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Nov 15, 2019
So, where to begin with this series? Well it does follow a lot of the similar tropes your standard shoujo ai anime series does, but there is still a little bit of a twist.
Kei Serinuma is a fujoshi who is obsessed with anime and manga, especially BL and yaoi. She's so obsessed with this that she actually starts shipping real people like her classmates together. Now of course the majority of otaku are not actually like this, but I thought this was an interesting concept to explore. It definitely beats the standard nice girl has a group of guys who all like her, and
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that's the plot.
Despite the series only being 12 episodes long, each character does get their moment in the spotlight. They also seem to be more developed than most characters you see in this genre. Although they could still be given a lot more depth, they are not just completely blank slates and are pretty memorable. The problem is there isn't really any chemistry between Kei and the people trying to pursue her.
The four boys are completely uninterested in Kei at the start (due to the fact she is fat and not aesthetically appealing) but as soon as she loses weight they notice her because of how pretty she is. Since the four boys do have their own personalities and interests, I was expecting them all to find an actual reason by the end of the series to like Kei other than "wow, she's so pretty!" but that doesn't really happen. None of them seem to have much common ground with her, and they all seem to find her otaku obsession annoying and just a thing they have to put up with. I think out of all the boys Mutsumi probably has the most reason to like her, because there is a little bit of overlap in their shared love of history, but still there doesn't seem to be that much chemistry between them.
The one girl who wants to pursue her, Nishina Shima, definitely seems to have the most reason to actually like her. They have a shared love of anime and manga and seem to have a lot in common. It's even revealed in a flashback that Shima actually took an interest in Kei before she lost weight. Shima seems to be the only character who likes her for her personality.
Despite the lack of chemistry between characters, I still found this series enjoyable. The art style is beautiful, and a lot of the humour and comedy is incredibly funny. It's one of those series that you shouldn't take too seriously and just enjoy the wacky adventures. I think this is probably a series otaku will enjoy more because a lot of the humour comes from poking fun at fan culture like anime conventions, fanfiction writing, shipping characters etc.
As for the ending, predicatably Kei ends up not making a decision and doesn't choose any of them. This is pretty standard for this kind of series so I never really expected her to choose someone. But apart from that, there isn't any massive glaring plotholes that are never answered.
I would recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a lighthearted funny series to pass the time. Just don't focus on the romance aspect too much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 21, 2018
I have rather mixed feelings about this series. For me personally, it started off terribly and I really wanted to drop it but I persevered to the end and got rewarded with a decent ending.
The story starts off terribly, introducing us to the two leads Akira and Ryo but not bothering to give them much depth. Ryo is a mysterious male who is supposedly Akira's childhood friend, though we only have a very brief nonsensical flashback to confirm this, while Akira is a crybaby but seems fairly well meaning and kind.
I think the main issue with the storyline was the pacing. At
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times it seemed very rushed, whereas there were other times where it seemed very slow and dragged on. The first few episodes relied far too heavily on shock factor, with gory (I say gory but the animation was so bad you couldn't tell what was going on) and sexual or raunchy scenes. These scenes were very poorly animated with the violent fight scenes being difficult to follow, and the raunchy scenes just cringey to watch because that's not what the human body looks like.
As the story continued into the later episodes, there were a few glaring plot holes. The most annoying of these was the way Akira transforms completely in every way possible: appearance, voice, personality and physical ability. He has no resemblance at all to the Akira we see in the first episode, yet the other characters remark that he seems to have changed. This bothered me because surely they should have actually been asking "Who is this random guy? Where has Akira gone?" The same issue arises when other characters "change" yet no one seems particularly concerned. Their physical abilities also become super human and they start to run in a way that's just not physically possible for a human being, yet the other characters say "they got faster."
In the last few episodes, the story finally starts to come together and have some kind of deeper meaning. The relationship between Ryo and Akira is explored, as well as human nature and the state of society. The ending was very dramatic and shocking in the right way, not just shock for the sake of it. But unfortunately, the terrible animation style continues to be off putting.
