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Ouran High School Host Club is very well-rounded.

The storyline is simple, episodic SOL with heavy emphasis on comedy. The romance is mild: it’s alluded to, but nothing concrete develops. For anyone who wants heavier romance, I suggest you read the manga - they directly address romance in the final few volumes. Back to the anime, there are certain character dynamics and interactions that may feel uncomfortable, but at the end of the day, they’re left intentionally vague and are mostly for comedic effect. As this anime is a SOL, there is no real plot. Each episode is basically the same format - Host Club does ... outrageous things because they’re so filthy rich. It doesn’t get boring, though, and that’s all I’m looking for.

The writing makes an attempt to flesh out the main characters (they start off as tropes), and while it isn’t the best characterization I’ve seen, it’s an honest effort to introduce some seriousness. In Haruhi and her dad, there’s a fair bit of representation offered, even if it’s used as a gag (commendable for its time period). You have the other characters, and they also get some history and drama, and from there you can draw out their motivations. You end up with a likable cast, with a measure of substance to them, which is, honestly, all you need.

The only real criticism I have is that the ending felt a little too “happily-ever-after”. It was too easily resolved and even arguably fantastical. However, that’s because the writing team for the anime had to accelerate the pacing, knowing there was no intention for a season 2.

More than anything, Ouran High School Host Club maintains its lighthearted, goofy tone. I had a lot of fun watching this, and while I can’t promise you that, know that if anything, you’ll be entertained. Maybe in a couple of years, people will finally start remembering this show exists, and we’ll get a reboot. I don’t know if it’ll be the same without Miyano Mamoru as Tamaki, but still, a polished version would be very welcome.

Final Rating: 7

If you stopped me at episode 3 of this anime and asked me how it was, I would have emphatically told you Heavenly Delusion was incredibly underrated. Now... after the trainwreck of poorly handled sexual abuse, irrelevant side plots, and mediocre world building, I can emphatically tell you the true "delusion" here is the praise that gets heaped onto this show.

Heavenly Delusion follows a double narrative, starting with two MCs, Maru and Kiruko, post-apocalyptic survivors journeying to find "heaven". Up until at least episode 3, Maru and Kiruko's storyline was pretty interesting. The two have a lot of nice, easy-going banter, and the fight ... scenes showcasing their abilities had great animation and composition. Continuing on with this storyline, we get a bit of backstory into Kiruko which had a LOT of potential to be huge for her character development. However, it's just pushed aside to make way for weird sexual jokes and innuendos. Maru and Kiruko had solid chemistry already, but the writers just had to add this unnecessary element of sexual tension. Okay... they're children. So this ended up killing my enjoyment, and then the plot tried to be emotional, but of course circled back to having subtle sexual undertones.

The other narrative is about this group of children who live in a technologically advanced nursery with little knowledge of the outside world. This nursery is presumably the "heaven" the survivors are looking for, but who knows, because the anime never explained any of these things. I cannot stress how incredibly dull and downright problematic this storyline is. Tokio, the narrator, has got to be the most boring and bland person to ever appear in anime. She literally has no purpose except as an excuse for the writers to shoehorn in *MORE* sexual tension between children. The sexual elements are thoroughly irrelevant to the main point of this narrative, which is to provide worldbuilding to contrast the survivors of the other storyline. The entire nursery narrative as a whole is pointless, presented in a way that is obnoxiously tedious and uninspired. Among all the children, none of them have virtually any redeeming factor that makes them likeable (except one guy - but then we get sexual tension *again*). I could somewhat see the direction, but the writers wasted so much time on these annoying ass children. At this point, I just had to drop this series because yikes I did not ask for this.

If they had cut out all these depictions of sexual assault and abuse, and focused purely on Maru and Kiruko exploring the world, I could have given this show a solid 7. I adore the art being a combination of the post-apocalyptic overgrown aesthetic with simply drawn chibi-like characters. In all honestly, this was probably the only reason I clung on for so long. A couple of comments have mentioned that Heavenly Delusion is trying to say something about sexual trauma, and that everything was setting up for the ending. Doesn't really matter to me, cause I never saw it. Genuinely, I thought *I was delusional* when I saw how horrifically these themes were handled. There was just no way that Heavenly Delusion is completely absent of any empathy. It's all played off as a joke, when it really isn't. Stay away from this one, it's not worth your time. Heavenly Delusion gets the place of shame in my list for being the RANK ONE overrated anime with about a metric ton of wasted potential.

