*Spoiler Warning*
Rascal Does Not Dream of A Bunny Girl Senpai (which I'll be referring to as Bunny Girl Senpai throughout this review as I'm too lazy to type out the entire title repeatedly) had all the ingredients for me to enjoy it: an attractive female character in a bunny girl outfit, said female character is something of a dominatrix, and it tells the story of how a relatively wholesome romance develops between two characters while also teaching the viewer some important life lessons about puberty. While I can understand why others would enjoy this anime and give it glowing reviews, for me personally I
...
found Bunny Girl Senpai to be a bit underwhelming. I didn't think it was a bad anime, but for everything that it had to work with I was expecting more.
The major thing that held this anime back for me was the over-convolution of "puberty syndrome". At its core, the show defines this as a supernatural phenomenon that affects the characters brought on by their psychological trauma from either some sort of identity crisis or horrific event. This phenomenon can cause all sorts of things to occur such as including but probably not limited to: the world around you literally ignoring your presence as if you were invisible, being forced to relive the same day for an extended period of time, having physical injuries magically appear on your body, swapping bodies with another person, a cloned version of yourself appearing, developing amnesia and your personality replaced by an age regressed version of yourself, or straight up hallucinating about the existence of another person. What I took issue with was the in story explanation of why puberty syndrome would occur with the various characters. Every time one of the aforementioned examples occurs, the main character, Sakuta, would go to his nerdy friend, Rio (I'll admit at first I thought she was a teacher before figuring out a few episodes in that she was actually a student), who would explain these phenomena using *quantum physics*. I didn't mind that the puberty syndrome occurrences were explained and I would prefer that they were explained, but the explanations themselves felt a little over complicated at times (and that's putting aside the fact that I'm not sure if the examples used were actually examples of quantum physics, but I'm far from an expert in that field so I wouldn't know the difference). It would've been fine if quantum physics was used as a tool for explaining the plot maybe once or twice, but it was used in almost every instance and Rio's explanations would have me scratching my head trying to understand what the hell she was even saying. I came to watch an anime girl in a bunny suit, not a lecture on quantum physics. If I did, I'd watch "That one time I got reincarnated as a scientist and I have a Science Fair in 3 days" (it's not a real anime, I'm joking here). The irony of all this is outside the OP, Mai, the face of this anime, is only dressed in her bunny outfit twice by my count. So a little bit of a false advertisement here....
Outside of that, there were a number of smaller grievances that I have with Bunny Girl Senpai that I'll lay out:
-The English Dub was not that great. Sakuta and Mai, the two main characters of the anime, felt pretty monotone throughout the course of the anime. I thought the VAs themselves were fine choices for the characters, but there wasn't a whole lot of inflection in their voices throughout many of the episodes. Now there were times where they did show emotion and they did fine in those instances but for the most part they sounded pretty flat to me. The side characters had more variety in their vocals than the main characters and I wouldn't say that's a good sign...
-I didn't find Sakuta to be all that great of an MC. Now while I didn't believe he was badly written, he's probably what you could consider your average harem MC: pretty bland personality, has all these beautiful girls clamoring for him, and kind of plays the miracle worker role which I'll put an asterisk on. He certainly helps the girls solve their various issues brought on by puberty syndrome and their underlying darker issues, but what is nice is that he doesn't actually solve their problems for them but rather steers them in the right direction so that they can overcome their issues. Other than the fact that he cracks crude jokes here and there which I did find to be funny, for the most part he's pretty standard for your average Rom Com MC, just with a dash of EMO and light on the degeneracy. He honestly reminds me of Ayanokoji from Classroom of The Elite, but not as much of a genius, not really manipulative and capable of feeling emotions.
-I do think the romance between Mai and Sakuta was a little rushed. While I generally thought the pacing in this anime was actually pretty good all around, Mai and Sakuta getting together felt a little too sudden. In the first three episodes, Sakuta goes from discovering that he can see Mai when nobody else can, to for all intents and purposes being in a relationship with her. I can understand why the characters would develop feelings for each other (in Sakuta's case, attraction), but it felt like their relationship happened a little too fast. Otherwise, I do think the characters are a great pairing for each other and they have good chemistry. I also do think their "fight" in the final episode was also a little unnecessary and forced, and it was all a means to try to get the anime to end on a wholesome note by them making up. I honestly think they should've kissed in the final scene but the cheek pinch is also pretty on brand with their relationship.
-If there was one missed opportunity for this anime to explore something was the relationship between Yuuma, Sakuta's best friend, and Yuuma's girlfriend, Saki. All the other side characters got a little arc to themselves to explore the themes with their problems and the underlying issues, but Yuuma's and Saki's relationship isn't ever portrayed as being super healthy from an outsider's perspective. Throughout the anime, Saki clashes with Sakuta, wanting him to stay away from Yuuma due to the false "hospitalization incident", and during Rio's time in the spotlight it gets revealed that Yuuma and Saki aren't speaking to each other due to a fight. While Rio selflessly sacrifices herself to tell Yuuma to fix things with Saki in spite of telling him her own feelings for him, I definitely think that this was something the anime should've covered. Bunny Girl Senpai already talked about a lot of important issues that people going through puberty experience such as bullying, relationships with family, self-confidence, etc., and while the anime does cover romance it's really only ever shown through a positive lens. I get that there's only so many episodes to go around but at the same time the anime subjected us to the "ground hog day" treatment with Tomoe in two separate episodes, so...
Now my grievances aside, this anime does have some rewarding traits. It does a good job of describing the issues that you get to deal with during puberty and gives some solid advice and inspiration on how to potentially overcome them. This anime is filled with plenty of those scenes doing just that and were certainly the emotional highlights. Aside from the underwhelming voice acting, the production value was pretty good. I thought the art style, character design, animation and music were all solid. I liked the OP and thought "Kimi no Sei" was an enjoyable OP and I thought the outro, "Fukashigi no Carte" was a good song as well. I really liked how they'd change the outro scene up depending on the arc it was in. First the outro featured Mai before going on to featuring all the other female characters like Rio, Kaede, Tomoe and Nodoka depending on which of them the episode was about. I thought that was a nice touch and their respective characters would also be singing the song and the scene would be slightly changed up as well. That's a level of detail I can always appreciate. For the story side of the anime, while I generally thought it was "okay with flashes of good" the entire time, I do think Kaede's arc in the final few episodes were the best in the anime. There was something inspiring about Sakuta helping and inspiring Kaede, whose puberty syndrome effects were amnesia and age regression, to overcome her fears of the outside world and helping her to step outside of her comfort zone and all the other characters helping her in their own way. That was anime and Sakuta at their best and I felt for the guy when Kaede got her memories back.
I thought Bunny Girl Senpai should've been better given what it had to work with, but the execution was lackluster in too many key areas for me to ever give this anime an endorsement. That said, the anime was enjoyable enough for me to continue watching and see how it ended more than me being on the edge of my seat wondering with anticipation of what would happen next. Bunny Girl Senpai has some redeeming qualities with the message it sends along with some of its humor and emotional moments, but outside of that the anime just didn't "wow" me. There's some glaring flaws that hold it back from me giving it a higher rating with the plot being over convoluted with quantum physics, underwhelming performances from the main voice actors, and some story elements that didn't have the best execution. Bunny Girl Senpai is certainly an interesting romance anime with a blend of supernaturalism to it, but it didn't do enough for me to say it's better than other romance anime like Toradora, Love is War, My Dress-Up Darling, Your Lie in April, and even newer ones like Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian. I can rank it above other certain romance anime I've watched because at least this anime teaches something of genuine value and doesn't veer into abject degeneracy. Now, I will say if I do have the opportunity to ever watch the sequel movie, I would since the anime did also generate enough curiosity with me to want to learn more about Sakuta's and Shouko's relationship and get the answer as to what her whole deal is, but as of this writing I don't believe the movie is available in the U.S. where I'm currently at.
Honestly I think this best sums up my feelings towards this anime: I liked it enough to continue watching it, but not enough to the point where I could say it's better than most other romance anime I've watched or could ever give it a ringing general endorsement. I could recommend it if you're really into the romance genre or perhaps you need inspiration with a personal struggle, but outside of that, I'd struggle to give it much praise. The "fine" rating also pretty much sums up my feelings as well.