The opening song has some interesting visuals but doesn't have an actual proper song, whereas the ending is just instrumental music with a black screen with rolling credits. So OP and ED pretty much non existent for this series. There's also a problem in the earlier episodes with some painfully awkward rapping from some of the minor characters. In one of the episodes, a particular rap seems to go on and on endlessly and doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose other than to appeal to American youths I guess?
Devilman Crybaby had an interesting and worthwhile concept, and a very solid well executed ending. But it was unfortunately ruined by sloppy animation, random shock scenes and unnecessary filler to try and appeal to a Western audience. I think this series could have been excellent if done properly. Here's hoping that this isn't the beginning of a trend of Netflix produced anime that had so much potential yet are dumbed down or just outright ruined.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 9, 2017
We've all seen and grown used to the multitude of film adaptations and video games based on various superheroes aimed at Western audiences. So when I first heard about this anime, I expected it to be more of the same but simply done from a Japanese perspective and wasn't hoping for that much. Boy, was I wrong! This anime quickly became one of my all time favourite series!
The series revolves around the main heroes, Kotetsu T Kaburagi (Wild Tiger) and Baranby Brooks Jr. who are forced to team up and work together. Now first of all, the idea of superheroes working for a company
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to entertain people on television, as well as their suits being covered in sponsorship is a real novel idea. But it actually makes a lot of sense considering the capitalist world we live in, and this twist on the whole superhero genre makes it all the more interesting. Kotetsu's character represents the traditional "I want to save people because that's what heroes should do!" trope we've seen before, but Barnaby contradicts this completely. He is simply a hero because it's his job, and cares more about popularity.
At a pretty decent length of 25 episodes rather than the standard 12 episodes, all the characters have an opportunity to be in the spotlight and have their various personalities and backstories explored. Despite them all being superheroes, there's some great variety in the main cast as they all have their own reasons for doing what they do. The villains of the series also have their histories explored and are very engaging. The plot is very well planned out, and is all tied up pretty nicely at the end. No ambiguous "wait, so are we getting a season two or not?" ending.
The opening and ending songs didn't exactly wow me, but sound nice all the same. The character designs and the art style is wonderfully done, and as well s action scenes there's plenty of comedic scenes to make you laugh out loud too. It was also really nice to see characters from different age groups interacting with each other. Overall, this is a fantastic series with it's main appeal being the engaging characters, and is definitely underrated. Even if you don't particularly like the superhero genre, I highly recommend you give this a watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Aug 11, 2017
There isn't really much one can say about this. Obviously you can't expect much plot from a special that's only two minutes long, but even by short ova standards this was appalling.
The story is non-existent which is to be expected. The animation style is really bad and doesn't resemble the SoniAni series at all. The sound quality seemed pretty bad too. There was a very brief fanservicey moment which failed to be sexy due to the awful animation. And I'm guessing this was meant to be funny, but it fails at that too. Even with it's incredibly short run-time, this is not worth a watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Sep 3, 2016
Kaichou wa maid-sama is your rather stereotypical romantic comedy anime. It has a lot of the same tropes you will see in other romcom series.
The comedic scenes are actually quite good. I did laugh quite a few times during this. In that sense it is much better as a comedy than a romance. The main reason being the two leads are not particularly likable.
The story revolves around Usui and Misaki falling in love. Although how Misaki manages to fall for him I really don't know because he is a complete dick. Usui is obnoxious, over confident and controlling. I'm guessing it's supposed to
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be romantic when he saves her countless times but him saying things like "Only I can touch her" just makes him sound like a pervert.
Misaki starts off the series hating men and the main character development she goes through is realising guys are actually okay. But judging by the male characters in this series I'd just end up hating men even more.