Final Rating: 3

Being the lonely mf that I am, one day I had an urge to watch a good romance that would make me feel even worse. A quick Google search turned up a top 50 MAL list that promised Yona of the Dawn was a “must watch” shoujo masterpiece. I suppose in that sense, they were right. In the realm of shoujo, Yona of the Dawn is decent, but that is ignoring what it truly is: a bundled up collection of overused tropes.

Yona of the Dawn follows its titular pretty spoiled princess on her journey to becoming a fierce warrior… and that premise is good ... until you realize you actually never get what you were promised. Yona is supposed to be growing and becoming independent, but all she’s doing is collecting servants. Yona is surrounded by all these capable people that she basically forced into servitude, and not once does she think to try to learn their skills. What kind of progress is Yona making if she’s ousted from her cushy palace life, but then gets five bishonen bodyguards that worry themselves to death if even a single hair on her head is out of place? The plot is basically a reverse harem with extra steps. You’ve got all manner of boyfriends: the childhood friend, the princely goofball, the introvert with trauma, etc. All of them are bound to Yona by the legacy of her hair. Again, they have no choice in it either, so there goes any interesting subversion. Her new friends are actually just lifelong servants who listen to everything she says because it’s destined.

Halfway through the series, the main conflict of the show isn’t explained or even mentioned apart from the opening sequence. The supposed villain can’t even figure out his own motivations, much less the audience. It just happens, and then we get a double narrative situation (Yona and the villain contrasting their lives) that is completely irrelevant. Now, the double narrative could have been cool if Yona’s development brought her into direct conflict with the villain. However, her reason for collecting her boyfriends is very simply, “to live”. That’s all. At this point in the plot, Yona’s goal cannot be only “to live”. That’s everyone’s goal. What is she going to do with her life when she finishes her collection? We don’t know. Granted, I haven’t gotten to the part where she gathers everyone, but she shows no sign of thinking beyond present. At the very least, Yona isn’t even thinking of the state of her country (up until this point).

And of course, Yona herself is the most useless one of the lot. At around the 40% mark in the series, we are shown Yona trying to learn a skill, and putting all of her effort into it. The show really pushes that this is huge character development for Yona, but it’s kinda just a nothing burger. Yona cannot possibly believe that mastering one skill will allow her to be independent. That’s like thinking your perfect sunny side up guarantees you can live for a year in the woods. But then, Yona has five capable boyfriends, so maybe it’s more realistic that she doesn’t think she needs to learn much.

Yona of the Dawn has a whole host of other issues. However, its main problem is that it relies too much on the opening sequence (where the main conflict happens) to carry all of its exposition and setup. Everything Yona does is in reaction to this main conflict, but with a bit of critical thinking we can see there is nothing of substance. Yona of the Dawn wants to have a central cast with cute quirks like Ouran High School Host Club, but in a story meant to be about personal growth, it just doesn’t work.

And I still ended up not satisfying my romance anime urge. Maybe I’ll go watch A Silent Voice or something.

Final Rating: 5

I feel compelled to write this review to offer some kind of explanation for why this anime is on my favorites list. It's very simple really, Kakegurui is what happens when writers are given free reign to do whatever they like. Kakegurui is batshit crazy to a degree that fully and utterly transcends typical degeneracy. This is NOT your average fantasy isekai. The plot is structured but completely wild, the characters are clinically insane, and all of them are into each other. Even the fanservice in this anime can't even truly be called fanservice. Fanservice is meant to please the audience, but what you get ... here is borderline disgusting and the show makes sure you know that it's gross.

All the characters are superhuman geniuses who spend their entire day gambling at a school with NO teachers. Somehow the student council president has the same level of power as the leader of a small country. The gambling games are highly complicated and not even explained well. They don't need to be, as everything is a power fantasy for Jabami Yumeko. Essentially, Kakegurui is so bad that it ends up reversing in the other direction and becoming diabolically entertaining. There are a lot of shows focused on escapism, whether it be isekai or shoujo romances, but in Kakegurui you're escaping and descending into freakiness.

Kakegurui is an experience and in all honesty, I absolutely loved it. There's that famous quote from the Dark Knight, "some men just want to watch the world burn", and THAT is what I felt watching Jabami Yumeko eviscerate her opponents while her breasts triple in size, her eyes turn into glowing red sirens, and her face becomes that of a monster.