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Feb 23, 2025 Mixed Feelings Spoiler
*Spoiler Warning*
Rascal Does Not Dream of A Bunny Girl Senpai (which I'll be referring to as Bunny Girl Senpai throughout this review as I'm too lazy to type out the entire title repeatedly) had all the ingredients for me to enjoy it: an attractive female character in a bunny girl outfit, said female character is something of a dominatrix, and it tells the story of how a relatively wholesome romance develops between two characters while also teaching the viewer some important life lessons about puberty. While I can understand why others would enjoy this anime and give it glowing reviews, for me personally I ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 14, 2025 Recommended Spoiler
*Spoiler Warning*
It would be hard to describe Dandadan using only one word. However, I can say that it’s an anime where there’s a little something for everybody: action adventure, romantic comedy, supernatural, drama, horror, and much more. While I think when any piece of media has a broad appeal factor, it can sometimes struggle with its identity which can lead to the show being a bit of a chaotic mess. Dandadan is a chaotic mess, but I would say it's a loveable one. It has some raunchy and pretty dark moments, but it has just as many wholesome, emotional, funny and epic moments mixed in ... as well that all equally deliver extremely well. I did enjoy watching Dandadan, even if it had some moments that made me a tad bit uncomfortable or moments that just fell flat for me, such as the “cliffhanger” moment in the final episode which we’ll talk more about later on. It’s an overall fun and engaging story with two relatable and likeable main characters who’re trying to survive whatever their crazy universe throws at them in the way of ghosts and aliens (and sometimes both in the same episode!), and watching a well-written, wholesome budding romance between the two of them take shape. Dandadan doesn’t really have much of a “central plot” but the story is told in a linear fashion. The anime follows the story of two characters: Takakura (often referred to as Okarun, mostly by Ayase), a nerdy loner boy who believes in aliens, and Ayase, a popular girl who believes in ghosts and whose Grandmother is a spirit medium. When they both meet for the first time, Takakura and Ayase clash as they don’t believe in what the other is into. This leads to Takakura investigating a haunted site where a ghost is rumored to live, and Ayase investigating a location rumored to have alien sightings in an effort to prove to the other what they believe is actually real. It ends up that both ghosts and aliens are real, as Takakura becomes possessed by a ghost known as “Turbo Granny”, and Ayase gets abducted by aliens who want to do some good ol’ fashion “experiments” on her. Takakura ends up rescuing Ayase using his new ghost powers that he gets from Turbo Granny while Ayase unlocks physic powers. They escape the alien abduction and the two become friends as romantic tensions simmer between them over the course of the season, a bit of a classic “popular girl meets nerdy loner boy and they fall in love” kind of trope, but it works well in a story like Dandadan. One thing that does get revealed over the course of the anime is that there is great interest in Takakura’s “manhood”, with the interesting in story reason being that it’s a source of great spirit energy (hey if you’re going to have raunchy subject matter, at least connect in some way to the plot, which to Dandadan’s credit it does right as the jokes were starting to get old. So kudos to them on that!). Turbo Granny initially took all three key tenets of Takakura’s manhood, with him recovering his “banna organ” after her spirit gets exercised out of him, but he’s missing his balls as Turbo Granny lost them during their fight (talk about having your balls in a vice am I right? Ok, I’ll stop). However he does recover one of his balls back by the end of the season (so now he’s a uni-nut guy). One of my favorite parts of Dandadan’s story was the romantic comedy aspect. I found it to be very well written and it portrays a natural progression of developing feelings between two characters who are pretty much opposites. The writing also did a great job in creating solid chemistry between Takakura and Ayase in truly complimenting each other’s strengths and compensating for their respective weaknesses, and over the course of the season you get to see just how close the two of them have become. The romantic tension also gets ratched up significantly when Shiratori (a popular girl who portrays herself as a bit of a nice, goody-two shoes kind of person but is really just a mean girl) and Enjouji (Ayase’s goofy childhood best friend, who was also Ayase’s first crush) are introduced into the story, setting up an interesting love triangle (or square? Rhombus? Parallelogram? I’m not even sure!), situation as Shiratori falls for Takakura after saving her from the Acrobatic Silky ghost and does not get along with Ayase at all, and Enjouji who seems to be trying to get back into Ayase’s life but is met with some distance and Takakura is weary of him to say the least. I would still bet money that Takakura and Ayase get together in the end and I wouldn’t be surprised if they pair up Shiratori with Enjouji as well to complete the circuit. Of course we have a long way to go to see if that takes shape and I wouldn’t even say Takakura and Ayase are anywhere close to confessing their feelings for each other, but the pot is definitely stirring between them. While I would say Dandadan has more upside than down, it's not without its flaws. Aside from the episodes occasionally being a little erratic with what the story throws at you, the production quality in the episodes felt inconsistent at times. While I thought the character designs themselves were great, the art style itself felt off at times. Originally I thought it was drawn in a “classic” sort of style but there’s times in the anime, such as in the OP, where it felt high quality and really well done, but there were also times while I was watching that it somehow felt “dated”. It really shows when the backgrounds have some good level of detail and there’s just not the same level as with some of the characters. It’s a strange inconsistency between scenes. The voice acting in the English Dub for the most part was fine. I especially liked Ayase’s and Takakura’s voice actors as they did a great job in selling me their characters. However, I wasn’t huge fan of the alien voice actors or the voice actor for Mr. Mantis Shrimp. There was too much echoing in their voice modulation and it made it hard to understand what they were saying at times. There’s a little fourth wall break moment at one point when Ayase asked Takakura and Shiratori if they could understand what Mr. Mantis Shrimp was saying after they tended to his wounds. So it seemed like it was intentional, but I would say going forward they might wanna ease up on the voice modulation. Otherwise the other aspects of the production quality were good. I really loved the OP “Otonoke”, it was a very catchy song and I loved the animation for it. The song itself starts off a little weird but it becomes a more emotional song which is when it becomes very catchy in the second verse. Even the dances the characters do throughout the OP animation were great. I also liked but didn’t love as much the outro, “Taidada”, which is a more upbeat and silly song with the animation following Turbo Granny in her cat shrine body getting into shenanigans which was funny to watch. I was considering giving Dandadan a higher score but what truly did it for me was the “cliffhanger” moment in the final episode. It felt a little underwhelming and also jammed in because they were out of time. If they wanted to end the season off on a cliffhanger, they could’ve chosen better moments, such as arriving at Enjouji’s home or the moment Ayase leaves on her own which leaves Enjouji and Takakura alone together for the first time. Instead, the cliffhanger ends off on Enjouji and Takakura finding a hidden room in the house as Ayase is cornered by a group of men who’re either possessed by something or are aliens in disguise (I’m not really sure but the anime makes it clear there’s something off with the entire town in that episode). My gripe with this cliffhanger is that it feels like it ends off on a cheap cliffhanger which we had already seen several times during the season, so it proved to be an underwhelming moment for me and I wish that they would’ve chosen another moment to end it off on. Now to get into the characters a little bit… Ayase: She’s a great and well written main character for this anime. Although she comes from the “pretty, popular girl” trope, the anime did right by her character by giving her a strong-headed kind of personality and by giving her an occult kind of background. It set her up as an interesting character, and the anime definitely delivered! She has great chemistry with Takakura, her Grandmother and the other characters and her character design was awesome! I’ve read up about how she is the “one true main character” of the story and it was the manga writer’s original intention to have a sole female lead but ended up having to create Takakura’s character in order to make this story possible. I can kind of see that as she does have a lot of “main character” type moments, but she shares the limelight well with Takakura. She's a likeable main character, very well-written and is portrayed pretty realistically for the story she’s in. Takakura: I also thought that Takakura was a very well written and strong co-main character for the anime. Although, unlike Ayase he holds more true to the “nerdy loner boy” trope with his fascination with aliens and he doesn’t break too much out of that at least in this season. However, the anime does lay out a clear path for him in how he will presumably grow as a character, and I can imagine that should he confess his brewing feelings to Ayase, it’ll definitely be a highlight for this anime when it's all said and done. Otherwise, Takakura is a solid, likeable character and he’s easy to root for and I’m sure he’s a character that will be radically different by the end of the story to what he was in the beginning. Shiratori: She’s the classic “popular, mean girl” I described as earlier, but what makes her unique is her delusion that she was “chosen by heaven” to stop evil, including Ayase and Takakura who she believes are demons. At first she trolls Takakura by feigning interest in him when they first meet, but after he saves her she falls in love with him for real. Although Takakura does not seem to be interested in her at all, at least that’s how it's currently being portrayed. I’m not the biggest fan of her personality but it makes for a fun and entertaining dynamic between her, Ayase and Takakura. I also found it cool that she got ghost powers as well which gives her something in common with Takakura, so perhaps that’s something that could draw the two of them closer together (she also did find one of Takakura’s balls which opened her up to the world of ghosts and aliens, so I’m sure that’s poetry for something). If there’s one thing I was confused by regarding her character was her exact relationship with the Acrobatic Silky spirit. At first I thought the spirit was just simply insane and thought that Shiratori just happened to share the same first name as the daughter that the spirit had in life, but we do learn that Shiratori lost her mother when she was young but don’t learn any more beyond that. In Acrobatic Silky’s flashbacks we do see her child but she doesn’t appear to resemble Shiratori. Shiratori did call Acrobatic Silky “mother” before she passed on from the physical world and that whole scene from the backstory to Shiratori’s hug with the spirit was the emotional highlight of this anime. It delivered hard, and also showed a softer side to Shiratori’s character that showed she’s not entirely a stuck-up person. At any rate, I’m not sure if Silky Mother is actually Shiratori’s mother but from my understanding she is not and was just insane. Enjouji: Although we don’t get too much time with him as he’s introduced in the last few episodes of the season, he’s Ayase’s childhood best friend and first crush (the crush fizzled out though when he made fun of her for doing her Grandma’s protection ritual to school everyday). I do find it interesting though that perhaps the feelings were mutual, and he is interested in her if we’re to take what he says to Takakura in the final episode at his word. Although that being said, I think Ayase seems more annoyed by him than anything else and I wouldn’t rate his chances too highly unless something dramatic happens, which something dramatic almost always happens in this anime, so maybe he’s got a shot! That being said, I don’t have too strong of an opinion of him one way or the other, but the anime seems to be setting him up to be getting ghost powers like Takakura and Shiratori do, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out! Seiko: She was great and I loved her character! She’s the classic “badass Grandma” of the story and has a hilarious back-and-forth bantering relationship with her Granddaughter, Ayase. Whenever she’s on screen she’s either always either cracking hilarious one-liners, wisdom or cracking open ghost skulls. She also might be the hottest oldest character I’ve come across, which feels weird for me to type out. Ah well, I’m sure I’m not the only one! Turbo Granny: She’s one of those characters who starts out as an antagonist, but then finds themselves as part of the main cast and helps them out (even if it's under duress). While I wouldn’t trust Turbo Granny in the long term, she is someone who has understandable motivations in restoring her power. The anime does set her up as a potential scheming character down the line after she tried convincing Takakura to let her take over again as he was struggling to control her powers. She is also a somewhat sympathetic character in which she seems to help the spirits of young girls who’re murdered move on into the afterlife in some way. So while she may be a depraved and overly aggressive spirit, she’s not totally without a heart. Otherwise, she has some good horror and humorous moments in the anime, and she’s always an entertaining character no matter what. Dandadan was a wild and interesting anime, and while it's not for everybody, I was able to find enjoyment in this anime. It was an entertaining story between two very well-written and likeable characters that try to survive a crazy world in which ghosts and aliens are after them, and they grow closer together through their shared experiences. While the anime does get raunchy, lewd and dark at times, it is as equally as comedic, entertaining and thoughtful in its approach. It’s definitely not the most perfectly written or executed and the flaws in the production do show at times, the strengths of Dandadan more than make up for its flaws to make it an enjoyable and worthwhile watch. I’m looking forward to season 2!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Feb 13, 2025
Suzume no Tojimari
(Anime)
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Recommended Spoiler
*Spoiler Warning*
