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This was my first Chinese anime. I watched it for my 2018 Anime Watching Challenge and I am glad I picked it.

Rakshasa Street follows two different story lines. On the odd numbered episodes, it follows the story of Xia Ling and Yanbing. Yanbing is a Spirit Host, which means he has a Guardian Spirit protecting him. Xia Ling finds out she is a Spirit Host too, and with the help of Yanbing and his brother, Xiao Liang, she begins to learn how to control her Guardian Spirit.

The even-numbered episodes take place in the past and follow the lives of Yanbing and Xiao Liang when ... they were children. It tells the story of how Yanbing becomes the Requiem General of their home.

Rakshasa Street has a lot of backstory and world-building involved, but it does a great job of breaking it down into the short 11min episodes. I particularly liked that the storylines alternated. There is a very good twist in the story. I feel that if the episodes were chronological, it would not have gone as well as it did. The story is the strong point of Rakshasa street. It's interesting and compelling in some areas and it can be rather emotional. It covers brotherly love and forgiveness as well.

The characters, however, can be kind of one-dimensional. They cover a few tropes. Yanbing is the cranky teacher. Xia Ling is a stubborn student. Xiao Liang is a wise prodigey. Throughout the show, you will come to understand why Yanbing is so cranky and why Xiao Liang is wise. Xia Ling can be annoying.

The animation shifts between good and alright. There is digital animation and CGI. The CG is usually reserved to large fight scenes when many characters need to be animated. For the most part, it's not CG. The character designs are interesting, but there is a little too much family resemblence between Yanbing and Xiao Liang. They are practically identical, especially during the arc when they are children. A change in hair style would be sufficient. My favorite character designs are all the different Guardian Spritis in the show. Some have very traditional Chinese elements and some look like hideous monsters.

Overall, Rakshasa Street was an interesting show. The ending hints to a second season, which I will definitely be watching.

Gimmick is a one-shot shounen-ai about two friends falling in love after a night of passion. It is a mediocre take on an extremely common trope in the shounen-ai and yaoi genres. On top of the story being a cliche, it suffers from being a short one-shot. Many one-shots are able to convey this type of story much more successfully because their characters are more fleshed out and the story is much longer than Gimmick's.

Story: 5/10
In addition to being a cliche, the story does nothing to give enough background information to better understand the characters. While the synopsis states ... Kei wants a girlfriend, there's almost no discussion of this in the story.

Character: 5/10
Again, the length makes it difficult to make meaningful characters and personality. However, even though the length causes Gimmick to suffer, so does the writing. Kei and Kenji are friends, yet there is no discussion on how long they know each other or the extent of their friendship. Kei has a younger brother that isn't even necessary to the story. Without him, the mangaka could have put more effort into developing Kei and Kenji's relationship.

Art: 6/10
Art ranges from awkward to decent.

Enjoyment: 3/10
I've read many shounen-ai and yaoi manga that portray this trope on a much deeper level. It bored me.

Overall: 5/10
If you want to read a shounen-ai or yaoi manga about two close friends falling for each other, look for longer running series over one-shots.