing a bit of backstory to it. And the manga goes *hard* on it. Each fish has a super dramatic, at times super emotional, backstory to them, and most of all, the manga takes its marine biology very seriously. Salmon migration? The lobster-octopus-moray food web? Stuff like this are important factors to each fish's story, and often makes for very emotional reads.... before they get fished up and Era eats them. Yeah, it's stupid, but the whiplash is just really funny. In fact, most of the enjoyment of the manga comes from the author just using the setting of the story to create the most absurd humor possible. For example, the undisputed hottest lady in the mermaid kingdom is the queen, who is a Japanese mermaid (Look it up). Your enjoyment of this manga would probably stem from how much enjoyment you could get from surreal stuff not unlike things Asobi Asobase and Iruma-kun.

Besides the manga somehow being able to make you feel for each of the Victim Of The Weeks (Seriously, you know a manga is good when it gets you emotional over the backstory of a herring), it also has a cast of regular characters, like the mermaid Sango or the unlucky businessman Himada. Even as the manga primarily focuses on Era trying out a new fish, we get glimpses at these characters, and more importantly, their character development. We get to witness as they grow as people and move forward in their lives and obtain happiness. Yes, this happens as Era's own story grows darker as she is unable to stray away from her path of insatiable appetite for seafood. This stuff is mad genius.

Overall, this manga is honestly quite enjoyable. The premise is stupid, but the fact that it manages to take such a premise so seriously and tells it so well makes it so uniquely fun. The art is good, the story is stupid and charming, the characters are genuinely likeable. It might not be for everyone, but give it a chance. You would either come out of this craving for seafood, or gain the habit to cringe whenever you order seafood and realize that it could have once been a cute manga sea creature.

Do you want to have deep conversations with your pet about philosophical topics like Schrodinger's Cat or Occam's Razor? If so, you should probably get a shiba.

Sekai no Owari ni Shiba Inu to is a simple 4-koma gag manga about the journeys of an unnamed high school girl and her pet Shiba Inu Haru-san, as they traverse through a post-apocalyptic Japan. They get into random hijinks such as meeting aliens or other cryptids as they journey around Japan.

Given the nature of the manga, you can't really expect there to be any deep or intriguing overarching storyline, as each chapter is fairly episodic. Despite that, ... being a 4-koma manga, I think the series fulfills its role very well. With one of the main characters being a dog, it's definitely very cute and charming when Haru-san just does cute dog things (CDDGT? Cute Dogs Do Cute Things? Is that even a thing?) The manga usually goes over many random topics, so it's fairly interesting every time and even occasionally thought-provoking. There are also occasional parts of the manga that are surprising sad (I actually cried on one of the chapters).

The art is great. The series is fully-colored, which already sets it apart from many other manga, and keeps it from being too dull. The artstyle for the humanoid characters (basically the main girl and occasional gods and mythological beings) is fairly standard, but it's still decent enough. The main focus of the series is definitely Haru-san and other dogs that appear, and they are all super cute. Haru-san is super adorable and the author also includes a lot of meme dog faces like the doge face. The background art is also fairly nice, especially considering how most 4-koma don't even have background art to begin with. There are some sparse fanservice of the main girl, but I do think it's not particularly intrusive.

The characters are enjoyable. As you may expect, there isn't particularly any outstanding character development, but the characters are still enjoyable to watch. The interaction between the leads are a joy to read; the main girl's cynical and down-to-earth personality as well as Haru-san's overly-philosophical and loving personality makes for a great and fairly humorous relationship. There are a few other recurring characters, like other dog breeds and yokai. They aren't particularly deep, but still fairly interesting. Also, nothing wrong with cute doggos. Finally, the occasional hints at the main girl's personality and her past are a very nice contribution to both her character and to her relationship with Haru-san.

Overall, the manga is super enjoyable. For a 4-koma, it does everything super well. The characters are enjoyable, the doggos are adorable, the chapters are comedic and even thought-provoking, and amidst it all, there will be laughs and a few tears. Also, you'll probably end up wanting a shiba after this.

