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The first time I heard of this novel, I thought “oh, just another one of those sis-con harem light novels that make you bleed your eyes out at the end that I got to watch.” After some blind trust in Yomi Hirasaka’s writing ability after reading Haganai, and some other people saying it was a good novel, I went and bought it thinking “fuck it, the worst I will get out of it is a haha funny novel I can rant about.” However, over time, my impression of it went from “sis-con novel” to “parody sis-con novel” to “deconstructed sis-con novel” to, by the last ... few novels, realizing this series really isn’t about sisters at all.

As in all the other works from Yomi Hirasaka, the beginning tosses in your face the most eccentric, seemingly unrealistic characters possible that serve as the 5 main characters: the sister-obsessed freak of a light novelist Itsuki Hashima; his perfect younger brother (?) Chihiro Hashima; a sex-obsessed, genius light novelist Nayuta Kani (who is obsessed with Itsuki); by the books light novel and board game enthusiast Haruto Fuwa, and your average college student Miyako Shirakawa. As the novel goes on, while these characters tend to do absurd and sometimes obscene things (that end up with the female character naked), and continue to meet even more eccentrics like the panty-obsessed manga artist Kaiko and the tax accountant Ashley, they grow together and slowly address the flaws and problems that they have as they figure out why on earth they are doing what they do. While sometimes their activities get out of hand, most of the time when they are just playing a game like Mafia, Life (or something like those 2), or even their tabletop RPG adventure, you can see yourself right alongside them. Over time, you watch their relationships intersect, collide, break, then recoup to return to normalcy. You see them fail and mess up, then learn and return from their mistakes, growing and maturing as they do. In essence, you watch them go through everyday life as a light novelist, an editor, a college student, a tax accountant, or whatever else they decide to do at the time. You watch them grow. And while most of this series is not completely serious, in fact, most of it is a slice-of-life comedy placed in the young adult years full of making fun of the light novel industry, the not serious part lets you become attached the characters as you watch them have fun, even if it does make things more complicated down the line.
I will never say this is the light novel for everyone, as it has many things, especially in the beginning that might turn off people, it never really steps away from ecchi comedy, and even I missed most of the jokes about the LNs. However, for those that don’t mind those aspects, and can get themselves hooked on the series even in the slightest, the latter half brings the best climaxes and endings of any series I have read. As you watch the characters finally learn, grow, and mature, see how they see their own futures past the novel and wonder if not a sister, what is it that is all you need? Finally, as the story comes to an end you realize what it is really about: finding the answer to that question, and to quote the novel, find yourself something that makes you go “This, yes this, is all you need”

*review for both seasons

This show is one of the most flavorless anime of all time, with the worst animation of any anime I have reviewed so far. The story follows a guy who gets iseakied with his entire class and gets outcast from them, before collecting the most 1d harem while being edgy and being more edgy. The plot is the most straightforward, with a very regular progression with the same plot progression and the same thing happening again and again in the same way with the same character interactions with different characters. On top of this, the characters feel extremely superficial. Almost every single ... character is driven by their attraction to the MC or another character and how they like that character and that's about it. It's like the characters don’t exist other than to protect the character they like and have awkward squabbles over them. The only notable exception is a few villains that only exist to kill people and the MC who exists to be edgy. It's not like the MC couldn’t have been interesting, as his backstory was interesting; however, the author took out all the interesting plot and rushed the MC to be edgy quickly as possible. It's like every plot development is made to make it feel like “I’m 14 and this is deep” and not actual interesting plot development that makes cool characters. The fights aren’t even that enjoyable, as they are ruined by an inconsistent 2d+3d animation with the worst 3d models and animation of all time (it's on X-arm level if not worse). Occasionally there is a decent moment, but usually ruined a few seconds later by “oh look at them they had sex” or “ohhh master please step on me” in the most awkward manner. This anime feels like it was written by Izumi Masamune (the main character of Eromanga Sensei) or someone even younger. The only thing that felt out of place was the second ED, which was actually pretty good unlike the rest of the music in the show, which was 2 meh OPs a bad ED, and badly timed and balanced OSTs that made the “development” of characters even more awkward. I maybe could enjoy this if I was in 8th grade or was a chuunibyou, but since neither of those is true, there was almost nothing enjoyable in this.