Most of the supporting cast are not particularly memorable.The one character that stood out for me was the downtrodden Aoi. It's never fully established whether Aoi is merely interested in cross dressing as a girl, or actually feels like a girl trapped in a boy's body. But either way, the way it is handled is absolutely appalling. All of the characters (except Misaki ) even including Aoi's relatives are completely unsympathetic to his/her situation. They often forcefully try and drag the girlish clothes off them and try and make them act like a "normal" boy. So because of this I lost all sympathy for most of them.
Usui especially looks incredibly bad from this. In one episode where Aoi tries desperately hard to win a contest with Misaki so he/she can wear girls clothes, Usui does his utmost to make them fail. Not only does he not give a shit how Aoi feels, but also the reason he does it is because he doesn't want any other men get close to Misaki. Controlling much?
The art in this anime is actually really lovely, and the opening/ending songs are fairly catchy. There's not that much plot, and the ending is very much open-ended. There's hints regarding Usui's backstory in one of the ending songs but it never gets explained and there's probably little hope for a second season.
This anime can be enjoyed as some lighthearted comedy. But don't expect to like the leads. And I'm guessing whoever wrote this has not a shred of sympathy for the trans community and some seriously outdated views regarding it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 3, 2016
From previous experience I have often found that the more obscure unknown anime are actually very good and are hidden gems. Sadly this really isn't one of them.
The art isn't that great but it's decent considering this anime is quite old. Although the ending credits are just stills from the manga with a very bland song.
The story itself is terrible. It starts with a girl called Maia Mizuki trying to get a job at the elite Ocean Agency. Supposedly she is one of the most promising agents there and aces the exam, but gets rejected anyway. At the end of the first episode,
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she then gets shot in the chest. But in the following second episode she is not only fine and fully recovered, but she appears to have no wound and hasn't even been to hospital. The rest of the story revolves around her working for the Nereirds (a group of awful women who do jobs...reluctantly and badly).
The main problem with trying to enjoy this anime is that none of the characters are remotely likable. I had some symapthy with Maia in the beginning (although a bit confused as to how she was still alive) but she goes on to get kidnapped or knocked out in almost every episode, and basically has no use. So how she supposedly was excellent at the exam I don't know because she fails in every episode from there on.
Rena is the leader of the Nereids but has no leader-like qualities. She is spiteful and bullying towards Maia for no reason, and is incredibly bitchy to pretty much every character. She is greedy and will only accept jobs that pay well. She's also a shameless slut who sleeps with random men.
Shizuka seems nice at the start but ends up freeloading off Maia and others for free food. She is obsessed with food, never pays anyone back and also is a complete idiot. Don't accept drinks from strange men in seedy parts of town. That's obvious!
Gloria is loud and obnoxious, and is also bullying towards Maia and any extra characters. She's also obsessed with money.
Yu is probably the most likable character since she doesn't seem particularly greedy or bossy. But she's very quiet and never has a real backstory established.
In fact, apart from Maia, none of the main characters are given a backstory. They are simply annoying just because.
There's two main questions that I desperately wanted answered during this series. Firstly, who is Daphne? Secondly, why did Maia get rejected from the Ocean Agency. The answer to the first question is just ridiculous and very disappointing. The answer to the second and the mystery of Maia's past is finally revealed but considering you have to watch over 20 episodes of filler, it just feels frustrating to watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Aug 13, 2016
First of all, this anime was an incredibly enjoyable watch. The comedic scenes are laugh out loud funny and the story moved at a reasonable pace.
The main character Kodaka is an extremely likable guy. He is kind and attentive to his friends (even though they're very weird and trying at times) and puts other peoples feelings first. His little sister Kobato is also adorable.
The only problem is the two main heroines of the story are not so likable. In the beginning we're introduced to Sena as a blonde popular girl with male followers and a rich background. Although we later found out she's
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lonely and wants real friends, so we can grow to feel some sympathy for her, there's no getting around the fact she is rather spoiled.