I finally got around to completing the holy trinity of Makoto Shinkai's disaster themed films: Weathering With You, Your Name and now Suzume. While his films aren't a trilogy (and I'm not entirely sure if they all exist within the same universe or not), they each follow very similar themes and have very similar plotlines: Young protagonist meets co-protagonist of the opposite gender under supernatural circumstances and must work together to save the world from epic disaster at the cost of a sacrifice from the co-protagonist, which prompts the protagonist to risk their life to undo the sacrifice of the co-protagonist in order ... to bring them back to life at the cost of unleashing said supernatural circumstances that could bring about the end of the world, but it all ends up working out at the end of the day and the protagonist and co-protagonist (who become love interests over the course of the story), end up reuniting and there's an implied happy ending. While each of the three movies have their own twists and turns in that plotline (with Your Name being the most unique of the three), that is essentially the plotline of each of Makoto Shinkai's disaster themes. However, I will say that I thought Suzume was the best iteration of this plotline among the three films. Suzume wasn't a perfect story, but it was an enjoyable watch which is at the bare minimum what anyone can ask for. The general plot is that an orphaned school girl under the care of her Aunt, named Suzume, teams up with a "closer" named Souta to travel around Japan to close ancient doors (which are portals to a supernatural realm) in abandoned places in order to prevent a giant supernatural worm from destroying the country. (While it is quite big, and somewhat scary based on its size alone, it is not pink but rather red and black, so it's not the Alaskan Bull worm!). The worm becomes a threat because Suzume decides to investigate what Souta was up to in an abandoned town and accidentally frees a spirit named Daijin, who was keeping that door sealed by functioning as the keystone, which threatens to release the worm on Japan. Should it be fully released, it would plop onto the ground and cause a massive earthquake. Things get even more complicated for the duo when after the door Suzume accidentally opens gets sealed again, Daijin turns Souta into a chair that Suzume's mother had built for her when she was a little girl. Daijin also seems intent on releasing the worm on Japan (for some unexplained reason) so as such Suzume and Souta must travel Japan to thwart Daijin and get him to turn Souta back into a human. In my opinion, of the three disaster films Suzume has the most exciting premise right off the bat. That's not to say Weathering With You and Your Name had bad premises, they didn't, but Suzume is billed as more of an action-adventure than a romcom like Weathering With You and Your Name were, and in my personal tastes that appeals more to me. While there were romantic elements mixed into the story and while it is not an explicit or obvious romance like in the previous two movies, I felt that the love story between Suzume and Souta was a little forced. Suzume is clearly attracted to Souta from first sight (which there's nothing wrong with that), and while the two do forge a good bond with each other over the events of the story, I have a hard time wrapping my head around Suzume deciding to try to resurrect Souta when it was his sacrifice that prevented the worm from destroying Tokyo and perhaps the rest of Japan and maybe even the world. It's also a risk she is very well aware of, yet she still decides its worth the risk. I can understand her being devastated by Souta's sacrifice and her desire to want to bring him back, but for her to still risk it all after spending maybe three or so days with him? It's a bit of a leap in logic for me and it's the same gripe I had with Weathering With You, only this time things work out in which everyone else doesn't suffer at the expense of the two characters getting together, so I'll give credit to Makoto Shinkai for not pulling the exact same thing and putting a twist on it this time. I can also understand that Suzume made a purely emotional decision right off the fly so there is not meant to be any logic to it. The only other real gripe I had with Suzume was the handling of Daijin's character. Daijin is initially portrayed as an antagonist in the story, essentially playing the role of a guardian that has forsaken his sacred duty of keeping the worm at bay by being the keystone to a door that keeps the worm in the Ever After. From what I understood over the course of my time watching, it just seems like Daijin simply doesn't want to be the keystone anymore and wants to experience the real world which is a fine motivation. While he is nice to Suzume throughout the film because she showed an ounce of kindness to him by feeding him, he also plays the role of a bit of a poltergeist kind of villain by turning Souta into a chair for 90% of the movie and seems to be responsible for opening various other doors around Japan that Suzume and Souta have to close while pursuing Daijin. At the Tokyo door, he seems to be rather indifferent as to whether Suzume and Souta are ultimately able to stop the worm or not, but he does reveal that he had passed on his role as a keystone to Souta which makes him have to sacrifice himself. After the worm is contained, Daijin tries to act all friendly with Suzume, but Suzume is rightfully pissed off at him and tells him to get lost. He later re-joins Suzume as she goes on her quest to rescue Souta but is mostly silent for the remainder of the movie until he agrees to become the keystone again in order to contain the worm and free Souta. So yeah, the cat spirit has a wild character arc that's not very well communicated and seems to just do things because the plot demands it. I would also say that while the movie was pretty interesting in the beginning and end, it kind of hits a bit of a lull around the middle of the story. That's when the story follows Suzume, her Aunt and one of Souta's friends as they journey across Japan to return to Suzume's old home in hopes of finding an entrance to the Ever After that she had accidentally stumbled across when she was a child. While this section of the movie was no less important than any of the other parts, it did feel like it dragged on a little bit which could mostly be attributed to the movie being rather fast paced in the first act and was considerably slower by contrast. They probably could have trimmed down on some scenes such as the traveling in the car bits but that's just me. I also felt that there were times during the journey in the first act when Suzume and Souta were pursuing Daijin and closing doors across Japan, some of the scenes of them helping out the random people they came across felt a little longer than they needed to be and they really only exist to serve as a bit of a checkpoint for the duo along their journey, so most of these characters that we get to meet across the course of the movie don't really matter and just simply serve as a cameo at the end. On the other hand though, it definitely did help make it feel like the movie was truly happening on a grand scale and that there was an added sense to the stakes should Suzume and Souta fail, so there is that. While I think time was reasonably allotted on scenes over the course of the, some scenes definitely could've been trimmed but that's kind of a nitpick level criticism from me. Otherwise, I would say Suzume was solid! The movie executed the emotional beats of the story very well. I did feel bad for Souta when he opted to sacrifice himself in order to become the new keystone to keep the giant worm contained as he had become a likeable character by that point in the story, even though I had an inkling that they weren't going to end his character off like that. Suzume's argument with her Aunt Tsubame truly felt like an heated and organic family argument. What takes the crown in this movie was Suzume's backstory and her meeting with her younger self in the Ever-After world at the end of the movie. Suzume meeting her younger self was a nice way to bring the story full circle and it was a powerful moment in which she healed her inner child, allowing her to finally move on from the pain she had felt from losing her mother. It was a very poetic and powerful scene, and it conveyed the movie's message of moving on learning to move on from traumatic events in an excellent and heartfelt manner. The production work done for Suzume was also outstanding, and I think it was also the best looking of the three. If there's one thing Makoto Shinkai knows how to do is how to make a movie look good. It was also nice that the movie took place in areas of Japan that I don't get to see too often in anime, where a good chunk of the movie takes place in areas not named Tokyo. The level of detail that went into every populated and abandoned town, the Ever After, the ocean, the roads, it honestly felt like I was right there in the moment with the characters. The animation was truly beautiful and perfect down to the last minute detail and it is easily in the uppermost tier of animation I've seen so far! So hats off to Makoto Shinkai and CoMix Wave Films! They knocked it out of the park! I also really enjoyed the music tracks for the movie, especially "Suzume" and "Kanata Haluka". They were beautiful songs and captured the essence of the movie perfectly. As it turns out, I had heard the "Suzume" song a long time before I ever watched the movie, so I had a nice deja-vu moment with that! The voice acting was also solidly done and the dub voice actors fit their characters well. Outside of Daijin who I already stated my thoughts on, the only other characters really worth mentioning are Suzume and Souta themselves. Suzume is really the only character that has any sort of meaningful character growth as she essentially becomes closer and moves on from her past trauma. Outside of that she's a rather typical anime protagonist but she's likeable and easy to root for as she goes on this adventure across Japan. Souta was also likeable and a relatable co-protagonist, even if he is confined to the body of a chair for nearly the entire time. They worked some humor into that over the course of the movie, particularly when Suzume sat on him as the movie's only real "implicit" scene which got a good chuckle out of me. They definitely do work well together over the events of the movie and I could see how a romance could develop between them eventually, but as I said before Suzume's feelings are a little more clear than Souta's but the movie does leave things open-ended for when they part ways and then reunite in the final scene after some time had passed. The romance stuff is purely implied and left rather open-ended, but it did feel a little jammed in there at times. I had a fun time watching Suzume! It was a solid movie and I was satisfied watching it. It's a nice, two hour long super-natural adventure story as two young adults race across Japan to prevent total disaster and the movie helps to teach how someone can move on from a tragic event in their past. It does it in a sweet and relatable way and the movie makes it easy for you to like and be able to relate to our two co-protagonist characters. Suzume might not have done every little thing perfectly and sometimes the flaws in the writing can show, but it has a good enough story and meaning behind it that it's able to overcome its flaws and stand on its own legs in spite of that. It also helps that the plot is relatively simple and easy to follow along with and there's a good payoff in the end. While I wasn't the biggest fan of Weathering With You and generally liked Your Name, I can say I have firmly positive feelings about Suzume and can give it a solid score of 7. It's not the best movie ever for me, but it's one I wouldn't mind watching again in the future!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 10, 2024
Spy x Family Movie: Code: White
(Anime)
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After Season 2 of Spy X Family, I was starting to become a little concerned about the direction the anime was heading in. I was concerned that Spy X Family was getting away from what made it so great in the first place: a perfect balance between the action of a spy thriller and the wholesomeness of having a family, all under the guise of the entire arrangement being fake with the fate of the world literally hanging in the balance. In the second part of its first season and in season two, Spy X Family had begun tilting more heavily in the ... direction of wholesome family bits and away from the spy action and thriller parts. The broader stakes have become more or less of an afterthought. Now I'm not against Spy X Family showing off more of it's "Family" part and there's some genuinely funny and meaningful scenes that have come out of that, it had begun to neglect the "Spy" part of the story and I think the anime as a whole was starting to get a little stale and forget about the reason why they're all even together. The plot had not meaningfully advanced in any serious way since season 1. I think Spy X Family got back to its roots with this film, and whether it's canon or not (I'm not entirely sure and it seems to be a little bit of a grey area) I hadn't felt this good about Spy X Family since I was watching the anime for the first time. I enjoyed it that much. The movie got back to the roots of what made this anime so good and special for me as a viewer who is invested in the anime and it restored some of my confidence in the broader story. It managed to strike the balance between both aspects of the story and provide some kind of meaningful stake to the whole story: at first it's Loid being able to continue Operation Strix and later Anya's life becomes at risk at the hands of the Ostanian Military. Now at the end of the day it all gets resolved and nothing that meaningful happens as a result of the conclusion of the movie's events, it at least provides me some comfort in knowing that the anime hasn't forgotten the rest of its story. The general plot of this movie is that Loid is at risk of being taken off Operation Strix due to his higher-ups wanting a different agent. However, Anya also gets an opportunity to earn a Stella should she win an upcoming baking competition her school is doing. In an effort to gain an edge, Loid figures out the principal's favorite dish which requires them to travel to a remote part of Ostania where the principal happens to be from in order to be able to replicate it. However, The Forgers inevitably get caught up in another instance of peace hanging in the balance after Anya "accidentally" eats a chocolate containing highly sensitive microfilm that if came to light would trigger a war. So the usual Spy X Family shenanigans that we all know and love! One of the things that surprised me about the movie was how much of a darker story this was in terms of the greater Spy X Family story. There's quite a bit of blood and killing that happens in the movie (not that we hadn't seen it before over the course of the anime, but it had also been so long since we've seen something like that it comes across as a surprise). Colonel Snidel, the main antagonist in the movie, isn't anything special when it comes to villains but he was excellent for this story. He was brutal, bloodthirsty and intimidating. You only need to look as far as his willingness to kill Anya, a literal child, to get the microfilm that becomes a plot point in this film. He was a step up from the villains we've seen in Spy X Family and probably the only true villain we've had so far (unless you want to count Donovan Desmond but we haven't seen much of him up to this point). It's also always nice to see Loid and Yor throwing down with people and seeing just how skillful and strong they are, and this time they had genuinely challenging opponents (I know we saw Yor struggle against some assassins during the Cruise Ship Arc in Season 2 but outside of that she usually just mows guys down left and right), with Loid having to handle Colonel Snidel while Yor took on a cyborg named "Type F" who had a genuinely pretty cool design as what I can assume is a "first generation" cyborg. I also really liked the design of Colonel Snidel's airship, it brings out the Star Wars nerd in me. The action stuff aside, there were always plenty of wholesome and funny moments from each of the characters. They seemed to carry over Yor's feelings of inferiority which was a plot point in a few of the episodes for season 2 which if memory serves (and it's been a minute), that plot point had already been kind of settled so I was a little confused to why it was being brought up again, but it provided an opportunity for Loid and Yor to build their connection more. I do think Loid is truly starting to fall in love with his family as seen from some of his POV shots for how he sees Yor and Anya. There's also the instance of after Loid's and Yor's Ferris wheel ride to smooth things over after Yor had drunkenly accused Loid of cheating, Anya interestingly did not repeat the thoughts that were in Loid's and Yor's minds after she asked if they were "aggressively flirting" (I mean hey...she technically wasn't wrong!) and she smiled. That all being said, towards the end of the movie after Colonel Snidel and his forces had been defeated and they need to crash the burning airship safely to avoid hitting a town full of people, Loid was able to convince Anya and seemingly Yor that they dealt with "Chocolate Thieves" (this is honestly on brand for Spy X Family), and Yor went along with it. I'm not sure if she genuinely believed that or not, bit you have to think as well that Loid and Yor are eventually going to become suspicious of each other's abilities and their true identities. It didn't flare up during the movie but after going through an ordeal like that makes you wonder if they'd start questioning each other. Who knows? The production value of this movie was up to the standard we've seen for Spy X Family: beautiful animation, great designs, fantastic arc, the English Vas were great as always, and the music was enjoyable. I really liked the "winter theme" they went for the movie and I think it was a nice touch, and very seasonal considering this came out around Christmas time in 2023 and I'm only getting around to watching almost exactly one year later. It was kind of funny that at the end of the movie they decided to travel to a warmer area in order to retrieve the ingredients for a new dish that Anya has to make for her baking competition in order to earn a stella. If there's one thing for me to nitpick this movie on was the whole "toilet joke" sequence that was going on during the back end of the movie. I get that it was comic relief for what was a high stakes and intense overall scene, but I think the joke dragged out a little too much for my tastes and the whole "poop fairy" thing was a little over the top. I get that its joke is geared towards younger audiences and I'm a little outside that age demographic now but it's one little critique that I have of the movie. That and the fact that the overall plot isn't really affected by the events of the movie and they end up having to more or less repeat their entire endeavor, but the movie might not end up being considered canon and it was ultimately still enjoyable to watch. I enjoyed Spy X Family: Code White. It was a pleasant change of pace that we've gotten recently from the anime and it's a return to Season 1 form in which I believed the anime was at its best. If they want to continue the momentum and advance the story in season 3, they should take into account how they did this movie and repeat the formula for season 3. The story is at its best when it combines both elements of the "Spy" and "Family" stories. It is in the name after all.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Dec 10, 2024
Kimi no Na wa.
