Back to zhewww's Profile zhewww's Profile

After spending 2 cours and 1 movie with an anime, changes to the formula are hard to swallow. That's why my main concern like everyone else's going into this season was the new studio...

But I'm really happy to say that even though the new designs were admittedly distracting during episode 1, I felt that feeling gradually melt away over the course of this season. The pink haired girl still shows up and eats a ridiculous amount of food. The girl with the funny accent still says funny things, and the dog still dogs. It's just hard to stay mad at a show that is this ... wholesome and comfortable.

And this might be heresy, but I think the new designs have their own charm. Many of the changes are actually from the manga, not the new studio, such as Rin, Aki, and Ena's hairstyle changes that happen during a timeskip between season 2 and 3. I found myself getting used to the style as the season went on, to the point where I had the same distracting feeling going back to seasons 1 or 2 afterward.

That being said though, C-Station will definitely be missed. C-Station's season 2 had a sense of calm and emotional weight that was lacking in 3, and their backgrounds felt more polished. It was definitely some big shoes to fill for 8bit, but I think they did a good job.

Above all, Yuru Camp is better than no Yuru Camp at all. And with the way it ended I think chances for a season 4 are quite good, too. Hopefully I'll get to write another review for this show again!

Sit down, set aside 2 hours, and be healed. It's got folk music, lavishly detailed backgrounds, and a lovable cast of cheerful girls. The group project plot was entertaining, and I liked its overall themes of nature, togetherness, and coming of age.

It took me far too long as a Yuru Camp super fan to get around to this one, and I regret it. It's the exact kind of movie you need when life is busy and things are moving fast. It was wholesome to see the gals make time to work towards a common goal and have fun doing it, despite now being adults with ... jobs and other responsibilities.

Oh, there is also a very cute dog. So what are you waiting for?

There's a scene in Sound!Euphonium Season 3 where the conductor is reading off the audition results, and the camera doesn't show his face but instead his hands. Because of this, you can see him visibly grip the clipboard harder when he reads what he knows will be a controversial decision.

This detail might seem trivial, but when you add up enough of them, the show really starts to come alive. These kinds of details are what have always set Sound!Euphonium apart, and I kept getting reminded of that watching this season. I think the writing in this show is great, but the expressiveness of the ... character animation is what really helped me get invested in the characters and what sets Sound!Euphonium apart from other shows.

I'm sad that this is the final season, but I can't complain. The show really wraps itself up nicely, calling back to themes that it touched on in previous seasons and weaving them together into a satisfying sendoff.

It's been a lovely 3 cours, 2 movies, and 9 years. Thank you Kyoto Animation.

I've never made an easier decision in my life than rating this show 10/10.

I love moe. I love Kyoto Animation. I love Dragon Maid.

And I was given exactly what I wanted!

The term "limited animation" is tossed around a lot when referring to anime. But watching this one, it sure doesn't feel like it sometimes. Stills don't exist in KyoAni land.

Every corner is filled with unique, stylish character animation, from smears to weird style changes to ridiculous Nichijou-level sakuga. And the quality never, ever drops.

Infectious soundtrack, awesome performances by the entire cast. Ilulu is a great addition to the lineup and fills her ... own niche.

And at the heart of it all, a sugar-sweet slice of life story that is still able to get dramatic at appropriate points. Stellar pacing.

Moe at its finest. Thank you KyoAni.

tl;dr a slice of life masterpiece. No reason not to give this a shot unless you really dislike this genre. And I stand by that statement even if you're too lazy to watch the 1st season first; S2 is miles ahead of what was already a very strong first season.

I've been wondering for a while what a slice-of-life show would have to do to garner a 10, and Yuru Camp S2 just might be it. This show is the "healing anime" genre polished to a mirror shine. Sure, it doesn't deliver on plot, but if you weren't already scared off by the slice-of-life tag, you're ... not gonna care. This really is a landmark show in terms of the Cute Girls Slice-of-Life genre that really shows what happens when you give great source material like this the budget and the love it deserves. There is just so much extra effort and attention to detail here that really shows the production team's passion and love for this show.

There are so many things I could talk about, but I'm just gonna pick a few standout things, so you can quit wasting your time and go watch the show.

