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Everything about this isekai, Shingan no Yuusha, is ridiculous. Maybe I’m missing out on some deep political commentary on the state of isekai manga, but I think I can summarize in three words: what the hell?

So you have your typical NEET protagonist who gets transported into another world. What isn’t explained is how he can swing a log around without some kind of strength augmentation. I didn’t really think about it too much until he decides that swinging logs is better than any other weapon. Heck, he even gets upgraded logs! Rosemary logs! Silver logs! Gold logs! Stakes made out of logs!

...Really? Gigantic log ... stakes? I feel insulted that this is the author’s way of spicing up the already age-weary isekai genre. Oh yeah, and he has some kind of demon eye that can see into the future or something. Not really anything interesting.

In any case, you have your typical characters. The lazy but overpowered protagonist, the one-dimensional jerkwad goddess and her lackey, the slightly less jerkwad of a goddess, and three maids who think they should ride the main character’s dick because he saved their lives once. Typical harem and sex debauchery without much room for development. At least they’re not going to make some kind of wooden log waifu fairy—what? They did that already?

I’m just going to end the review here because I need to go re-evaluate my life choices.

It’s rare that you get a manga where the main character is both a doormat and likable. In Jikkyou!! Izumi-kun no Koi Moyou, our titular protagonist somehow manages to be a complete pushover, awkward as hell, and—dare I say it—genuine.

Admittedly, I had zero expectations coming into this manga. I thought it was going to be another love triangle filled school romance between the socially awkward guy and the outgoing normie girl. Well, it still is, but the characters make it much more enjoyable to read. Izumi-kun in particular is our shining star. I find myself rooting for the poor dude with no communication skills ... because the commentary he provides in his head is exciting. He finds himself getting into it and really roots for whoever he’s cheering on. Whenever he talked about the “normie cavalry,” I half-expected him to give the readers the standard, “riajuus go die!” But he subverts my expectations and does the opposite by being a nice dude overall—he does things like praising a guy for impressing the ladies and rooting for his fellow nerd who got forcibly put into a basketball tournament. What really won me over was when he was wholeheartedly cheering for a girl confessing to a guy with his usual mental commentary. Something about Izumi cheering so passionately from the sidelines makes me want to do the same.

And it’s not just Izumi that I root for either. I thought that Shinohara would be the same superficial gyaru stereotype that we’ve all seen before, but she’s a little more than that. She’s just this excitable ball of energy that’s willing to give Izumi the push he needs in this story. She takes him out of his comfort zone to let him grow a bit. She gets upset when people are laughing at Izumi and not with him. And as I travel further into the manga, the rest of our “normie cavalry” is more or less the same. Simply put, they’re all good people.

Now, praise aside, I’m not going to say that this manga is incredible. At the time of this post, only fifteen translated chapters are out. The plot is rather simple and leaves a lot to be desired. We have the standard love triangles running amok and Izumi’s slow but steady growth is exactly that—slow. Other than that, there isn’t much else to say about this manga. I’d say give it a try but don’t expect anything that’ll knock your socks off.

I’ll just say it from the start: this anime fulfills a certain niche. Is it bad? Sure. But is it trash? Well… yes, for varying reasons. Of course, with every episode lasting only four minutes, I found myself done with the anime before I could even start hating it. Its length probably kept me from giving it an awful score.

I think that the biggest problem with this anime is not awful—it’s just exceedingly mediocre. One Room is generic. The art, the story, the characters—we’ve seen it already in other anime except other anime did it better. What we get is a montage of cliches ... squished into four minute episodes.

Just look at the camerawork. Every shot is fan-service. Watch a random episode (or don’t, because you really shouldn’t). Chances are, the camera’s right in the middle of girl curvature.

Amazingly, the animation is actually good. It really is! Their faces show more emotion than this god-forsaken anime even deserves. Eyebrows crease with worry. Eyes turn down in embarrassment. In one of Natsuki’s scenes, her face shows a mix of worry and wanting to be strong in front of her brother. The animators demonstrate the ability to show rather complex emotions in such a stupid anime.

My biggest gripe with this anime is that the protagonist is non-existent. He has no personality. He doesn’t even have a face or a body attached to him! I suppose it’s because the protagonist is supposed to be you, or more precisely, the viewers, but that’s crossing the line from a ‘character’ into a wish fulfillment ‘self-insert.’ We don’t get any development from the protagonist because there’s none to be found. One of my favorite moments is a side-by-side shot of the heroine of the arc and the protagonist, except you can’t even see him because he’s covered by a tree. All of him. It was unintentionally absurd and hilarious. In fact, all of it is. My personal head canon is that these girls are actually delusional and talk to their own imaginary wish fulfillment character. That’s why you never see the protagonist—because he only exists in the girls’ heads.

Jokes aside, it’s just so exceedingly honest in being some kind of self-indulging wish fulfillment that I can’t even feel upset over it. Just pity.

"The past makes you wanna die out of regret, and the future makes you depressed out of anxiety, so by elimination, the present is likely the happiest time."
- Hikigaya Hachiman

There are people who are destined to be popular - to be social butterflies and have a fruitful high school life. And then there's Hikigaya Hachiman. He is an introvert, a cynic, a snarky pragmatic. He is many things, but if we have to boil him down to one trait, it would be unpopular.

The story progresses through a central theme: change is inevitable. We see that romance and comedy takes a backseat to further explore ... the drama (or perhaps melodrama) that ensues in Hachiman's life. Was the plot rushed? Slightly. Were some conflicts flimsily executed? Perhaps. But then again, doesn't the time we spent in high school feel rushed, melodramatic, and flimsily executed in retrospect?