Score: 2.1/10

The quintessential example of a modern high school harem, The Quintessential Quintuplets, was the very first harem that I watched. I even got to watch this movie, the end of the series, in theaters, and it was certainly an experience. There aren’t any easy ways to end a harem, especially one with so slight bias towards any of the girls until the end, but I feel that this movie was a pretty good ending to an overall well-done harem show.
Of course, given a show of this nature, there are flaws with the ending of this show. The most obvious flaw with the movie was the ... pacing. This was no short movie: it drew out the end for over 2 hours for what was pretty much deciding which girl was going to win. A good part of this was due to the plot introducing things that were either way too late to introduce with the plot left to cover or that would have been much better done earlier in the show, like in season 2 or even season 1. For instance, there was a character that hadn’t shown up since the first season that took up 10 minutes just to troll the viewers. If she had just not shown up, the whole movie would have flowed much better, and it would have felt like a more smooth flow until the end. There were also 10 minutes of flashbacks that supported the “winner” after it had happened, which would have been much more impactful before. This is not to mention the portion of the movie that did not occur in chronological order, which could have been easily changed to flow in chronological order and it would have made more sense and developed the main character much better, though I guess the decision was made to develop the girls better.
Speaking of the character development of the girls, with the exception of one that could have done better, their character arcs were capped off in a smooth and complete manner. Without saying which one to avoid spoilers, most of the girls had felt like they had grown over the quintuplet love game to become the best versions of themselves, and overall they all got their happy ending even if they didn’t get the guy. There was only one that felt kinda weak, and that’s because it could have been done in a simpler way without extra added characters, and I personally felt like he could have gone further to support her development. Overall, most of the girls could have been done a tiny bit better with maybe a tiny bit more time, but it didn’t feel too rushed, just a bit disorganized.
However, despite the slight issues with plot and character development, the movie was extremely enjoyable, especially in theaters. It was funny (partially because it played heavily into the harem tropes), and overall I had fun watching the characters interact and grow. The art was bright and colorful, and the animation wasn’t anything special but it worked. Especially around when the winner was chosen, the choices of cinematography and stills of the girls were visually appealing and structured well to get you excited (and nervous) to find out if the girl wanted to win won the guy. Every moment I was there I was enjoying myself and having fun, which when watching harem anime matters almost as much as the quality.
Overall, I was satisfied with the ending of this show. Is it the greatest anime of all time? No, it is a trope-ridden harem anime. It is designed so that even if it has its flaws, it is enjoyable. No show of this manner is going to be the greatest anime of all time, but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying it. I left that theater having enjoyed myself, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.

7.8/10

For an anime with the key ideas of “Harem” and “Body Swap,” this anime is surprisingly not overwhelmed by fanservice or horny rom-com tropes and instead has care for how its plot and characters are developed. The story centers around Yamada and his ability to steal “witch powers” from the 7 witches that get special abilities triggered by a kiss. While the premise sounds really trashy, this anime was surprisingly not and instead a really chill school romance mixed with magic.

For a harem anime with “7” in the name, I was expecting the girls not to have much attention paid to them, and while ... there were obvious “main girls” and side girls like many larger harems, even the less important girls had their time and their arcs. This show had much more careful attention to how it treated its characters and their character development instead of just throwing in tropes and hoping they work out well. Shiraishi and Yamada’s character relationship is very well developed over time, while the character details of the witches Odagoro and Saionji and very well done to feel like their actions had meaning. The supporting cast that was not a part of the “harem” was also well done, and though it makes for a cast that is a bit bloated it makes it feel like less of an unbelievable situation since there are girls specifically not in the harem and male characters that actually so more than just stand there and say tiny hints.

Overall, the show feels much more like a realistic, character-driven romance than your average Harem anime, with more relatable characters and more realistically developed relationships.