First, we gotta talk backgrounds. I don't even want to KNOW how much time both in and out of the office it took to draw all these backgrounds. By nature of this being a scenery/tourism focused anime, we're talking DOZENS of new backgrounds per episode, and they are all painstakingly location accurate. While we've seen Japan a billion times in other shows, instead of it being a "Japanese high school #237", in Yuru Camp these are all REAL places, and the attention to detail in the backdrops really makes me feel like I'm right there next to the characters.

Second, I need to talk about the really stellar character animation. I can speak Japanese so I watched without subs, and I really had a lot of leeway to nitpick every frame. However, as of the time of this writing (episode 7), I've been pleasantly surprised that Yuru Camp is ALWAYS on model, which is impressive as the original author's style has a lot of quirks that takes a learning curve to start copying. And on top of that, instead of skimping on motion at every turn like most seasonal slice-of-life fare, the character's arms are always moving to emphasize what they're talking about and hair and clothing move appropriately to match.

Finally, as someone who read the source material, I was mainly looking forward to seeing the cast in color. But the score in S2 surprised me with a lot of variety that was absent in the 1st season. While retaining the calm, peaceful BGM tracks from before, there are a series of tracks scored specifically for certain scenes, which really help sell some of the emotional high points and comedy relief. A lot of SOL shows don't do this, using pretty much the same BGM throughout, so it's clear there's a lot of attention in areas not usually paid attention to in anime production.

An honorable mention before I close is the stellar VA work, carried by big name actresses like Toyosaki Aki (Yui from K-on!), Touyama Nao (Yui from Oregairu), and Takahashi Rie (Emilia, Megumin). As a result, even the episode focusing on the characters outside of the main Rin and Nadeshiko are funny and engaging.

Yuru Camp S2 perfects the comfy formula that helped its S1 explode in popularity, but this time it brings some unprecedented quality within its genre. I've held off reviewing this show because I wasn't sure that the quality would continue, but at episode 7, it's really proved its worth to me as something that I will come back to when I'm sick of all the mediocre slice-of-life coming out recently.

tl;dr If you find 12 minutes of Japanese screaming funny, well you might be me... and enjoy this a lot.

Give Yuuki Aoi this many lines and have Sugita Tomokazu on the other end playing the straight man and there's no way you don't get something that you can laugh at, even if it's just purely laughing at how dumb it is. The other voice actresses do a great job of matching the energy level too, creating a high pace fiesta of idiocy, excitement, and mental breakdowns.

What's even more surprising is that the art stays at a consistent quality throughout, and there's some scenes where ... they really pull out the stops to ramp up the absurdity, very similar to Nichijou. Without stellar animation, slapstick comedy like this really falls apart.

So considering my personal enjoyment of this show sits at a 9, the only point I dock from Aho Girl is that objectively, it might be too stupid for some people. But this is right up the alley of someone (me) who still laughs at toilet humor.

tl;dr: A well-animated 4-koma slice of life show whose comedy doesn't always work, but can be counted on to be cute and relaxing.

This anime doesn't hold up so well as a result of tons of shows that came after it reusing its jokes, which is unfortunate because it executes them really well. But if you haven't gotten tired of the "nothing happens but cute" slice-of-life formula this is a standout work in the genre.

The cast all support each other really well in each little skit, and while their reactions to certain things can be predicted easily after a few episodes, I never really got tired ... of watching it. Particularly, I liked the "goof" character, Mayoi, as she is the butt of many jokes but doesn't end up some pitiful character. Her voice actor also gave a hilarious performance and she carries a lot of scenes on her own.

The animation is really well done, and ramps up in quality pretty consistently to sell certain scenes. The series uses a lot of slapstick humor that works really well due to how fluid the character animation is. This level of quality is pretty much unheard of now from adaptations like these, and it's really a symbol of how much these kinds of series used to be respected.

The show also uses graphic design elements that really create an "Acchi Kocchi" style. The eyecatches are all different and react to the skit that just happened. That's a bit of an extra work that really paid off in helping the show feel bouncy/alive.

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot, watching it a few episodes at a time across 2 weeks or so. If you've already seen all the big names in this genre, you can't do a lot better than Acchi Kocchi.

tl;dr: Great story diluted by some mediocre visuals. Still a recommended from me.

Everyone and their mom's already written something about this show so I'll keep it short.