Final Rating: 7

Given the sorry state of BL anime these days (chock full of non consensual harassment and overdone seme/uke tropes), I was eagerly awaiting something different, more real, in No 6. Instead of focusing on only the romantic aspect, here was a BL that wanted to tell a story, and a dystopian one no less. Suffice it to say, it was a massive disappointment that I should have already foreseen looking at its middling MAL score. No 6 turned out to be an amalgamation of BL tropes all the way down from the miscommunication to the overly aggressive seme to the needless angst. And all this ... is loosely tied up together with a nonexistent hair-thin plotline. This is all you really need to know about what I think of this anime, but since I am rage writing this, I will get into spoilers below.

No 6 loses its vision after like the third episode. The plot should be about realizing the current utopia is flawed and rebelling/taking action, like most other dystopian fiction. Instead, all the action happens quickly and is left unresolved, and then everyone just settles down to wait…?

There’s this strange killer wasp that seems to be a weapon of the utopia, but halfway through the series we’ve gotten no progress towards the characters finding out its creator or purpose (even just realizing the administrators controlled it would be fine). And so brown hair turned white haired boy camps out with the seme love interest and everything up until the halfway point is them beefing with each other in the most angsty way possible.

White haired boy can’t understand why the love interest hates society, and he won’t tell him either. So there’s a stalemate where eventually dark hair will probably give in because white hair is such a cinnamon roll. It’s so pointless because why can’t they just sit down and talk about it? I understand there are topics that are hard to talk about for people, but in writing there are ways to show that and have them open up. One of those ways is definitely not having the angsty character trash talk and threaten the cinnamon roll and then underscore that with a heap of sexual tension.

I’ve never written a review for an anime that I haven’t completed before, but this one made me so annoyed for no reason. No 6 has a plethora of other issues, but if I talked about them this review would get to be as long as my Fruits Basket one. Just know that it’s bad.

Final Rating: 3

I cannot, with a good conscience, give this anime anything higher than a 6. It’s awful, degenerate, and grossly self-aware. And yet, as much as I will decry the endless fanservice (and the entire episode dedicated to it), I still found myself somehow enjoying the stupid and immature comedy. Say what you will about my own shallowness that I could enjoy the perverted and overused jokes, but that's how it was. Honestly, it was more like a "wtf, so THIS is how far they'll go" moment every time the show surprised me with an even deeper level of depravity. Naturally, the character writing and plot ... development are unceremoniously thrown right out the window from the start, but whatever remains still manages to be begrudgingly funny.

Final Rating: 6

Skip to Loafer is an anime I dived into with a fair amount of expectation. I had come from an anime analysis video on character writing that compared its protagonist, Mitsumi, to the likes of Frieren and MaoMao (two universally agreed-upon examples of quality female characters). Comparing any character to these two is already a high bar and sets up a lot of room for disappointment. Yet, Skip to Loafer manages to be wildly entertaining, wonderfully cheeky, and remarkably sincere in its messaging and character development. It comfortably met my expectations and even bagged some points for the voice work and animation.

Mitsumi should be ... a landmark achievement for the slice-of-life genre. She is one of the most heartfelt, genuine characters I have ever encountered in an anime. Among all the obnoxiously hyperactive female leads, Mitsumi stands out for her presence and relatability. She constantly changes throughout the anime as she navigates high school, bettering herself and the others around her. Like any normal person, Mitsumi is capable of assessing situations critically and planning an appropriate course of action, even if her quirks cause her to run into problems. As a character, she also comes with believable (but lighthearted) flaws, the most prominent of which is her tendency to space out. In many other shows, this is brushed aside as a comedic eccentricity, but Skip to Loafer takes the time to develop this aspect of Mitsumi’s personality. Who would she be if she tried actively fighting this part of herself? And is it even worth it? After all, Mitsumi's eccentricity is part of her charm - it comes as naturally to her as breathing. These are the types of questions that Mitsumi grapples with on a daily basis. Mitsumi challenges herself to always stand back up, and though she may not know it, her appeal is that she is a simple girl with unassailable confidence.

While the praise for Skip to Loafer’s protagonist is completely deserved, the supporting cast is remarkably well-developed. Fumi is introduced as Mitsumi’s best friend, but it's almost like she is a medium between the audience and Mitsumi. Mitsumi can be a lot to take in at once, so Fumi slows her down and provides background. It’s from this connection that the audience can see the relationship between the two girls who know everything there is to know about each other. Like most Genki girl protagonists, Mitsumi slowly changes the people around her. Whether it is the exceptional character writing, or simply a result of Mitsumi being so effortlessly human (or both), the relationships in Skip to Loafer feel rich and spectacularly authentic. The dialogue and events are, of course, dramatized for entertainment, but the core writing remains true to normal exchanges. There is no screaming, incessant healing tears, senseless comedic violence, or melodramatic cringey moments in Skip to Loafer. Scenes that feature a shoujo trope end up gently subverting it with refreshingly mature and straightforward interaction. Every character in the main cast is revealed to have another side to them, with hidden motivations and individual mannerisms that create comedic tension.