Score: 8.0/10

This anime is basically hentai with filler arcs. From the first episode, it was evident that the main goal of the main character and the anime itself was to have sex with many people. However, somehow, it takes him 3 whole episodes to even get to the first girl, and 10 to get to the second, despite all 6 of them showing up in a weird flash forward in episode 2. Pretty much this entire anime is isekai harem maker simulator but they also give you every thought that could possibly cross your mind while on said adventure while they are at it. This is ... almost a slice of life isekai where they give you the day-to-day dealings of the average dungeon adventurer (MC is broken but literally doesn’t matter) except that they also add the layer of having sex with a harem of slaves. Honestly, the biggest problem isn’t that it’s a chill anime or that they have sex, it’s that they tried to combine it. The pacing is awful, the characters don’t have any actual complexity aside from things they spoon-feed you, and the sex isn't set up well in any of the episodes. If you want a half-hentai, go ahead and try to watch this, but the pacing is too messed up to fit either niche well.

Score: 2.8/10

*this is a review for all seasons, pasted from my own thing I'm doing

Danmachi is a longer anime where the quality vastly changes between the seasons, so I decided to say a little blurb about each season and give them a rate instead of reviewing this as a whole

Season 1: Season 1 was kinda just a fun, fantasy adventure story where the protagonist goes from nothing to having some sort of foothold in the world, with pretty good world-building, plot development, and a good build to a big fight that pays off in the end. The development of Bell Cranell is done very well, and ... the supporting characters are developed sufficiently to aid his growth. The first season is a good 7/10.

Season 2: Season 2 was similar to season 1, but it got weaker. I didn’t really notice it until I watched the next season, but this season kinda just adds to the overload of characters that Bell Cranel deals with and has some fun parts and some parts that drag. It's important for the story but feels kinda flat.

Season 3: This season was by far the best season in Danmachi. The show went from a more light-hearted “oh haha pick up girls in the dungeon” to “is it really wrong to pick up girls in the dungeon?” It does a very good job of questioning morals while having good fight scenes and good character development. The divisions between the sides and the character relationships are super complex and well done, making for an entertaining and genuinely good season of anime.

Season 4 pt 1: This season has two arcs. Both are in a similar vein to the first season but gradually have more stakes. The tension makes it more entertaining than the first season, but after the third season, it feels a bit weak

Overall, I think this anime is pretty good. It's constantly entertaining, and despite being over-bloated with character, quite a few of them are likable (and a few are not and a few are just there). The journey of Bell Cranel is still entertaining and fun to watch, even if its quality changes in quality a lot over time.
Score: 7.4/10

Whether you like this anime or not is completely based on how much you are ok with forced sex and incest. In my case, both tend to make an anime worse, especially when presented in such a serious manner as it is here. This anime is a harem that takes its time to try to visit every single girl and develop their relationship with the main character, which is an admirable goal that is ruined by failing at it. Maybe it was just how it was structured because it was adapted from an eroge, but structuring the story where the mc has sex with the ... girl before immediately doing a flashback and doing a different branch makes it hard to watch as a normal show the whole way through. The part that makes it really bad though is the last ending. The ending genuinely tries to play off having sex with his twin sister as the "good ending," and tries to get the viewer to question if the taboo against it is correct. If it were trying to make the viewer question who is right to judge love, there are much better ways to do it other than getting exiled for having sex with your twin sister. It tries to force its ideals of "incest is ok" on you, and it fails at that task. Maybe it is only so bad because it commits that taboo, and maybe my writing of such a scathing review is what it wants us to question, but as someone with a sister who knows what it is like to have a sister, seeing this instead hurts me. Only people without sisters or who have brother/sister complexes already would fall for this argument, and thus would be the only ones with a chance of enjoying it