(Anime)
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*Personal Note: There is some discussion about Weathering With You, which was also made by Makoto Shinkai, the film director for both Your Name and Weathering With You*. This was my second time watching a Makoto Shinkai movie, the first being Weathering With You. Despite its dazzling animation and astounding production quality, I didn't enjoy Weathering With You a whole lot due to the plot being pretty weak. As such I went into Your Name with a bit of weariness. I didn't want to go into it comparing Your Name to Weathering With You and I understood that (as far as I know) ... these movies are separate from one another. Although Your Name predated Weathering With You by 3 years, I was cautiously optimistic about this movie since I had heard generally good things about it and some consider this movie to be pretty emotional. So how did I think Your Name stands up? I would say Your Name was a good movie. It had phenomenal production value with the animation, art, music, voice acting, etc., it was a very well put together movie. The plot, which makes or breaks any story and can always make up for less than ideal production quality, was alright. I wouldn't say watching Your Name was a personally eye-opening experience and it didn't blow me away like the comet did to Itomori, but it was an enjoyable story that you can get reasonably into and have a nice payoff by the end. The plot was a little convoluted at times with the whole "body swapping" and the fact that the characters are also three years apart, so there's times where you may struggle to wrap your head around things. This phenomenon is also never really explained in too much detail but my head cannon is that it has something to do with the comet. Also, I think they overused the whole "amnesia" aspect to the body swapping a little too much. I fully understand that it was a plot convenience, but there's times the plot really uses it as a crutch and it shows. Although at the end of the day there's no egregious sin here. In fact, I would say Your Name went out of its way to cover its bases and at least avoid any major plot holes (at least to the extent that a story like this could). One such instance was as I was watching Your Name, I was wondering in the back of my mind why the two main characters: Taki and Mitsuha, didn't just text or call each other during the events of the film. The movie cleverly explained this away by later saying that they had tried to communicate to each other before but their messages and calls wouldn't go through, and then drops the bombshell that Taki and Mitsuha are on different timelines 3 years apart but are able to communicate to each other through this unexplained phenomenon. It's easy to miss them but there's little hints and easter eggs throughout the movie that hint that Taki and Mitsuha are on different timelines through things like calendars hanging in the backgrounds, the dates on their phones, the kinds of phones they have. This was well planned and well executed, I'll admit I didn't see any of the clues at the time I was watching and only after the fact, but it was a good plot reveal. It initially opens up a sort of Pandora's Box of questions like: "If Mitsuha died when the comet struck, how is she still able to talk to Taki?" and the movie does go on to later explain how they are actually on different timelines and through this unexplained phenomenon they cross time and space. The movie also makes references to the whole "red string of fate" myth which in hindsight is also a hint that went over my head about how our main duo is able to talk to each other. While the plot can be a little light on the details at times, I do appreciate them conscientiously eliminating plot holes and having them make sense within the context of the story. The Love Story between Taki and Mitsuha was decently executed and they're both solid characters that you can root for. I would imagine living a few days of each other's lives and seeing what they have or what they're missing out on can reasonably draw two people closer together. They also went out of their way to try to improve each other's lives as well which I'm sure the other found endearing in retrospect. The only real humor in this movie is when Taki and Mitsuha are arguing with each other and leaving notes for each other on their arms, notebooks or wherever, and they did sound like an old married couple bickering which was pretty funny. There's also the classic humorous question of "if you woke up in the body of the opposite sex, what's the first thing you would do?" and the movie realistically answers that question which was pretty funny. The connection between Taki and Mitsuha is a bit of a slow burn and by the time we see the comet strike Mitsuha's village it's obvious that their feelings are mutual by that point, and all the other side characters (who are also serviceably written but nothing exceptional in and of themselves) pick up on that too. It's an overall wholesome story of love that's used to save someone across time and space, and even though the logistics of it are a little funky, it was nice to see that because of Taki's efforts, Mitsuha was able to save her town and reunite with Taki when they reach adulthood. There was also a few times where they just missed each other in the film including the time when Mitsuha actually sought out Taki to try to meet him, but he didn't recognize her as the two were on different timelines which got explained later in the movie, so there was some genuine sympathy from me there on that that was given in retrospect. To be frank, if there was a decimal system I'd give this movie a 6.5/10, but when I was deciding my rating I decided to round it up because I did ultimately enjoy Your Name and seeing Taki and Mitsuha reunited at the end was a sweet and strong scene to end off on. There's some aspects of the plot that are wonky and it can get a little weird at times, but it's a movie I can also see myself watching again in the future. Your Name didn't knock my socks off, but it was still an enjoyable movie that has great production, likeable characters and a decent plot. I did feel like it was a better movie than Weathering With You. Your Name felt like that despite its flaws, it at least carefully and skillfully pulled off its plot while Weathering With You felt like it wrote itself into a corner and the whole thing goes off the rails in the last 20 minutes. Your Name did not have this problem. I'd ultimately consider Your Name to be a decent movie and I would say that it was worth checking out!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 9, 2024
[Oshi no Ko] 2nd Season
(Anime)
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I went into season 2 of Oshi No Ko with decently high expectations, and all things considered I would say that they were met! Season 2 was a solid continuation of the story from the previous season. Some of the smaller plot threads, such as the Akane vs Kana battle for Aqua, were resolved in this season but the anime also threw in a lot more mystery and intrigue to the main story with the first on-screen appearance of Aqua's and Ruby's father. This season also sets up for Aqua and Ruby to take on inverted roles in season 3: with Ruby being ... the one to look into the mystery surrounding Ai's death and their father's involvement in that while Aqua seems more focused on living his new life and leaving the past behind him, thus maybe aspiring to what Ai always wanted Aqua to be. One of the things I've liked about Oshi no Ko as a whole is how it depicts the relationship between Aqua and Ruby and how they've taken completely different approaches to their new lives and now all indications are the roles will be reversed. Aqua and Ruby have been taking opposite approaches the entire time and now they're trading places while remaining opposites. It's quite interesting to watch and I have to give credit to the amount of depth that this story has. Oshi no Ko so far has been a clearly thought out and well executed story, even if it wasn't an exciting thriller 100% of the time. The main story of this season was the Stage Play Arc which covers most of this season. For the most part it was alright but it did feel a little dragged out in some parts. The story of the actual play itself is a little basic and goofy, but I suppose it works in the context of the story and it technically doesn't need to be grand or otherwise it'd probably risk taking too much focus off the main story. There's quite a bit of flashback storytelling during the actual Stage Play episodes which I'm not generally a fan of because it keeps bouncing back and forth between the past and present for most of the episodes, although by the end of the Stage Play Arc you can actually come to appreciate it. It mostly serves as character growth for Aqua as he overcomes his inferiority-complex about him not being a good actor despite his obvious talent for it, which is also something the anime had me scratching my head over during the first season. The anime actually gives a reason as to why Aqua is this way (although in hindsight the answer was staring me right in the face), in which Aqua is still traumatized by Ai's death and him "enjoying acting" apparently runs counter to his mission of tracking down his father. The anime does a good job of explaining this and depicting Aqua's PTSD over the ordeal and how he ultimately rises above it which is fully embracing his "darker emotions" in order to turn in the performance required by the play. Aqua also wasn't the only character who had to overcome their own questions of self-doubt: Akane, Kana and even Melt all had some pretty good scenes during the Stage Play Arc and it was rewarding to see each of them step up in their own way to help move the play along and see just how genuinely good they are act acting. Oshi no Ko also continues to depict what seems to me as an outsider a rather frank and realistic take on the entertainment industry and all the seedy, back-room deals and hand wringing that goes on in this line of work. The early episodes of this season explored the challenges of adopting entertainment across multiple mediums, and in this case, the creator of the in-universe manga Tokyo Blade takes issue with the script for the stage play and threatens to blow up the whole thing. Granted this was averted by some subtle manipulation on Aqua's part, I can only imagine how hard it is to adapt something written into stage play and I felt like that part of the story was realistically done. Makes me wonder if there's some degree of self-insert in this story lol. Ultimately though this part of the story was interesting and the manga creator was very eccentric and it made for some interesting moments. One of the major underlying plot threads that got carried over from the tail-end of last season into this one was who would Aqua end up with: the tsundere red haired Kana or the quiet and timid blue haired Akane? Well if you go by this on a trend basis, you'd think it'd be Kana and the anime does tease us a little bit with the Aqua x Kana ship during their hangout before they travel to Miyazaki, but it was a bit of surprise to see that Aqua choose to stay with Akane, especially when it seemed like things were being set up to end their fake relationship. I do think Akane is ultimately a better match for Aqua: they do have some genuinely good chemistry and some sweet moments with each other, and she's the girl you could trust to hide a dead body with! (I'm not kidding when I say this, it actually surprised me too!). While Kana has her reasons for being a tsundere, I think Akane's softer personality is better suited for the quiet and brooding Aqua (who seems to be on the upswing to becoming more open with himself as well by the end of the season!). Now I don't know if Akane and Aqua's relationship will ultimately last, but how I interpreted their last scene together in the final episode was that Aqua is willing to give Akane a shot and is willing to let the relationship try to be more "real", which was also kind of trending in that direction during the early and middle parts of the season before it seemed like Aqua was thinking about ending things. They were more or less acting like a couple even away from everyone else, especially when Akane chose to look after Aqua after his breakdown early in the season. Akane should continue to be an interesting character, especially since she also seems like she may perhaps know or at least suspect that Aqua is Ai's son, and with her hanging around Aqua for the foreseeable future it'll be interesting to see just how truly devoted to Aqua she is, and given that she plainly stated she didn't mind of Aqua was using her and was well aware of it, it might not be for the best for her. I do wonder how Kana will ultimately handle the news that Akane and Aqua are now officially a couple, but it seems like she handled it as well as she possibly could've. Knowing Kana we'll probably see her full reaction in season 3. If there was one let down was that the Akane and Kana drama wasn't as exciting as it panned out to be. They butted heads a few times but it wasn't anything dramatic and they end up supporting each other in the play and both want the best for each other, so their rivalry is an interesting one but I felt that season 1 raised expectations a little too high for what we ultimately got here in season 2 between Akane and Kana. This season also clouded the greater mystery behind the main story: Aqua tracks down his supposed half-brother which is confirmed through a DNA test: fellow stage play actor Taiki. We're initially led to believe that they shared the same father and that he ended up killing Taiki's mother and himself in a murder-suicide. This does give Aqua the closure he needs to drop his vengeance and move on at least a bit from his trauma, but that's clearly shown to be wrong as we're later introduced to Aqua's father when Ruby unknowingly passes him after a visit to Ai's