Jeoffrey

Anime season Fall 2016 is really full of mahou shoujo, those anime series featuring magical girls or Lolita girls and magic, in general, were right up my street. Well, at least there is something to compare this show to, and Matoi the Sacred Slayer is not that bad at all, in my opinion. It may be a very big patchwork quilt with gods, demons, gates to other dimensions, regalia (whatever that means this time), and who knows what else. However, this show has a simple narrative. In fact, I would say this show is just another one of those classic shows about main protagonists saving the world, fighting demons, family values, and the importance of friendship - so this is literally nothing new under the sun, really. However, in my opinion, the main reason Matoi the Sacred Slayer saves the day and what makes me like this slightly confusing, yet quite clichéd spectacle are the characters and their performances. As far as the characters are concerned, Matoi is friendly enough, Yuma is quite cute, and I even quite like Claris. However, my favorite character is Detective Shingo. As for the execution, besides the soundtrack, which I quite like, and the animation style, which I could not really find fault with, I would also like to mention that this anime series really works for me. I found this show quite moving and believable. I also really enjoyed the way the different relationships were portrayed and worked out. Even though from the middle of the anime series on, it is quite predictable ninety-nine percent of the time, it does not really bother me at all. So this is not anything brilliant or even anything I would consider to be above-average, although it is still quite a good show, in my opinion. I am going to throw in a few more points for a very well done (although very predictable) ending. So - 6.4/10.

Ninja Girl & Samurai Master is kind of a short, silly romp that is kind of amusing and kind of cute, and it might give people a little bit of insight into Japanese history. For me, it is now one of those short anime series that I have started to look forward to quite a bit. In particular, the character Chidori has gradually grown on me. So after the first part, I am raising the rating, and I am going to be watching the second season, which should be coming very soon. 6.7/10.

This show concerns a private detective agency solving different cases and people with special powers and abilities - there is literally nothing new under the sun. The "Fiend with Twenty Faces" and Kogoro Akechi have also appeared as characters in several other anime series, so I am already quite familiar with them. There are a few interesting cases and moments (and many more uninteresting scenes) and some existential mystery-solving (with some predictable and not very interesting answers to the questions raised). There are also a few unexpected moments (very few indeed). Ultimately, nothing has any deeper meaning or reason to watch this anime series again. It had potential; however, in the end, it was just an anime series to unsatisfyingly and effectively kill time with. 4.2/10.

Cute little girls are developing games - I have seen this somewhere before, and it was not that long ago. Unlike New Game!, Magic of Stella is set in a typical school environment, which I find a little less appealing than a game development company. Plus, it is not even that amusing; not that much time is spent on developing the game, and I just did not see many interesting moments about that. So this show is more about cute girls doing cute things and developing a doujin game to boot. As far as cuteness goes, it has some very enjoyable parts, but also some slightly weaker moments even though the girls are likable, struggling, and I like them. Well, I guess that is actually quite enough to keep me satisfied and enjoy the anime series. So, for me, this is a nice 6.7/10.

I was expecting a very good show, and I was not disappointed despite the pacing being a bit slow, because the moment Kubo's wicked twin aunts appeared and the dark atmosphere reigned on the screen, I knew I was watching something exceptional. The narrative was quite respectable; I liked the various twists, although I figured out some of the surprises very quickly, like who the "troublesome samurai stag beetle" is, for example. I also liked the ending, which I found was quite unexpected and basically much better than if they had ended it the way children's stories usually end. The thing I probably most enjoyed, though, was the animation. I liked the style a lot, the ideas the anime's authors put into it and all the creatures, whether real or just made of paper, were literally thrilling. The action passages were dynamic and visually very good and I enjoyed the movie very much. I must also praise the nice end credits and especially the passage that showed us a little bit about how the movie was actually made. Kubo and the Two Strings (or "and the enchanted sword," as the Czech movie distributors called it, although the Sword Unbreakable does not really play an extremely prominent role in the end) is simply a very interesting and original fantasy movie that has a great atmosphere and is very moving. 8.5/10.

First Impressions - Well, it seems obvious that the author of the draft, besides reading the fourteenth century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, also watched a certain anime series inspired by an adult game, or who knows, perhaps he played the game himself. Anyway, the animation is not very good really, so I am afraid that the fight scenes, which should be the biggest attraction, are not anything special. However, I am going to give the show a chance. Plus, I am also quite curious to see how they are going to explain this game about "I do not know what yet, and I do not really know why" in the process. So I am going to watch a few more episodes of Soul Buster because I am really curious about how friendly their white-haired version of "Saber'' from Fate/stay night will be. 3.3/10.

Watching wrestling on TV is for me the same as watching the music video for Rammstein: Mann Gegen Mann and turning off the sound. Furthermore, it always kind of outrages me that all the moves and the rough fighting are shown for effect, and it is actually just a big circus full of muscular half-naked people. Anyway, the idea of watching wrestling in animated form did not really appeal to me at first. However, the narrative features a mysterious organization and is a classic revenge tale in the world of sports. The characters, while not extremely distinctive, and I do not know all that much about them because of all the action, are not completely pointless. So it is watchable, even if not exactly my cup of tea. EDIT 11/27/2016 Well, it just so happened that I skipped one episode a few weeks ago because I somehow was not in the mood for it. I also did not have time for it, and it was slowly starting to feel kind of boring. Then I skipped the next one and found out that I am not even missing it in any way and that I really have no taste for wrestling. So I simply just dropped it at episode five. The final impression I got is that it is not completely pointless, yet it is not for me, so I ended up with a 3.5/10.

Lolita girls having fistfights would have made this a good show, although, in the end, I can say that actually, the transformations spoiled my impression of this show. There are more "magical girls" in the ring this time, which proves where the focus is this anime season Fall 2016. The characters are quite likable; they are not overly cute by any means, which probably would not be very appropriate in this show. The level of fan service is relatively tolerable. The narrative features a classic tale of two rivals so that I can find no fault there. So, this hits a kind of seamless better average for me, with the understanding that I might be able to handle watching the anime series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha soon. 6/10.

"If you are bored, get a magical tanuki (raccoon dog)." Poco's Udon World is such an enjoyable show for all who like peaceful and pleasant narratives which leave you feeling good with a smile on your face. The animation is not so good, although the soundtrack, including the opening, is pretty good. I quite liked this fairy tale (because the conclusion is probably nothing but a fairy tale ending), although I found it a bit too emotional in places, and unfortunately, it did not really work for me. However, this is still a cute affair, and I am awarding it 7.5/10.

The only thing that makes this anime series interesting is probably the big twist concerning the male protagonists and what they really have in common. Otherwise, the rest of this anime series is slightly chaotic and not very pretty. However, it is quite an original piece full of supposed occultism, featuring characters of which I remember only three. The detective and fortune teller are perhaps quite intriguing. The ideas it is based on are not bad; it is just they are presented in a chaotic way. There are no explanations because the pacing is too quick, so a lot of things feel like a bunch of nonsense anyway. It reminded me of The Lost Village, which was also based on a great concept and had a rather botched execution. This show is certainly not engaging enough for people to think about it in any depth. You do not have a chance to sit back intrigued or feel the atmosphere is interesting, which is a huge shame. So once again, there is a lot of wasted potential, which is always a shame and makes me feel sorry. 4.5/10.