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Sep 21, 2022
This show has so much potential and wasted all of it. A bland, slice of life game adaptation feels like it's trying to be a mix of K-On and Madoka Magica. It fails at both.
Plot: There barely is one. The story follows these girls attending a magic school, where they learn magic and etiquette. Their world is threatened by a group of "evil" knights and these girls are seemingly the our last line of defense. We are never given any background on the world they live in and why it's been threatened with apparent destruction, how magic functions, or why these girls are being
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sequestered in this school cut off from everyone else. The game may provide other context, but as it was never released outside Japan I have no way of finding out. All of the gameplay footage shows the game is a pretty standard gacha, turn based RPG.
Art and Sound:
The one thing this anime has going for it are the production values and character designs by Re:Zero illustrator Shinichirou Otsuka. But the whimsical atheistic offers up little else other than eye candy. They clearly had a decent budget to spend and it looks like it was almost entirely wasted on shots of nice look food and tea. Don't get me wrong, I love looking at anime food as much as the next person. But not for a solid 3 minutes of screen time listening to the girls talk about whether or not you should spread jam on a scone.
Writing:
At times, it very much feels like the writers saw one episode of K-On and tried their best to copy that but with bland archetypal characters. It lacks all the charm other slice-of-life shows like that have. There is no direction to the story and the pacing is painfully slow at times. When you’re presenting exceptionally mundane things like drinking tea, going to school, studying, you need to have strong characters driving the story forward. But they don’t establish any sort of personality or backstory for these girls other than surface level traits like “that’s the big sister one” or “that’s the boisterous, friendly one”. It’s hard to establish any sort of connection or interest in these girls. So instead the viewers are just left to watch these moe blobs drinking tea for half an episode. The writers don't ever decide to elaborate on the main characters, like why the titular girl has this super human sense of smell, or their power sets.
The expectation is that the show to address those darker elements at some point, maybe explain why the region they live in is embroiled in this fight. The idea of most coming of age, high school stories like this is the idea that “the good times won’t last forever”. And yet it feels like for these girls they just might because no plot changing conflicts are ever introduced. Minor episodic inconveniences, nothing more. The girls never even directly interact with the "bad guys", as the OP might suggest.
If you want to watch just one episode, I'd suggest episode 8. It is by far the best of the bunch as you get to see more of the school, the other students, and some more context for what the knights are doing while all the girls are safely locked away in their school. There isn’t much in the way of plot progression, but at least something happens.
Overall: This is a poorly paced slice of life with absurdly high production values. If you don't mind the slow story and just want to watch some cute girls drink tea and talk about magic, I guess you might find some enjoyment. But in general I don't recommend the anime.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 20, 2022
I know nothing about fishing. In fact I find it one of the most boring things in the world, up there with golf. But I am FULLY invested in this anime. In a very similar vein to Yuru Camp, this is a chill, wholesome anime about two step-sister's fishing together. It's an anime you can show your parents with no worries.
Story & Characters: By far the show’s best aspects. You have the more experienced, reserved girl (Hiyori) who inadvertently encounters the energetic novice (Koharu) who eventually becomes enamored with fishing and decides to take up the sport herself (again very similar to Yuru Camp).
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And as the story progresses you meet other characters who share their interests (Koi, Futaba, Ichika). As someone who has never fished in their life, I can't speak about all the different fishing terms they throw around but it seems like they do a good job representing the sport and all its subtleties.
One of my favorite things about the show is the family dynamic of the characters is particularly endearing. Hiyori was introduced to fishing by her late father, and clearly uses the activity as a way to stay connected to him. And now through fishing she meets her new step-sister. They both bond and heal through this shared activity/
Art & Sound: The art and animation are eh. You don't really need high-quality animation when you're just watching two girls stand at a body of water. And that's fine, albeit kinda lazy. You almost never see any actual fishing. The shots change from the girls struggling with their poles to the fish suddenly out of the water. But then shows like this thrive more on characters than the visuals. So of course the visuals aren't anything write home about. The character designs aren't busy, the environments that fill the background are sufficiently detailed, and for a show that features so much water, it all looks good. The food doesn’t quite have that instant “why does anime food look so good” quality to it that other shows like Yuru Camp or the all powerful Food Wars have.
I really like the OST. It perfectly suits the relaxed nature of the show. The sound design is solid. For a show that features so much water, everything sounds very realistic almost as if they just went out to the beach and recorded the sounds of waves crashing (maybe they did).
Overall: I plan to pick up the manga once the anime concludes so I can keep enjoying this chill fishing series. It's not perfect, few shows are. It’s the kind of show to turn on when it’s cold out and you want to warm up from the inside out. Sit back, relax with a mug of something warm and enjoy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 20, 2022
Against all logic, with all the other great anime this season, I’ve spent about 70 minutes of my life watching this anime. And I have enjoyed that time more than I expected.
Plot: Two rival golfers pushing each other to the peak of their games. One, Eve, makes a living from the seedy underground golf circuit. The other, Aoi Amawashi is a 15 year old Japanese golf prodigy whose parents were both at their top of the game. Eve golfs as a way to live, paying the bills for herself and the group of orphans she cares for with two other girls. She uses her
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strength to literally shoot her way through trouble, she is known as “Rainbow Bullet”. After 3 episodes, they’re just starting to establish Eve and Aoi’s rivalry. Hopefully there is more from this apparent mob that runs the underground golf circuit.
Art & Sound: It’s fine. Most of the actual golf shots are CGI, which is somewhat expected. For a sports anime there are a lot of still reaction shots (then again that’s half of sports/battle anime). But they animate the grass and the girls swinging the clubs very nicely. I mean it’s not KyoAni or bones, so it’s not going to be jaw dropping. The actual character designs are solid, nothing too exceptional. I like the OP and ED, catchy and upbeat. The background music is fine, not intrusive and sets the tone well. I have no idea if it’s just because it’s scoring a golf anime but the music at times reminds me of the Wii Sports Golf OST.
Overall:
While I have enjoyed my time with this show so far, I still wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re into an absurd anime about girls who are able to shoot golf balls between trains and call their shots weird attack names (ie. Blue Bullet). But if you’re open to the idea of a show that takes one of the dullest sports and adds some of that anime brand stupid to it, then this could be the perfect fit for you. It’s certainly got plenty of hilarious moments, intentional or otherwise. This show might pair well with some adult beverages, or something else (am writing this on 4/20 after all).
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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