grave. So I wonder if this is a case where the DNA test was flat out wrong, there is some degree of truth to the DNA test, or Aqua was being lied to. I'm sure we'll get the answer to that question in season 3. We obviously don't get treated to too many details about Aqua's father but it seems like he's some sort of serial killer after he kills a turquoise hair-colored girl who eerily looks like Ai with the shining stars in her eyes, although Aqua's father's eyes "shine black" similar to how when we see Aqua and Ruby channeling their darker emotions. I'm sure we'll learn more about him as time goes on but I do find it interesting that he's aware he has children yet hasn't made any moves against them, at least not yet. Ruby is also a character that gets some drastic character development as well and seems to be in-line for some big things down the road. Although this time around she has less screen time than Aqua did, she's the only other character who experienced some drastic character development in which she discovered what happened to her crush in her previous life: Dr. Gorou (who is Aqua and yet somehow both of them haven't divulged or managed to find out who the other was in their previous life, and boy do I imagine that'll make for a hell of a reveal if it comes to pass). This obviously traumatizes Ruby and sets her on the dark path that Aqua was on in trying to determine who her father is and kill him. I do wonder what the whole deal is with the little girl with long silver hair, it seems to be some sort of figment of Ruby's imagination but I wonder if there's more to it. There probably is given how layered the writing is in a story like this. The production quality in season 2 was just as good as it was in the previous installment. The OP: "Fatale" and outro "Burning" were pretty good songs and fit the anime well, but I still prefer the OP and outro for season 1. I will say I did find it interesting that the animation for "Burning" exclusively featured Ruby this time around while in last season's outro while in season 1 both siblings were featured, which I think is meant to foreshadow the path Ruby is taking this season and perhaps going forward. The animation, voice acting and art were all top-notched and matched the quality we saw in season 1. It is still a visually beautiful and well put together anime. Ultimately while the Stage Play Arc was probably a little longer than it needed to be and can get a little dull at times, it does pay off in the form of meaningful character development and the last few Ruby focused episodes reignited the mystery and intrigue in the story which sets up an interesting season 3. Unlike in last season where there was a clear "next stop", this season's finale left things open-ended for where it'll go and what will happen next, and I think that's a good thing for the anime to do to help amp up the suspense. I think season 2 was an adequate sequel to season 1, and although I think season 1 is better, I thoroughly enjoyed this season and I look forward to season 3 to see what happens next!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Dec 4, 2024
Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan
(Anime)
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Generally speaking, I enjoy a good gag show mostly because my sense of humor is all out of whack. I can honestly find pretty much anything funny so long as you can sell me on the delivery of it. I don't even mind if the plot is not necessarily about anything in particular, just so long as there's likeable characters and there's genuinely good comedy involved. Now it's hard to keep comedy fresh and interesting over any extended period of time but if the show has something good to fall back on it can work. Does My Deer Friend Nokotan have that? Well...not ... really....no. That's not to say My Deer Friend Nokotan is a bad anime per say. At least I wouldn't call it a bad anime. There's some genuinely good and funny moments throughout the anime but for the most part I think the absurdity and weirdness of the plot overshadows everything. I also find that sometimes the jokes run their course after the first few times at the most and it gets repeatedly used. There's also just some blatantly weird moments that make you question your life and all the decisions that probably led you to reading this review. I know that the anime definitely forced some introspection on me more than once during my watching. The premise of this anime is that there's the classic "perfect" girl in the main protagonist, Torako Koshi, who is by all accounts a pretty solid character. She's not an exceptionally written MC but she's a likeable and enjoyable character who ironically enough also serves as the self-insert for the audience as we get a front row seat to her hectic situation. She is a former delinquent who has since turned over a new leaf and is now the "perfect" girl we all know and love. However, her way of life is upended when one day she crosses paths with a "deer girl" named Nokotan, who somehow deduces that Torako is a former delinquent and is a little loose lipped about her big secret. As such, Torako somewhat begrudgingly befriends her and gets Shanghaied into serving as President for a "Deer Club" which later on adds the other main characters: Torako's sister Anko, and Bashame, in order to keep her quiet. Now this was an interesting set up, but it's not like Nokotan is every really portrayed to be a malicious character and after a few episodes it was clear to me that if Torako's big secret of her being a delinquent in her past were ever to come to light, it'd either be because Nokotan accidentally blabbers about it or Torako loses her shit on someone and it becomes clear to everyone that she's not the "prim and proper" girl everyone thought she was. Ironically though, she does lose her cool in front of the whole school and goes off on Nokotan during the school festival episode, but nobody seems to be bothered by her "scolding side". So it seems that Torako's fears might be overblown (but then again she is a high school girl in anime, so of course her fears are going to be overblown), but the general student body also has their priorities out of whack and that's shown plenty of times over the course of the anime with nobody minding the chaos Nokotan creates. Also ironically it's not even her delinquent secret that comes out to the whole school, but all her other secrets in the episode where her sister Anko made her grand debut. As funny as that episode was, a part of me did genuinely feel sorry for her, and this happened several times during the anime. She's a bit of a proverbial punching bag throughout the anime, and having been in similar situations to her, I can definitely sympathize with her. If anything Nokotan's a bit of an idiot to put it nicely. In fact pretty much the entire cast outside of Torako is a degenerate, and more often than not I felt bad for her for the absurdity she had to endure. All she really wants is to just to live her life the way she wants to by being her best, and it's actually admirable that she went from being a delinquent to an all-star honors student with a bright future. Not everyone does that so she has my praise. However she's constantly brought to her limit by Nokotan and everyone else's shenanigans and there's plenty of times the "delinquent side" of her pokes through her newly built persona, which seems to be genuine. Torako is hiding from her past and is trying to leave that in the dark to everyone else but she seems to have genuinely changed for the better. It's not like she's actively living a double-life, at least the anime does not portray her out to be that way. Now Nokotan is a generally harmless character (when she's now blowing stuff up) and she is the face of the anime, its comedy and its weirdness. The punchline (often at Torako's expense) is Nokotan. She's a character that you'll either laugh at or make you wonder why you're watching. The anime also does a good job in showing how close Torako and Nokotan become over the course of the anime, it does feel by the end that it's a genuine friendship. The best way I can honestly sum up Nokotan's character is that she's the weird girl at school who thinks she's a wild animal, and in this instance, she thinks she's a deer. What's kind of funny is that it's not exactly established what Nokotan is. At first glance you'd think that she's just a girl with deer antlers but with what she can do with them and all the times she removes the top of her head....she's not 100% human that's for sure. It's interesting. Outside of the main comedic duo is Torako's yandere sister, Anko, and deer wannabe girl Bashame. Outside of their unique designs they're pretty much one-note characters: Anko is creepily obsessed with her sister to the point you wonder if she was ripped straight out of an incest anime, and Bashame who I'm convinced is high 24/7. Now they're not badly written characters and they have some nice and funny moments during the course of the anime, but they're pretty much one dimensional. Torako and Nokotan are the main show while Anko and Bashame are the plus ones. They do make things interesting at times but for the most part they're just kind of there. Anko did have an early promising start as an antagonist when she was trying to get rid of Nokotan so she could have her sister back all to herself, but she eventually comes around to join the deer club "as her sister's deer" and doesn't really do much else aside from simping for her sister. Meanwhile Bashame, who weirdly refers to herself in third person the whole time for some reason, wants to become a deer girl like Nokotan but ends up pretty much just eating rice and later farming it. That's their respective running gags throughout the anime. The only other character worth mentioning is Neko Nekoyamada who I suppose passes as the main antagonist for the show given that she's trying to usurp control of the student council from Torako and forcibly disband the Deer Club (for some reason), but she never really does anything and ends up supporting them in the last episode when some secret Deer Organization tries to take back Nokotan. Past that the other student council members are pretty forgetful: Kinu Tanukikouji is a character that panics over every little thing that goes wrong, and the Chiharu Tsubameya character doesn't have a whole lot of a personality other than being in the quiet type, but she does look like Ichigo from Darling in The Franxx which I thought was pretty neat! The story for the most part isn't anything special or really existent past the initial set up and after the jokes run their course after the first few times, the anime really doesn't have much else to fall back on and you're left watching some weird deer girl dragging along poor Torako along for the ride in whatever she got herself into for that episode. Some of the episodes really feel like they drag on and they use the same running gags repeatedly to stretch out certain scenes. It does wear on you a little bit. Now this wasn't the case for every single episode, there were some episodes that were better than others and for me I felt that the first episode was interesting, then it fell off for a bit, found its rhythm around the middle part before flip flopping between a decent episode and a weird one. Truly, the comedy and the episodes were hit or miss throughout the anime. What gives the anime its charm and does sell you on at least some of its humor is its production quality. They did something interesting: they used CGI Deer throughout the course of the anime which I thought was pretty funny. They really stand out and contrast to the art style in which everything else is drawn so it does help make the deer feel special. I also liked that in the episode typically around the midway point they'd show Torako and Nokotan hanging out around different parts of Japan which I thought was pretty neat! Otherwise the animation and art style was solid and did what it needed to do. I really did like it when they transformed the characters into chibis, it definitely added an adorableness factor to the anime! I felt that the voice acting for the English dub was alright. I really liked Roo Ryder's portrayal of Torako. I wouldn't wanna say she carried but she was phenomenal. Trina Deuhart for Nokotan was also a solid choice for Nokotan. Both actresses were natural fits for their characters and I think they nailed their roles! Outside of the main duo, I thought the voice acting was serviceable. It wasn't the best dub I've ever listened to but I've heard better as well. The focal point of this entire anime, and how I came across it in the first place, is the OP. By now I'm sure everyone and their mother has heard and seen it, and needless to say: it's great. There's plenty of anime that tells you what the show is all about by their OP alone, but I think this anime is definitely the prime example of it and I mean that in a good way: it shows unfettered chaos, pop culture references and memes, which is basically what the anime is. The song itself is also very catchy, heck I was listening to it earlier today at work before I wrote this. It's catchy, uplifting and the animation for it is solid. It's honestly a very good OP and I'd rank it highly on my list of OPs. The outro was also very cool: it showed the real life process of making deer crackers which are heavily featured throughout the anime and I thought it was cool that they showed it! So overall did I like My Deer Friend Nokotan? Well, I didn't hate it. It got some good chuckles out of me here and there while also genuinely surprising me off of pure shock value in some scenes. However, the fundamental problem with this anime is there's really nothing good to fall back on when the humor well runs dry and the anime suffers for it. The story itself has a good set up but it kind of gets forgotten about after the first few episodes and isn't relevant. The anime also relies too much on running gags and jokes that run their course after a few uses and just really stretches them out. I don't know if that was intentional to try to use all their air time or what, but it wasn't really sustainable and at some points it felt like the whole thing dragged on. The story and characters had some potential but it doesn't really ever get used. Outside of Torako and maybe Nokotan, the rest of the cast is pretty forgettable, and Torako is kind of the only character that has any semblance of writing or character development. Nokotan is likeable enough because of how weird she can be and you can come to appreciate the bond that blossoms between her and Torako. Other then of some flashy animation, pop culture references and 4th wall breaks that are sprinkled in, the use of CGI and the addicting OP, there's really not much the anime has to offer. If you're a fan of running gag anime you might like this one but if you're not super invested in the genre you probably won't. It's definitely not an anime to take seriously but for me personally I think the anime is ok and nothing more. Would I watch a season 2 of it? Eh...probably not. Unless they make another addicting OP. I'll finish off this review off in deer: Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan Shikanokokokokochitantan
