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There are a lot of... interesting reviews here. But as an anime only with the memory of a Wish SD card I just wanted to give my two cents and say - this is useless. I honestly could've used a recap of season 1 since I honestly couldn't remember a lot of the finer details of what happened. But the recap barely covers the events of the first season (moreso certain scenes reminded me of what had happened, although the scene actually shown barely told the viewer anything) and takes painstakingly long covering the second season, for which even I can remember the story so ... far. It's a completely unnecessary filler episode. Don't waste your time.

Looking at the reviews for this, I think... have I stepped into a parallel universe? I don't understand what people see in this show. Is this for kids? But it's aired at 1am. There is simply nothing this anime does that other anime haven't done better. It brings nothing new to the table. But well... let's see what this anime has to offer.

The anime's strong point is certainly the visual style. The 'normal' art style is simplistic but appealing. The character designs are distinct and cute. And of course, there are many different styles incorporated in this show. There are 3D stop motion-esque segments, and ... the latter half of each episode is done in a live action style, with a big costume for the dinosaur, which remains expressive with the aid of sound effects and changing the eyes. The transition segments are done by different animators as well, which is pretty neat. The OP and ED also incorporate different media and are a joy to watch

But everything else is mediocre at best. The voice acting is fine, nothing particularly remarkable there. The sound design is bizarre. There are constant random airhorns during the live action segment. I have no idea what that's about. It was entertaining in the first episode due to it taking me off-guard but by the third it just got annoying. The video game-like sound effects for the dinosaur are pretty charming though.

The characters themselves, although cute, have their merits end there. Every character is bland. I wouldn't call them unlikeable, just... bland. Forgettable. The titular gyaru is a laid-back nice gyaru. That's about it. The dinosaur acts generally cute. There isn't really anything special about him either. The side characters are even more forgettable. They have no depth. The most depth they get is that there's some mild tension between the gyaru and her ex-boyfriend. There's nothing to be invested in.

There isn't a story to this anime, except for a weird subplot that seems to have come straight out of a middle-schooler's fantasy. Just a daily life type of thing. But even then, it's just dull. In the most recent episode I watched, there a shot of water filling up a tub... that lasts over a minute. Barely anything happens. Is this supposed to be ambient? The humour is bland as well. It'll make me snort some air out of my nose every once in a while, I guess. Maybe I'm just too old for this.

The reason I started watching this anime is because the title intrigued me. And indeed, when I watched the trailer, I found it hilarious. A gyaru and a dinosaur are polar opposites, after all. But after the entertainment of the concept wears off, you're left with having to sit through twenty minutes of what seems to be just a kids' show. I hold out hope that at the end of the anime, there'll be some incredible twist that bumps up my score a digit or two, that will reward me for sitting through all this. But I don't think anything could make it worth it to stare at this show for the equivalent of four hours. There is nothing special about this show. It overstays its welcome by the second episode. I think I would've enjoyed it much more if each episode had been half the length, at least. The entirety of each episode feels like filler. Don't waste your time on this anime. It's not even entertainingly bad, because it does have its merits. But perhaps that's its biggest flaw - the fact that despite all efforts, it just ends up being forgettable.

I would like to start off this review by saying PLEASE skip the ED and previews if you want to watch this series. They do contain spoilers.

So, what were the good parts of Juuni Taisen? The art was honestly pretty nice, in my opinion. Occasionally there was some distracting 3DCG used, but otherwise there was this nice sketchy style throughout the series that was nice to look at and matched the tone. The character designs were also good, matched the characters themselves, and easy to tell apart - well, except for the Tatsumi brothers, whose voices, appearances and personalities are stupidly similar. This wasn't even ... for any real reason and was flat-out confusing. Fortunately other than the flashback, there are... other ways to tell them apart, so it wasn't too much of a problem. Sound is also fine, nice OP and ED, decent enough soundtrack. The deaths, although predictable, were entertaining to watch, and the fight choreography was good, and there's plenty of blood.

So what did it get wrong? Well, the character deaths are predictable as hell. It follows an episodic pattern, as well as another pattern that becomes obvious after a few episodes. The characters are somewhat bland with very basic motivations, and it would've definitely been nicer to go more into depth into the stories of some of them, but there's only so much that can be done in twelve episodes. The characters' powers are ridiculously unbalanced as well. The last few episodes are particularly egregious with this, where certain characters have a stupidly long amount of time to get out of bad situations. The powers themselves are also somewhat nebulous in their rules - why can this character use their power to do this thing, but then suddenly they can't do that thing later on? To what extent do their powers work? There are a lot of moments when you're just shouting at the screen because of missed opportunities.

This is more of a personal grievance than anything, but also, Usagi doesn't get a flashback. He was an interesting character (also my own Zodiac animal) and I looked forward to seeing his motivations and deeper personality, but the closest he gets are a couple short lines detailing his wish.

Overall, the series was... good. A decent 7/10. I didn't regret watching it or anything. Again, there were so many things that could've been done better, and so many missed opportunities. Waiting for the twists that never came. The final ending is also idiotic so don't expect anything great. But if you're looking for a run-of-the-mill battle royale that offers a good amount of bloodshed and even some intense gore at some points, then Juuni Taisen will do that job fine.

Net-juu no Susume was one of my favourite series at the beginning of the season, and I thought that it could easily become my favourite anime of all time. The first few episodes suggested that it was more than the average romcom, that it was more something akin to Welcome to the NHK, with how Morioka's NEET status is presented. It's clear that she hated her job, and became a NEET due to that, and despite her claims of being a 'proud NEET' she tries her best to cover up that fact, and has very low self-esteem. But that was all ultimately pushed aside in ... favour of the romcom genre.

But, this is still a fantastic series. It's absolutely brimming with charm. It mocks MMOs in a way that isn't usually seen, poking fun at the various little features such as microtransactions and characters being AFK. The comedy overall is spot-on, mostly based on character humour.

Most characters are underdeveloped in favour of developing Morioka and Sakurai, the two main protagonists. This much is somewhat expected in a ten-episode series, but there are some bizarre little facts about the characters scattered in, such as showing one of the MMO players in real life for less than thirty seconds during the entire series for no particular payoff, and developing Sakurai's backstory during one episode only for it to never be referenced again.

Aesthetically, this series is just beautiful. The art style is a little different to the standard style, which is nice to see, and the animation itself is very fluid. The character designs are also very nicely done - the MMO characters aren't overdesigned, and there's no sameface (at least, none that I noticed). The sound design is also very nice, with a fantastically done OP and ED, and a soundtrack that fitted the series well. Voice acting is also very good.

My only major complaint with the series is how it handles the NEET status of our protagonist. At first, it seems that the series is making a statement on how difficult it can be to find an enjoyable job, and discouraging the protagonist from being a NEET. The other characters also are shown to have a variety of different types of jobs, which I was expecting to be expanded on. But there are mixed messages being sent through the series. Morioka isn't encouraged to get a job and has no monetary issues either, and despite being a NEET nothing negative really happens out of consequence. And yet she still seems uncomfortable being a NEET and doesn't really think of it as okay, and by the end of the series the fact that she's a NEET seems to just become a device to let her be online all the time instead.

It may seem odd that I give this series a 9/10 after all the flaws I listed, but honestly, it's just so enjoyable. The character interactions are cute, our protagonist is cute, and overall it's just a comfy little series that I enjoyed watching on Friday nights with a cup of coffee and lying in bed. It's a cute little romcom, nothing more, nothing less, and as long as you aren't expecting it to carry any sort of important message it's a very fun series.