Re:Zero's got great characters. Subaru has good traits and flaws that make sense within the context of him being an isekai'd otaku. This is one of the few shows that really delves into what would actually happen to the psyche of someone in his situation. Overall, I never felt like the show was boring in its 25 episode runtime due to its excellent pacing (I can count on 2 hands how many times the OP was shown. White ... Fox did a great job cutting it to give more time to show things).

But man, the visual part of this show was seriously bland. Before I say anything, I want to clarify that this wasn't the fault of the animators; they did a great job of putting in a lot of effort. This is an issue of standards and deadlines; overall, there's quite a lot of wonk in the character drawings in this show, as well as way too many still frames + lip flap sequences.

You have Subaru's voice actor screaming, shouting, and crying, supported by... flashbacks and two frames of mouth movement. Needless to say, it sucked a lot of emotion out of what otherwise were some great performances. And despite the show being filled with fight sequences, none of them are very weighty or fluid. They really feel like the bare minimum needed to communicate that people are going at it.

But if you say "Hey, not every seasonal anime has to be an eye candy explosion. They're on deadlines you know?", Re:Zero is an interesting watch start to finish, and I think everyone should give it a try.

tl;dr From an avid KyoAni fan, skip this one lol.

Look, I watch anime for animation. If I wanted a good story, I'd read a book, or watch a film. And that's why I've often said I'd watch anything if it was done by Kyoto Animation.

That being said, this anime definitely tested that resolve. While it's inoffensive, and actually a pretty good adaptation considering that they only had half of a volume of source material, I just wonder, "Why did this have to be made?"

And more importantly, "Why did KyoAni have to take this? Wouldn't this have been better left to A-1 or something?"

Musaigen isn't ... funny enough to be a comedy, isn't deep enough to be a supernatural thriller, and isn't even fanservice-y enough to be a good ecchi. Imo, the mediocrity of this anime has a lot more to do with source material and business decisions than the actual studio, which is a shame considering that it tarnished KyoAni's reputation pretty roughly.

There are some nice visuals, most notably some rare action/fight scenes that got me wishing for a proper combat-oriented title from KyoAni sometime (similar to Chuunibyou). And I'm a big fan of the character designs too, especially how KyoAni took special care to give them each varying heights and body shapes.

Overall though, I'm giving this a 6 for being a 4-5 show with (+1) KyoAni art. Luckily, this show seems to have been a temporary dip for the studio, with great stuff coming out after it.

tl;dr: Give this one a try. It will be unlike anything you've ever watched.

I have never seen a series that has made me wonder, "what the hell kind of interests do you have that you were able to create something like this," more than Land of the Lustrous has. This is some of the most unique visual imagery I have ever seen.

This series has a color palette that's filled with saturated colors but somehow isn't gaudy, characters whose body parts fracture like crystal yet still seem soft and lifelike, and environments that are filled with grass and wind yet somehow hauntingly lonely.

But on ... top of the wildly imaginative source material is a studio that was equally creative in how they chose to adapt it.

This is a perfect execution of 3D animation supported by Japanese 2D animation technique. It's clear that the show was built with 3D in mind from the ground up. The CG, instead of being used a time-saving crutch for difficult movements, is used an excuse to pack in even more difficult movement. Usually, 3D stiffens up characters, but here the time saved in drawing the character each frame is put towards making the characters move more; there's more head movement, more wild arm movement, and the fight scenes use crazy choreography and panning camera shots that would usually be reserved for a sparing few moments in a series.

And instead of going for the motion tweened look of western 3D animation, I believe Studio Orange is finally onto a 3D look that uses anime-style technique nicely. Instead of just taking a 3d animation and and cutting out 2/3rds of the frames, each frame is treated like a traditional 2D frame, and the space between each one is carefully pruned so that there's the same impact as 2D animation. I even spotted a few smear frames here and there.

Oh man, I haven't even talked about effects yet; constantly wind blown hair and clothing that adds so much life and interest to each scene, the rendered crystal surfaces reflecting light in a way that just wouldn't look as good in 2D. There's a character whose arms can become liquid, creating these half fluid, half branch things made of melted gold.

I really could go on and on about all this but there's no point... just trust me that this is a treat for anyone who loves eye candy. The only point that I docked from this show is that it ended on a cliffhanger; in other words, I'm mad that I only got this much of this show! Really hope we get a second season for this one.