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 29, 2024
Kanojo mo Kanojo Season 2
(Anime)
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Mixed Feelings Spoiler
*Spoiler Warning*
I'll admit that I put off watching season 2 of Girlfriend Girlfriend for a while simply because I wasn't *that impressed* with season 1 and I had other anime that I was more interested in. Despite the first season's wacky and cringey moments, there was something almost endearing about the story: it didn't try too hard to take itself seriously and there were parts of it that were genuinely funny. The humor wasn't overwhelming either. I also thought that the anime posed some interesting questions at a deeper level and I was curious to see how the characters' polygamy would work out. I ... wouldn't consider Girlfriend Girlfriend as a whole to be a good story, it's really not, but in my experience the absurdity managed to endear me to the show enough to come around and give the second season a shot. So how'd it do? Well... I won't sugarcoat it: the first half of this season (Eps 1-6) was painful to watch. The anime amped up the absurdity and blatant stupidity of the characters so much to the point that it was more frustrating than funny to watch. Genuinely the only characters who had at least a half-functioning brain during this half of the season were Shino (who herself wasn't perfect but that's due to a character flaw that was honestly well written) and Risa whose Rika's little and somehow rational sister. I suppose Nagisa didn't do anything infuriating but on the other hand she didn't do a whole lot this season either. Naoya was Naoya: a functioning dumbass and predictably makes his harem more complicated by the end of this season by adding Rika and Shino as unofficial members. I still can't understand why Saki continues to stay with Naoya and although her struggles to move forward with her relationship with Naoya such as kissing him was well portrayed, I just genuinely don't understand why she continues to be with him because at a fundamental level regardless of how well-intentioned Naoya's desire to make Saki and Nagisa happy, he's objectively saying she's not enough of for him. But she continues to stand by him and goes along with this whole polygamy so she's just as guilty as Naoya for this absurdity for enabling him. She's also not the sharpest tool in the shed herself from my observations. Rika was by far the most annoying and unbearable character to watch not just in this half of but the entire season. Her attempts to win Naoya over venture into literally drugging and forcing herself upon him multiple times throughout the anime. Now while there were some nice fan service moments that came out of these scenes, the rational part of my brain kicked in and realized that if Rika and Naoya were gender swapped just how much the vibes of this show and these scenes would be different. Now as a one-off scene, it's fine I don't really care and I can realize that this is just fiction so it's not like the scenes particularly creeped me out, but if I recall the scene played out like three different times over the course of the anime. It's like they were trying to almost make it a running gag but it was just poorly executed. The "Shino accidentally exposes herself to Naoya" gag that continued throughout this season was far better executed and managed to advance the plot out of it too. With the "Naoya getting kidnapped" gag, it was just some scene playing out and nothing really happens other than Rika just being a creep with some nice fanservice moments. A lot of the writing and humor in the first six episodes also came across as really forced and just wasn't particularly well-written. All the characters (except Shino and Risa) act like complete morons and their actions are dictated through their moronic behavior. It was overdone and well past the point of being funny enough to enjoy it. Now if there's one thing the first half of the season did do right was setting the stage for Shino's eventual confession to Naoya and the scenes in which she's trying to reason with Naoya and not straight-up bitching to him were very well done. The second half of this season (Eps 7-12) , which is the Okinawa Vacation Arc, actually turned around the watching experience for me. It got the anime back to season 1 form: there's still plenty of absurdity to go around but it balances it with better written drama and better written humor than the first half did. I barely laughed at all during the first half of this season and I was more or less making my "wtf am I watching?" face the entire time. By the second half I was making that face considerably less, and I actually enjoyed the back half of this season. It settled on the overarching storyline of Shino facing her feelings for Naoya and coming to terms with them. Overall that was a fine storyline to cover and I actually enjoyed it. I felt that it was well written and had the right emotional feel to it. It still ended rather predictably and ultimately made the polygamy even more complicated, but if there's one thing that season 2 of this anime reinforced is that this is not an anime you can enjoy without your brain being turned off. You have to suspend disbelief and just go with it. Although I have my own threshold for ridiculousness and it reached that threshold during the first half of the season and I was considering dropping it before the sunk cost fallacy kicked in for me. Surprisingly though it was actually kind of worth it by sticking with it. Ultimately I'd say that if you enjoyed the first season of Girlfriend Girlfriend, the second half of this season is roughly on par with last season while the first half was a trainwreck. Hence the reason for my slightly lower score for this season compared to the last one. So overall: the plot and writing for this season is kind of a wash. The production value of this season was just as good as it was for the first season and I have nothing negative to say about it. I did really like the OP: "Dramatic ni Koi Shitai", it was a very catchy song to listen to and it was the highlight for me for some of the episodes early on. The outro song: "Forira" was also good and the cutscene of Naoya just hanging out with the girls was wholesome. Now I did write a review of the first season roughly a year ago as of this writing so I think it'd be worth checking out some of my commentary on it: -I was musing about the possibility of Saki being a lesbian or bisexual, and ironically this season does somewhat hint at that a little bit. When Shino confesses her feelings to Naoya, Saki stated that she thought Shino had a crush on her, which Shino denies she ever did. Saki also does act pretty zesty around Shino by grabbing her boobs (or lack of them rather) a lot throughout the anime as well as on occasion being smitten by Nagisa and Shino, but I don't know if that's just more her joking around or cliche harem stuff. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if Saki turns out to not be straight. I'm not advocating for this one way or the other, I'm just making an observation. -I was curious as to what Rika was going to do in order to enter Naoya's harem. I was not surprised that she ultimately forced her way in because Naoya is a spineless tool. Essentially what happened was that Naoya realizes that being mean to her and shooing her away isn't doing anything, so instead of reporting her to the police for all her various crimes in which he'd have a substantial case against her including witnesses and possible evidence, he decided the best approach was to let her move in with him and let her try to get with him under a time limit of 5 months. Yeah Rika didn't even have to try that hard, Naoya just kind of gave up. I will say Rika was pretty annoying and unlikeable throughout the entire season and maybe genuinely has one or two good moments that get ruined because of her toxic personality. I said in my review of the first season that she had "mean girl" vibes, and I was definitely right. Now I'm not surprised that Naoya is attracted to her in some way (it's honestly hard not to be), but his mistake was giving someone like Rika an inch because she's the kind of person who'll end up taking a mile. He should've just reported her to the police or just straight up slapped her but on the other hand he's probably right that Rika still wouldn't have given up. Rika is a moron and she doesn't understand "no". Again if Rika was a man and Naoya was a girl and Rika acted the way she did, the vibe of this anime would be completely different. I condemn her actions all the same regardless of what her gender is, but the anime tries to oversell this as humor a little too much. Also, it felt very weird when Rika was trying to use her sister as a way of trying to win Naoya over during the first time she kidnapped him. It was really the only scene I felt genuinely uncomfortable watching. Not that I think the anime was trying to imply anything and it more so speaks to how depraved Rika is as a character, but I honestly felt that they did too much in that whole scene with Rika "trying to give Naoya a little sister to play with and if Naoya finds her cute than he must find me attractive" kind of head-ass logic. It was just weird. -My predictions on Shino pretty much came true: I predicted that she'd either be another antagonist figure in the story (which early on she kind of was) or that she'd try to join the harem (which she does). It was pretty clear to see at the end of the first season that she had feelings for Naoya and it gets confirmed pretty early on in the season. Shino at first tries to play the role of a good friend to Saki in trying to get Naoya to dump Nagisa and be solely with Nagisa. Although admittedly when she lashes out at Naoya for his antics in trying to keep the harem going, it almost feels like she comes across as the bad guy even though I personally think she's right in her opinions. On the other hand, I have a stance that so long as people in a harem or a polygamy are happy and want that kind of arrangement, then it's their right to. That all aside, Shino is technically a hypocrite since she harbored feelings for Naoya for years and at the end resolves to try to get Naoya to fall in love with her and try to convince him to formally join the harem. For now I'm inclined to take Naoya at his word that he's not attracted to her but Shino took the opposite path that Rika took this season. Rika is still resolved to break the harem and have Naoya all to herself. Shino, who obviously would prefer to have Naoya all to herself, will actively support Naoya's efforts to please both Saki and Nagisa and hope that Naoya changes his mind. Naoya and Shino do have some good genuine chemistry going and I think it's possible that Naoya can eventually develop genuine feelings for Shino. At least I think it's more likely that Naoya would develop genuine feelings and attraction for Shino over Rika. It's obvious that Naoya is not genuinely attracted to Rika and sees her as a pest that he's being forced to deal with for the time being. However he is essentially breaking his vow not to be a three timer by kind of "soft dating" Rika. In my opinion you can't trust Naoya and I don't know if he'll end up falling for Rika outside of a physical attraction standpoint, but again he's an idiot and the writing in this show does demand drama. However I will say on that point when the show wants to: it can be genuinely interesting and set up good intrigue. I do think Shino ultimately did the right thing in confessing her feelings for Naoya and handled the rejection well all things considered. I think Shino was the best written character this season and had genuinely good development. It might've been the only objectively good thing to come out of this season, but hey I'll take it! Even Saki's kiss with Naoya at the end of the season kind of just felt "eh" to me. -In my review of season 1, I stated that I believed the anime was trying to answer this question: "Can all parties in a relationship (harem) truly be equals?". When I finished season 1, it seemed like the anime was trying to say "no". This season, it seemed like as hard as the anime tried to make it seem like it was actually "yes", I still think it's ultimately "no". Saki herself not so subtly implied that she didn't see this whole harem thing as a "long term thing". Additionally there was a driving subplot that Saki wanted to kiss Naoya as Nagisa and even Rika had already kissed him, and even Shino got her licks in before Saki. That was borne out of a desire to "get ahead of those hoes". When the girls fight with each other (usually it's Saki vs Rika), they do refer to each other as "tramps", "hoes" and other insults of that nature. So there's an obvious rivalry brewing under all this, even if they all seem to relatively coexist well with each other. Nagisa even admitted to Naoya that she at times misses him and wants him all to herself. With Rika and Shino as unofficial members of this harem, Naoya's going to find himself stretched increasingly thin and the girls are probably going to sour on the idea of sharing even more as time goes on and we've seen signs of that over the last two seasons. Ultimately I think that this harem is doomed to fail and I'd have a hard time envisioning the story ending with the harem still intact. I think one of the girls will eventually "win" and get the shitty prize of having a genuinely untrustworthy boyfriend, but hey that's what they want and who am I to judge? Although in my not so humble opinion, it'd be pretty funny if they all leave Naoya's dumbass. I personally hope that's the ending we get to this story, but realistically I doubt that'll happen. In the end, I'd say that the anime as a whole is what most people would consider to be "slop". The story itself isn't very good, however, it does manage to endear you to it and some of the writing and storylines are actually somewhat interesting. The characters other than Naoya and Rika are likeable enough when they're not being full-time morons. I don't know what this season was trying to do for the first six episodes, but it rediscovered its mojo and whatever it was I found interesting in the last six episodes. So would I watch season 3? Well judging from what I know about how much source material is left compared to where this season ended off, it seems like there'd be just enough material to cover one more season of this story. If it turned out that season 3 would be the end to all this, then sure, I might as well since I've gotten this far. I don't know if I'd watch beyond that though. I'd rather see this story finish rather than continue in season 3.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 21, 2024 Recommended Spoiler