While it’s true that Skip to Loafer gets a lot of things right in terms of characters, the lack of a controlling plot does hurt it. Initially, I brushed it off, but that was more of a reaction to how well the ensemble cast was written that I could minimize a noticeable issue. Slice of Life is not supposed to have a straightforward plot, but generally, it will have a controlling aspect. For example, the show may be focused on music, sports, or a life lesson. Skip to Loafer lacks this, and while we know all about Mitsumi and her dreams, her lofty aspirations are still quite far off, and, for now at least, she’s just living her life.

The first time going through Skip to Loafer, I felt something was missing from the Shima backstory. It was handled well, with nothing to complain about, but it would have been nice if it looped back to a central plot point. At times, Skip to Loafer can feel very aimless, and each episode can be boiled down to just being filler. However, this show, inherently, was never about a massive all-encompassing plot. Rather, the lack of a storyline focuses on the vibrant web of character dynamics that more than makes up for Skip to Loafer's shortcomings. And on a different note, this overarching topic of whether an anime needs a plot to be considered good (especially a genre that emphasizes not having a clear plot direction) is probably one that merits some more discussion.

I like to throw around the phrase “turn off your brain” a lot for slice-of-life anime, and it certainly does apply here, but in a different way. Skip to Loafer is very relaxed and lighthearted, and this is one of its main appeals (at least to me). So while “turning off your brain” to watch this anime is perfectly fine, the character dynamics are intriguing in a way that makes it still possible to appreciate and ponder their motivations and actions. This is an anime that knows how to present a proper Genki girl and her entourage. The free-flowing comedy and cozy atmosphere of this tight-knit gathering of distinct individuals is what makes Skip to Loafer so heartwarming, and so perfectly iyashikei. The anime just wants to gently remind its audience that sometimes it's worthwhile to slow down and work through life with your friends.

And if you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading! I have a confession based on what I wrote at the beginning of this review about MaoMao and Frieren being universally good female characters. Recently, I’ve revisited a lot of my top-rated anime to see if my opinion of them was influenced by their popularity or production value. In that process, I discovered some issues with both Frieren and MaoMao as characters. However, this is a weighty topic deserving of a whole other review (or more), but I just wanted to put this out there now.

Final Rating: 8

For a pretty old anime, I didn’t expect such colorful and vibrant animation. It gave me the same homey, fantasy vibe as the SoL episodes in Frieren (also how Zen is much like Himmel). The protagonist, Shirayuki, is introduced as a strong, capable, and independent female lead. She shares a lot of similarities with MaoMao from The Apothecary Diaries, in that they both work in medicine and advance to become aids to people in powerful positions. It feels strange to talk so much about other shows when writing a review for Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, but this is where one of the main setbacks with the ... series comes from. All the mentioned series feature powerful and complex female protagonists, which Akagami no Shirayuki-hime strives to do, but falls short of. In creating Shirayuki, the writing borrows inspiration from her damsel-in-distress namesake to have a character that tries to balance uniqueness with traditional shoujo tropes. However, the issue with this “happily ever after” aspect of the show is that it inhibits Shirayuki’s characterization and gets in the way of her doing anything. 

A main plot point of the show is that Shirayuki’s hair is unique and stands out so much that it gives her trouble. This is further expanded to touch on how people treat a woman who is seen as desirable to have. However, it’s just a little questionable that EVERYONE in this fantasy world wants Shirayuki and her hair (you’re reminded of how her hair is so special about every other episode), but for the show and the message it’s trying to convey that’s acceptable. Up until this point, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime was pretty interesting and a fun watch. 

You can probably imagine my disappointment later when time after time, Shirayuki ends up in situations on account of her hair and needs (very conveniently) for either the male lead or one of her friends to save her. Shirayuki ends up in this awkward place because while she tries her best to deal with her situation, she never gets anything done. In one of these situations, Shirayuki clearly shows to us that she can fight back by herself. However, the plot being what it is, her enemy recovers instantly, cueing Zen to miraculously appear and save Shirayuki (not like she couldn’t have saved herself). This is the rough structure of the entire show. Something happens to Shirayuki, she then voices her opinions and takes action but it fails, and then Zen needs to come to her aid and actually get things done. 