This anime acts as a form of spin-off/sequel to the anime Gundam Build Divers. Like many others, I hadn't particularly liked Build Divers very much, so I initially dismissed the anime as being more or less the same in terms of quality. However, after hearing various people talk about how much people had enjoyed this, I decided to give this a try, and I actually found it to be quite enjoyable.

For those who don't know, unlike standard Gundam anime, the "Build" series is aimed at a younger audience, and feature characters who build their own plastic models of the mecha from Gundam anime and then ... battle other characters. This sounds very much like other children's anime like Beyblade or Bakugan, and there is no doubt that this series was made to sell toys, but I think that just because an anime is meant to sell toys to children doesn't mean that it couldn't be good. In my opinion, the series doesn't particularly feel too heavy on the product placement, though it's still rather obvious at parts. As I had previously said, Build Divers Re:Rise acts as sort of a loose sequel to Build Divers, but the series has a different cast and the story is mostly unconnected. While there are a few plot points that would be better understood if you've seen the original, the show does an okay job at explaining those plot points that it's not completely necessary to do so. If you would rather not be confused on certain plot points, I recommend you to decide whether or not you would want to watch Build Divers before watching this season. The series itself also have quite a few references and easter eggs related to mainline Gundam anime, so if you have seen Gundam before, it is quite interesting to spot them out. However, the references aren't too prevalent, so it's not really necessary for you to have any knowledge of Gundam before watching this series.

The premise of the story is not particularly amazing. At its core, the series is about the main characters who enter a "Story Mission" within the game and fight in the various missions, kind of like some kind of RPG, with the premise that they are helping the Resistance (made up of furries) fight against the "One-Eye" mobile suits with their own Gunpla. The overall formula of the series is in the format of several 2-3 episode arcs where the Build Divers interact with the story, practice for the mission, run into some difficulties during the practice and the mission itself, and then resolve the mission. Yes, this is rather generic. However, the arcs themselves are different enough that they don't feel particularly repetitive, and the missions and fights are entertaining enough to watch with each battle having different objectives and conditions. Beyond that, the story does have some mystery elements that I find to be quite interesting.

The characters are also rather enjoyable. While the characters aren't really all that complex, they're still fun to watch. Because of how different their personalities are, the team often runs into difficulties during the missions like I've said, and it's enjoyable to watch them overcome their differences and begin to work better together. The characters themselves also receive some character development, and while this development isn't really unique or complex, it's still interesting to watch, such as the main character Hiroto learning to grow more trusting of his teammates. And yes, Kazami starts out pretty annoying in the beginning, but he does get better. The side characters are also surprisingly fun to watch, and I found them to be quite endearing as I watched.

The Gunpla fights themselves are alright. The animation isn't particularly amazing, and is more of a mixed bag. Like I said though, the fights are still unique and fun to watch as the the characters have to learn to use different strategies with each battle. The Gunpla that the characters use also have various gimmicks to them that are clearly meant to sell toys, but still fun to watch nonetheless. My main complaints with the battles is that the main character, Hiroto, is often the one that does most of the work, especially near the beginning where he is practically the only one that is competent enough at fighting the enemies. This is mitigated slightly by the fact his Gundam has a lot of various forms that make it so that it doesn't get too stale every time, but the fact that the others don't really get a lot of spotlight still remains. However, this does get better as the episodes progress and the other teammates begin to contribute more to the battles. Another thing that may or may not be an issue is the enemies that the Build Divers fight don't really have that much variety. With some exceptions, the enemies are mostly faceless NPCs with no dialogue, and the suits themselves all have a generic looking gray color with some design differences. While I personally don't mind it as much, it's still something to take into consideration.

Ultimately, I found anime to be really enjoyable. Sure, it's meant to sell Gunpla, and the characters and story aren't really all that the complex. However, it's still really fun to watch, both the battles themselves and also the character interactions. The story itself also gets more interesting as it goes on, and ends in a hook for season 2, which I'm currently watching.