*Spoiler Warning*
Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russia (or Roshidere for short which is what I’ll be referring to from this point on) is an anime that I found to be surprisingly good! I was so thoroughly enjoying and invested in the story that I ended up pulling a bit of a marathon to watch the first half of the season in one night, and I don't really do that for anything these days unless I'm really captivated by the story. It's a very enjoyable romcom that doesn't take itself too seriously but manages to balance everything that goes on in the story very ... well. There's also an occasional "4th wall moment" which is usually reserved for comedic purposes and it;s used pretty well! Roshidere has a rather simple and quirky premise of a tsundere Russian anime girl named Alya who berates her crush, named Kuze, in their shared language (whether it's Japanese, English or whatever language you choose to watch this anime in), but flirts with him in Russian even though unbeknownst to her, he actually understands it. However, I think this anime is a prime example of not needing to reinvent the wheel in order to make a good, funny and entertaining story. It has great worldbuilding, an enjoyable cast that you can genuinely like even the MC, and who doesn't like a cute Russian girl angrily yelling at you in Russian? It has everything you could ever want in anime! But in all seriousness, the thing that really won me over was the execution of the story and allowing me to get to know enough about the characters to form an opinion on them, but not revealing all their secrets too soon either. For a romcom that's cornerstone is a trope that is so commonplace in anime, albeit with an interesting wrinkle, it executes its story and does worldbuilding better than a considerable amount of other anime that I've watched over my time, and for a romcom it gets a lot deeper than a lot of the other romcoms I've watched up to this point. Roshidere also shines in the production department as well. The animation was well done and the art was pretty good. I loved the designs of the characters and it really brought their personalities to life on screen. They did an exceptionally great job with Alya and her sister Masha, they looked adorable! Having watched this anime in the English dub, I thought the VAs were excellent and fit their characters well. What I found to be pretty funny and cool was that the voice actress for Ash in Pokemon voices Alya in this anime. The VA is Sarah Natochenny. As it also turns out, she is of Russian origin herself and I found her Russian lines of dialogue to be excellent. Of course, unlike the MC, I don't understand Russian without subtitles, but it sounded convincing and it was very cute to listen to! I really enjoyed the music for Roshidere as well. The intro has a very good and catchy song, and although the cutscene is a little spoilery for events that happen later on in the season, it still got me excited to watch the episode every time I watched a new episode. What's interesting is that each episode has its own exclusive outro and its own unique song that plays over official art of Alya and the other female cast members. I wouldn't say I have a particular favorite song out of all the outros, but I really liked the ones for episodes 1, 3, 6 and 12. I found those to be the most wholesome but across the board they're all pretty good! The story of Roshidere centers on Alya and Kuze. The main plot involves a sort of mind game between the two characters, somewhat similar to Love is War but there's no particular sense of urgency or effort for either character to confess or convince the other to confess first as they go about their daily lives in school. There is an interesting subplot that develops in which Alya is seeking to run for Student Council President against Suou in the upcoming election and Kuze decides to be Alya's running mate and all the drama that happens because of that. Alya is confessing her love to Kuze in Russian, which again she believes Kuze doesn't understand and Kuze for his part pretends not to. However, towards the end of the anime you'll notice Alya displays her affection more openly and flirts more in Kuze's language and less in Russian. In the earlier episodes, Kuze seems to have thought Alya was messing with him but it's clear early on he has mutual feelings for her and I think he's waiting for the right time to express his feelings and perhaps to reveal to Alya he's been able to understand her all along. It's your typical angst between the MC and their love interest and it's sort of a game of chicken, but Roshidere presents it in a very natural and realistic way as the characters are highschoolers. Alya does become less cold and aggressive to Kuze overtime like a typical tsundere but when it does happen it makes for some pretty cute and wholesome scenes. Additionally, the anime sells the chemistry between Alya and Kuze very well. It truly makes you feel like you're watching a blossoming relationship play out and nothing feels forced about it. Even the chemistry among the other cast of characters is very well and entertaining, there's a lot of good humor and memorable moments that come from them! The only thing I found a little weird was the whole situation between Kuze and his "childhood friend"/secret sister, Suou. It's a little confusing. Now the anime doesn't outright explain why Kuze and Suou can't admit they're siblings in public but the anime strongly implies that because of Kuze's strained relationship with his mother's side of the family (his parents divorced and he decided to go with the dad while Suou opted to stay with their mom), and I guess the mother's side of the family doesn't want anything to do with him and Suou more or less secretly hangs out with Kuze when they're not in school. Kuze's complicated family life is touched upon here and there but we don't have the full picture so for now we just have to take what the anime gives us and try to piece it ourselves and I truly appreciate the anime for doing that! Typically romcoms don't have a layered storytelling structure like that! What's confusing about their relationship though is that I find it hard to believe that it's a secret between them. They're in the same grade and right now I'm presuming that they've been together throughout the entirety of their schooling lives. You would think that even if their parents split up before they started school, people would probably pick up on that they're related. I can understand Kuze not being able to claim the same last name as Suou, but even Alya subtly picks up that they may be related after seeing both Suou and Kuze do their iconic creepy grins. Kuze also nearly revealed the secret to Alya in one of the later episodes but plot convenience got in the way of that. It can also be reasonably assumed that Kuze's Grandfather on his mother side, who seems to call the shots on that side of the family, doesn't want Suou around Kuze, hence their secret relationship, but if that was the case, why wouldn't their maid, Ayano, snitch on Suou? Maybe he realizes he can't stop Suou from seeing Kuze or doesn't care if they hang out so much? I don't know. It's complicated and the anime would have to go more into detail about Kuze's complicated family life in order for that situation to be cleared up but right now it's kind of a pandora's box situation and in the back of your mind you're going: "How does no one else know?". For right now that's really the only blemish on what's for the most part a pretty solid story. The only other thing that made me a little uncomfortable at times was the whole "incest angle" between Suou and Kuze. While I can totally believe Suou is a degenerate and is just joking....she does it enough that it makes you wonder what exactly she's up to. It is well established she is a pretty devious character and you maybe can't 100% trust her. She's harmless enough but she's also a giant troll. Kuze does a relatively good job in setting the boundary straight between them but it's also not clear if this is just Suou's way of messing with him or she actually views him as something more (SWEET HOME ALABAMA). If that's the case I guess it's stereotypical rom com stuff but it does provide an occasional moment of cringe. Although I'll admit: there are some funny scenes and banter between the two characters that comes from all this, so it's not potentially pushing a possible incest ship purely for plot purposes but rather more so for comedic value and I hope that turns out to be the case. Now for the characters! I'll just be highlighting the main or major supporting ones: Alya: She's the poster character for the entire anime, and she did not disappoint! She's a well written and likable character. Alya does follow the standard tsundere arc of being cold and aggressive in the beginning before slowly softening up overtime but as I mentioned it's all executed very well and it comes at a gradual pace. It's also pretty easy to understand how she came to like Kuze in which she saw him as a dependable, honest and caring guy (even if he's not quite a hard worker, at least not in the same vein as Alya). I really liked the scenes when she spoke in Russian, and it was always done for comedic or romantic purposes and it worked out well each time. I also really found it adorable and hilarious when she would get jealous and act out. It's typical romcom stuff and it's always funny to see. We also do get to see over the course of the anime how she deals with her flaws of being cold and unapproachable at times. As she's running for Student Council President, which is essentially a giant popularity contest, we get to see the shortcomings of Alya's personality and how Kuze pushes her to overcome that at least a little bit for right now. She's a very well written character and I'm onboard with the Alya-Kuze ship. Although I think that things have the potential to get very interesting regarding that which I'll get into a little bit later! Kuze: Solid MC! Usually Romcom MCs aren't the most deeply written characters but are usually passable enough to where you can get behind them. I know the reasoning for this is so that the audience can "project" themselves onto them, which I'll admit I've never entirely liked that concept. Instead I put value into characters if I can truly relate to them and find something about them that gives me a reason to root for them to get with a love interest. I don't necessarily want to "project" myself into the story. Kuze was written in the aforementioned way that I like. While he's a little bland and has some of the usual Romcom MC tropes, he does have a funny and likable personality and truly a character you can even emphasize with. His chemistry with characters like Alya, Suou, Masha and the others feels genuinely organic and is written very well. He also has some noble traits about him: he went out of his way to learn his childhood crush's native language so he could talk to her, he put aside his previous angst about rejoining the student council to help Alya realize her dream, and despite his obviously complicated past with his family he does everything he can to have a good (if not slightly questionable) relationship with Suou, his sister. He's not 100% pure of heart, but he doesn't need to be either. Kuze is an excellent take on a Romcom MC and he's pretty well-written. He surprised me the most when I started watching because initially I wasn't expecting to get a whole lot out of him but after the first few episodes I was firmly in this guy's corner rooting for his success. Suou: She's probably what you can call the "antagonist" of this story even though there really isn't a character that neatly fits that bill, but Suou fits it better than anyone else. As I mentioned previously: she's Kuze's secret sister but public childhood best friend, and she's a bit of a degenerate (the funniest callout Kuze ever gave her when he rhetorically asked if she was a failure. I think that was one of the funniest lines in the whole anime). It's generally fun