Oregairu reveals Hachiman's insecurities at a greater depth. We can see the insecurities of a high school boy unable to fully trust people. Hachiman, who is quick to judge and scrutinize one's ulterior motive, is distrusting, plays the self-sacrificing martyr, and cynical of friendship. And yet he embeds himself in the frail friendship within the Service Club with Yukinoshita Yukino and Yuigahama Yui.

But time moves forward and with time, people change. Hikigaya, throughout the series, grows, regresses, and grows again. He often finds himself at odds with his own ideals and the very trait that made his character stand out in the first season: his distrust of others. Little by little, Hikigaya opens up to those he considers friends and family. The closed-minded Hikigaya begins to expand his horizons.

Oregairu is a puzzling anime. As a romantic comedy, it centralizes on themes like the disillusionment of human relationship, the pressure of not fitting in, the fear of change. I found myself looking back at my own middle school and high school life. I wonder if I would have been friends with a "Hikigaya." Maybe. Maybe not. But regardless: "Life goes on regardless of whether you're laughing or crying, and your high school days will eventually draw to a close."

Harem is a fickle genre where ratings seem to be solely decided on how many girls and how much fan service you can fit into one episode. Don't get me wrong: Trinity Seven is a typical harem anime and you can expect such tropes to appear in every episode you watch. However, unlike many other harem anime, it does not detract from the enjoyment from the show and instead adds a rather fresh element by embracing the very tropes that define the harem genre.

Story: 7/10
As par with many other harem/supernatural anime, the plot and what drives it is on shaky ground. Kasuga Arata, the ... protagonist, dives into the world of magic after it consumed his childhood friend and cousin, Kasuga Hijiri. The plot is not developed enough to immerse the audience yet it has enough background to confuse the readers with how or why magic works the way it should. Perhaps it was limited due to the constraint of 12 episodes. Perhaps the plot could have been better fleshed out. Regardless, Trinity Seven started strong and ended aptly with enough room for a second season.

Art: 8/10
The art is easy on the eyes and every heroine is understandably cute. The fight effects were well polished and animated wonderfully. Every character felt unique - even with those with similar appearances. Every individual had a rather distinct set of eyes and added to the personality of such characters.

Sound: 8/10
For a 12 episode anime, I was rather surprised at how much effort was put into the soundtrack. With an apt opening theme and an astounding 4 different ending themes, Trinity Seven had seamless variety that added to the value of the show.

Character: 9/10
It is refreshing to see how every character felt so distinct with their own set of personalities. Trinity Seven's cast knew it was in the harem genre and embraced it. I looked forward to seeing Arata interact with the various heroines of the show. Arata has motive, drive, and an unflinchingly perverted desire towards the rest of the cast. Most of all, he deviates from the usual harem protagonist by having a backbone and becoming proactive towards his goals - something that makes me genuinely like the main character.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Every episode was amusing to watch and didn't go overboard with harem clichés. I looked forward to watching the characters interact with each other. And while the plot was not impeccable, it certainly had enough depth for me to keep watching, wanting to know more.

Overall: 8/10
I overall enjoyed Trinity Seven and what it brought to the table - a harem genre with its strong cast of characters that may or may not take themselves seriously.

"This is my fight!"
"No, this is our fight!"
- Akatsuki Kojou & Himeragi Yukina, respectively; dialogue from perhaps every episode of the entire anime.

And by the end of the series, I have realized that it was my fight as well - I had to fight the urge to drop the series as a whole. The story begins with the main character, Akatsuki Kojou, who is the epitome of the standard harem protagonist. He is forced to accept his new found vampire powers and the misunderstandings that come with it, misunderstandings meaning a flock of girls including the main heroine, Himeragi Yukina. It is the ... standard harem/ecchi/supernatural anime. And yet the anime leaves so much to be desired.

Story: 5/10
The story teeters between explaining too much and answering too little - the anime quite frequently drops embellished familiar names one after the other, while shying away from actual plot background. At the end of the anime, we are left with snippets of Kojou's vampiric origins, an uneasy plot device, and a flimsily assembled "conclusion" that abruptly ends the show.

Art: 7/10
The saving grace of this show. The fights were appropriately coordinated, well drawn, and were exciting to watch. The characters looked pretty in all but the budget scenes (which were sporadic but easy to point out).

Sound: 6/10
The soundtrack was decent, despite the fact that it seemed like the entire show had only maybe three or four OSTs not including the OP and ED. It did its job and did not detract from the show.

Characters: 5/10
Every character fell flat and did not stir a sense of personality. Kojou's interaction with every single girl can only be described as irritatingly futile. From the span of 24 episodes, not once did Kojou feel like he was developing as a character. With perspective to the main antagonist, his main reason for being is that he was adequately bored enough to become a villain. I found myself only drawn to liking one character, Astarte, if only because she was purposefully written as one dimensional and not an irritating mess of a character.

Enjoyment: 6/10
By the end, I was left with more questions than I had when I started the anime, a puzzling sense of confusion, and slight relief that I don't have to watch Strike the Blood anymore. The fight scenes were pleasant to watch but I cannot say the same for the rest of the show. The comedy was bland, the fan service was blatant and mediocre, and the potential harem/romance was forced at best.

Overall: 5/10
A good anime to watch when you have more free time than you wish you had. A must-see if you're a fanatic of exceedingly mediocre anime with fan service, jumbled fantasy plots, and underdeveloped characters.