Shirayuki's pairing with Zen is justified heavily by the show because apparently he has some sort of inferiority complex with his brother and needs to find people of his own to protect. This is alright, but the show pushes this point so much that Zen frequently has to drop EVERYTHING to go and save Shirayuki. Sometimes it feels so contrived, just to make room for romantic/melodramatic moments. It's frankly disingenuous that this show presents an independent female protagonist but then willingly undermines her agency at every turn. This is not to mention how Shirayuki is wholly devoid of flaws. Clearly, the only bad thing about her is her unique hair (pointed out multiple times). Some other reviews have mentioned that she is a Mary Sue, and this is very accurate. 

Nevertheless, I liked the show and it was still nice to watch with the beautiful, cozy backgrounds. This review functions for seasons 1 and 2 because season 2 is simply more of the same “damsel in distress” storyline. Don't be like me and get fooled by the premise: this anime is one that you should go in with no expectations and you won’t be disappointed. There’s a likable cast of characters, and the dynamics between them are fun to watch. And although Zen has that habit of constantly saving Shirayuki, that doesn’t mean he’s any less of an adorable sweetheart. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime has a nice fantasy setting (albeit without much world-building) and a little drama with a happy ending, so if you want to watch something cute, this is for you.

Final Rating: 6.5 rounded up to 7

Season 2 didn’t change much from Season 1, but they made a lot of improvements here and there. The fundamental problems with the show remained, but Season 2 was all about tying up the loose ends. There was more work done on the relationship between Hozuki and her mother, which was lacking previously. At first, I didn’t really like Hozuki, but her characterization in the 2nd season brought her back around full circle to being a likable character. Akira’s arc mid season was done pretty well. Given the context of the show, having Akira develop an inferiority complex from being surrounded by brilliant people and ... her family’s expectation was very fitting and relatable. I did feel as if her problems were resolved maybe a little too quickly, but that wasn’t a major issue. The few episodes leading up to the finale appropriately raised the tension and stakes for the schools involved in the competition. And so, there was a nice “dynamic” between the three best performances: Himesaka emphasizing harmony, Hakuto with their solo act, and finally, Tokise focusing on emotional impact. However, I didn’t really understand the point of the talented dark haired character from Hakuto high school. He just seemed like a gifted person who was ignorant of their own value and, honestly, kind of entitled.

A good thing was that there were less cringe worthy moments. This held back season 1 by a lot since it felt really cheap to have the characters overreact to minor things. The audience could also see more of the dynamic between the club members and their advisor. All these minor improvements ended up making season 2 solid. If nothing else, the finale’s Tenkyu piece sounded very good and didn’t need the show to explicitly tell viewers that.

Final Rating: 7

Kono Oto Tomare is fairly average. Its characters are barely more complex than 1-dimensional cutouts. The main cast are all (gently) dolts, Chika and Hozuki especially because they’re a copy paste of the tsundere archetype. Chika needs special mention here because, even among the dolts, he manages to be about as dense as a block of lead. All the characters end up overreacting to pretty normal things.

The vice principal has a huge grudge against Chika for no apparent reason other than that he’s a delinquent and therefore the vice principal needs to go out of his way to harass Chika. Hozuki’s mother goes through ... a complete 180 (without any more context) after her husband dies and people start to slander her family’s reputation. Kurusu is dumped by her boyfriend because of a single lie that everyone somehow believes, and then suddenly becomes a reverse Batman because she can’t handle seeing other people happy. It’s alright though, because none of their actions were wildly unreasonable, albeit even if they are slightly melodramatic.

In this same vein, there were frequent borderline cringeworthy moments with the characters and even the performances themselves. The green dragons effect when they were doing the Ryuuseigun performance was very noticeably forced. None of the pieces stood out to me as sounding great, and I found it coddling that the show needed to “tell” the audience whenever there was good koto playing. I understand the anime is about the power of friendship, but the characters don’t have to look constipated whenever they try to say “I enjoy playing with you”. It’s hardly natural, but again, given the context of the anime, it’s fine as long as it wasn’t taken overboard, which it wasn’t.

And as much as I cringed whenever there were melodramatic moments, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this show. Kudo's character growth was healthy and his blockhead antics were amusing. It's a wholesome anime that doesn't try to go for much (except when trying to hammer home its emotional points), and that's perfectly fine.

Final Rating: 6