when she is, but some of the scenes with Kuze where she's trying to flirt with him were kind of pushing it for me. Suou also does a good job in bringing a sense of modernity to the anime with some of her Gen-Z level humor (when she said: "Chat we got cooked!" it got a good chuckle out of me). She's also a bit of a troll character which I found amusing in the ways she tries to mess with Alya and Kuze and their budding relationship. She's not necessarily doing anything out of malicious intent but more so just for her own amusement. She does not so subtly feed into Alya's idea that there's something more between her and Kuze, and it makes for some juicy drama between the characters! She's also not a character that's willing to compromise her own ambitions and dreams to be the next president and she shows she's willing to take on Alya in a relatively honorable way, at least for right now. While she's not above playing some games with her, she does keep it within reason. I am genuinely curious if she's not at all hurt that Kuze is running with Alya against her. It seems like she's not but I suppose time will tell. She'll definitely be a character to watch! Masha: Or Maria if you prefer. She's Alya's older sister and pretty much the exact opposite. Where Alya is cold, aloof and serious, her sister is far more joyful, approachable and silly. It's a classic duality between the two sisters. Masha is a very sweet and cute character and I'd seriously question anyone that didn't like her. While she's more or less of a side character in the story, I do think she's being set up to play a major role in the story down the line: the anime strongly implies but does not outright confirm that Masha is actually Kuze's childhood friend from Russia which was the sole reason he learned Russian. If that proves to be the case, Kuze is going to likely have a very agonizing choice about which sister he would want to be with. I would say it'd probably still end up being Alya, but if it's confirmed Masha is indeed that childhood friend we saw in the first episode and the flashback during Alya and Kuze's "confession scene", this will get very interesting! Masha also seems to recognize Kuze when they first meet, though Kuze does not. I'll admit when I first saw Masha for the first time as well I did notice that she looked really similar to the childhood friend (although the childhood friend had blonde hair and blue eyes, Masha is a brunette with brown eyes). It's entirely possible that this detail is meant to be a red herring, but I would definitely feel comfortable ruling out Alya as being the childhood friend as in her flashbacks she's had silver hair this whole time and she made no mention of ever having been abroad before. Although in fairness Masha has never stated this either. It is also stated Masha has a boyfriend and she herself seems to confirm this when she has her first scene with Alya, but we curiously don't see his face on her little pendant. It's entirely possible she genuinely does, or maybe this might be her way of rejecting guys in which her boyfriend is a made up person. Who can say? But Masha is probably the number one character I'm most interested in for the plot of the story. She will be the cannon event in deciding how things will proceed with the story. That's my prediction. As far as who the best girl is between her and Alya, I'd have a hard time making up my mind. Ayano: I guess if we had to make a love square rather than a triangle, I guess we can throw Ayano in there. I thought her character was alright. She's mainly a side character and Suou's family maid. She's very robotic but I guess that speaks to her loyalty. Although she states that she doesn't have any romantic feelings for Kuze, I'll kind of believe it when I see it. You'd have an easier time selling me ocean front property in Arizona than convince me that a maid character in a Romcom isn't interested in the MC in some way. That all being said, she mostly exists in the background to support Suou in her bid to become president, so we'll definitely be seeing more of her! Taniyama: Her character was a little confusing and weird, but she does provide another level of palace intrigue to the whole student council election subplot. We first see her in flashbacks to when she lost the student council election to Suou and Kuze in middle school and she didn't take the defeat too well. Which is what I thought was part of the reason why Kuze didn't want to be a part of student council after middle school because he felt bad for robbing the opportunity from Taniyama, although the way Kuze talks about her doesn't make it seem like that's the case. She then tries to instigate a conflict with Alya claiming that she "stole" Kuze away from Suou and that she "idolized" the duo. It's understandable to a degree but I just found that all to be weird, but did serve a purpose in helping Alya and Kuze draw closer together so I wouldn't necessarily say it was forced. It also does lay the groundwork for Taniyama to eventually swing her support to Alya during the closing ceremony which helped lend some legitimacy to Alya's underdog campaign, but she did say she won't help any further. I guess you can attribute Taniyama to being a bit of a wild card and I imagine we'll be seeing her again. Considering that in the intro she is billed as one of the major characters so I do wonder how deep her admiration for Kuze runs. I don't know, I'm sure we'll see! Roshidere was an anime that surprised me. It has a very fun and entertaining story while also having complex characters and a deep story. I ended up getting pretty invested into this anime and I'd consider this to be among one of the best Rom Coms I've watched so far. I still think Toradora sets the gold standard for what I've seen but Roshidere has excellent writing and falls through on a solid execution brought on by a great and likable cast of characters. This anime doesn't do anything revolutionary and it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does a great job on selling you on its quirky premise and taking you for a fun and enjoyable ride. It's a cute and funny story and if you like Romcoms and/or always wanted a cute Russian girl to yell at you, I'm sure you'll like Roshidere! I think this story has a lot of potential and our characters have a lot of room to develop! I can't wait for season 2 and I look forward to seeing you all then!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 13, 2024
Ore dake Level Up na Ken
(Anime)
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*Spoiler Warning*
I think the plot for Solo Leveling can be pretty easily summed up like this: "Virgin beta male becomes stoic Chad after near death experience." Maybe it'd qualify as rebirth technically, but that'd be getting into semantics. Jokes aside, I did enjoy Solo Leveling and it did have its main character, Sung Jin-Woo (who I'll be just referring to as Jin-Woo from here on), go through a natural progression of becoming stronger. He wasn't automatically OP when he got a second chance at life and the anime does remind us on occasion that he isn't invincible, even when he's at his strongest towards ... the end of season in which he struggles against some very difficult bosses. Jin-Woo is also a likable enough character and there's enough reasons to like him. I wouldn't call him the deepest MC, but he's competently written and you can get behind rooting for him. If anything I think he serves as a reminder that you too can become a Chad. Preferably just don't die when you try to become one. One thing that is interesting about Jin-Woo is that as he gets stronger and especially as he is forced to kill people to defend himself, he becomes a bit more "darker", which could set up some interesting stuff for his character. Overall, I would say the anime follows a relatively simple formula for the plot and story. It's not a reinvention of the wheel, but if you're into action stories with a mystery element behind it, I think you can enjoy Solo Leveling. It's also on the shorter side with 12 episodes. I also didn't realize it until I watched it, but I realized that this anime had Korean origins. So it was nice to be exposed to something new! One of the things that really surprised me about this anime was how dark and brutal it could be. There's limbs and heads being cut off, a good amount of blood, and you can really feel the physicality in the fights. Hell, we get to see Jin-Woo get thrashed around for a good few minutes by giant statues and people get disintegrated. It's a rather dark and gritty anime, but I'm totally fine with that. I've watched some pretty dark anime in my time and I probably would rate Solo Leveling being up there on the scale somewhere. However, I would also say that being able to feel the dark and gritty nature of the anime is a statement to the solid production work that was done by A-1 Pictures for Solo Leveling. The animation was very fluid and it was excellent! I also really enjoyed the art style, it has that "new spiffy look" to it! I also really enjoyed the OP and outro songs. I'd have a hard time picking a favorite between the two and both cinematics were pretty great. As I mentioned earlier, there's a mystery element to Solo Leveling which I imagine will learn more about as the series goes on. To briefly sum up the plot of the anime: certain people receive "an awakening" which gives them the power to fight your typical monsters who show up from these portals that mysteriously began spawning into the world ten years prior to the events of the anime. Your power level is locked in and you're put on a power scale ranked A-E (A being the strongest, E being the weakest. There's also an S rank for those who are OP. So you can guess where our stoic Chad MC originally starts). This also seems to apply with whatever powers you get. If you're a healer, you're stuck as a healer. If you're a mage, you're a mage for life. So on and so forth. The anime does say that the only way you can change your power level is if you have a "second awakening" but that's treated as an incredibly rare event. So it would seem that not only did Jin-Woo have a "second awakening", but he also got gifted the ability to as the kids these days say "git gud". His power basically works the same way as leveling up in MMORPG, which tells me that's the secret to the whole world of Solo Leveling that this is all some kind of "simulation." It makes sense to me: the DND style monsters, the ability to level up, the whole inventory system...a gamer knows it's a game when they see one. Not to mention as well, the outro cinematic shows us Jin-Woo apparently running to his younger self as he's watching TV but as soon as he enters the room, he disappears and the younger Jin-Woo is left looking down the hallway wondering who opened the door to the room he was in. I think that might be the anime trying to tell us something. I could entirely be wrong but I feel like that's the direction this story is trying to go in, but we'll see. Ultimately the mystery is where exactly does this "system" that gives Jin-Woo the ability to get stronger come from and if this is how a "second awakening" works. It'll also be interesting if there's other people that have this power too or if there's other people that have also had reawakening, which the context within the story implies that there are. There also seems to be a parallel storyline in which Choi Jong-In and his Hunters Guild are trying to retake an island from the monsters in which their previous efforts did not go over well. I imagine at some point these plots will converge and Jin-Woo will become involved somehow presumably as people learn about his power as his friends and former associates were beginning to learn about it towards the end of the season, so I don't imagine Jin-Woo's efforts to keep his power under wraps will be stay that way for that much longer. Especially as he now has a target on his back since Hwang Dongsuki's brother rightfully knows that Jin-Woo killed his brother. I imagine this will come together at some point. I'm also curious to see if that "double dungeon" will make a reappearance. Jin-Woo is still clearly haunted by those events, and we do know he'll eventually make his return to that "hell" instance to try to heal his sick mother back to health. It'd be pretty wild if they were to combine the both of them somehow! I won't do my usual dive-in for the characters. For me, Jin-Woo was the only one worth talking about and the rest of the supporting cast is just kind of there. They're by no means bad characters but there's not a whole lot of things to really go into about them, at least not right now. The supporting cast is also rather bland and don't have a ton of depth behind them. However, I am interested in how Jin-Woo's sister, Jin-Ah, will react when she inevitably learns about his powers and I'm curious to see if she too will get an awakening. As far as I can tell, awakenings are pretty random. I'm not surprised that Joo-Hee, the initial love interest, didn't stick around, it was pretty clear after the second dungeon episode that her days of being a hunter were behind her. My wild theory right now is that Jin-Woo might eventually cross paths with Hae-In, one of the S rank Hunters we're introduced to, and perhaps they might become a thing. She doesn't do a whole lot in the scenes she's in but she does pop up a number of times and her power is never shown or even really discussed. So it has to make you wonder. While Solo Leveling might not have a ton of depth to it, it's still an enjoyable and surprisingly dark and gritty action anime, and there's enough mystery and intrigue to keep you invested. I think this anime has some potential and I plan to follow along with it. Overall, I'd consider it solid. I wouldn't say it's anime of the year worthy, but it's worth watching. I enjoyed watching Solo Leveling and I'm excited to see where the story goes!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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