Yozora starts off more likable since she has no friends, comes from an ordinary background and even resorts to having an imaginary friend. But her rivalry with Sena is so severe that she basically bullies her, and can on occasion bully the other characters. Her personality came off as so dislikable that I lost all sympathy with her by the end.
The supporting characters are rather cliche for this sort of genre. There' the perverted girl who has an obsession with yaoi, the lolita girl who curses a lot, and the character who's gender is questionable. I watched the entire series and still have no idea whether Yukimura is a boy or a girl.
The series is a light-hearted feel good anime that's enjoyable if you're looking for a laugh. The characters are somewhat cliche but can still entertain. But if you're after a more serious plot, this is probably the wrong anime for you. And also...don't get hung up on whether Yukimura is a boy or a girl because that's never clearly answered.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 8, 2016
I watched this anime because the plot seemed quite interesting. A boy who loves zombies tries to bring his dead cat back to life, but ends up creating an actual zombie girl.
This anime had quite a few funny moments in it, and it did also touch on some dark serious themes, but it wasn't enough to distract me from all the plot holes. One of the most confusing things about this series is the fact that Chihiro appears to be a neko since he has cat ears, and occasionally makes a "Nyaa" noise. But nobody ever mentions it or points it out, and none of
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his relatives have cat ears.
Other confusing points centre around Rea being a zombie. Shortly after she becomes a zombie a certain problem arises but simply rectifies itself without any explanation. It's also ambiguous about whether Chihiro's family know she's a zombie or not. Sometimes they directly refer to her as a zombie, implying Chihiro has told them and there's no secret. But then at other times Chihiro seems to be desperately trying to cover up her odd behaviour as if they don't know. His cousin is called Ranko yet he refers to her as Wanko which is never explained either.
The ending is incredibly dissatisfying. To put it simply, there is no ending. The last episode leaves everything open with no solutions or answers. There's also a new character introduced in the very last scene but who remains nameless and we have no idea who she is. Presumably they hope a teaser of a new character would be enough to secure a second series. But since there is no second series this is just incredibly annoying.
Rea is an okay kind of character but there's nothing particularly interesting about her. Chihiro is rather unlikeable since he seems to get distracted incredibly easily. And the art style isn't very good either.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Oct 12, 2015
This ONA series is based off a four-panel gag manga so naturally you can't expect that much in the way of plot. But I expected this to still be a little bit entertaining. Hetalia and Azumanga Daioh are also based off four-panel gag manga strips and they are funny.
The art style looks incredibly lazy and badly drawn. The humour basically revolves around little inconveniences happening to the main character who responds by going "nyoro.."
There are no funny gags or hilarious situations like you would normally find in anime. It is basically just a little chibi girl asking for smoked cheese randomly and going "nyoro..."
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every time things don't go her way. The characters are loosely based off the character in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya but most of them don't act like they normally would. Mikuru Asahina's voice actress has changed completely. All in all, despite it only being 13 little shorts it is still not worth watching.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Oct 1, 2014
Danganronpa is a brilliant and dramatic anime that had me wanting to watch the whole thing in one go. Every episode ends on a dramatic cliffhanger.
Despite the fact there's a lot of central characters, the majority of them are interesting and engaging. With only 13 episodes, it could probably be quite a bit better if it was longer, but even so it's very enjoyable and has a good plot.
The animation style looks brilliant and both the opening and ending songs sound fantastic, with the lyrics perfectly matching the plot of the anime rather than being just random songs.
I know it's based on
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a video game which has a great deal more content than the anime, and a lot of people who have played the game are unwilling to give the anime a shot. The twists and plot turns are unpredictable and shocking if your new to fandom, but of course you're going to see what's coming if you've already played the game. The anime is based on the game. What did you expect?
I recommend you watch this anime if you love anime with interesting characters, lots of drama and suspense, and a bit of coemdy thrown in.
Don't watch this if you're a close-minded person that's played the game first and have already decided you hate this anime without even watching it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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