Score: 2

*written after a few months of reflection

This anime is the most no-frills harem isekai possible. Instead of the normal “I got sent to another world with broken skills BUT I was (fill in the blank),” it’s just straight up a dude that gets sent to another world with a broken skill. On top of this, the production was not great either, with a mix of bad 2D animation and basic 3D animations all mixed together the was super underwhelming at times during fights. Despite all this, this was one of the most enjoyable shows I watched this season.
For the most part, the plot is super simple: a guy who can summon ... monsters and other beings (by making them his familiars) wants to become strong so he can fight stronger people, and along the way finds strong friends that just happen to be mostly female that he drags around with him. There is some overarching plot with demon kings and heroes (which are separately isekaied people) and evil organizations and such, but it's all so full of tropes and cliché that it doesn't matter that much. The characters are pretty simple too: the main character Kelvin who just likes to fight strong people, the half-elf maid slave Efil who just wants to help the MC, the off-brand Rias Gremory girl Sera who also just wants to fight people, the goddess who literally just wants to be with the MC, the Imouto character Rion, and actual slime named Clotho, and the monster knight person Gerrard who does nothing but fight and is always in 3d for some reason. However, despite them being really simple, all the characters are really likable. They only make small developments over time, but they are developed in a way that makes you attached to them. Maybe the strongest point of the anime is the OP and the ED. The op looks like they spend their entire animation budget on it and has a good song, while the ED song is one of my favorites of any anime.
In all, despite being a very weak adaptation, I enjoyed this anime a lot, and if it weren’t for the bad animation and fight scenes, I would have loved to give it a higher score.

Score: 6.2/10

*this review is for both seasons

Originally, we weren’t going to count this anime because there isn’t much focus on Naofuni’s romance, but after comparing it to other ones we counted we decided that Naofumi's harem was enough (and I was watching it anyway).

Anyways, much of this show isn’t that bad. The quality of the show fluctuates a lot depending on the arc and what is going on. The beginning is your average isekai with “oh he’s a hero with a broken weapon but with the twist,” in this case the catch being that he can only use a shield. The first arc is pretty good, ... depicting some pretty harsh realities, but it's supported by weak character developments by Naofumi and his harem of lolis. The show does have a bad obsession with lolis with almost all of Naofumi’s harem girls being literal children and having the weird aging stuff with Raphtalia and stuff, but looking past that the characters themselves are not terrible. When they focus on a character like Raphtalia for a bit the character has some development, but they tend to forget about it most of the time.

The first half of the first season and the second half of the second season were the best parts. During those parts, the plot was entertaining and the characters were complex enough to be interesting. However, the middle parts were full or dull plots with overextended arcs that progressed nothing. The turtle arc especially was some of the most boring stuff I have ever watched. Some of the choices of plot structure were also unnatural and weird, especially in the very last episode. Though this anime does have its problems and does have its lulls, it had quite a few aspects I enjoyed, and I am excited to see what the next season will bring with how the last season ended.

Score: 6.8

date of review: 7/6/2022

*this review is for both seasons

Originally, we weren’t going to count this anime because there isn’t much focus on Naofuni’s romance, but after comparing it to other ones we counted we decided that Naofumi's harem was enough (and I was watching it anyway).

Anyways, much of this show isn’t that bad. The quality of the show fluctuates a lot depending on the arc and what is going on. The beginning is your average isekai with “oh he’s a hero with a broken weapon but with the twist,” in this case the catch being that he can only use a shield. The first arc is pretty ... good, depicting some pretty harsh realities, but it's supported by weak character developments by Naofumi and his harem of lolis. The show does have a bad obsession of lolis with almost all of Naofumi’s harem girls being literal children and having the weird aging stuff with Raphtalia and stuff, but looking past that the characters themselves are not terrible. When they focus on a character like Raphtalia for a bit the character has some development, but they tend to forget about it most of the time.

The first half of the first season and the second half of the second season were the best parts. During those parts, the plot was entertaining and the characters were complex enough to be interesting. However, the middle parts were full or dull plots with overextended arcs that progressed nothing. The turtle arc especially was some of the most boring stuff I have ever watched. Some of the choices of plot structure were also unnatural and weird, especially in the very last episode. Though this anime does have its problems and does have its lulls, it had quite a few aspects I enjoyed, and I am excited to see what the next season will bring with how the last season ended.

Score: 6.8

date of review: 7/6/2022