Jeoffrey

I enjoyed Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon - The Second Act more than the first season. After all, the show’s narrative followed the story more strictly. There were some touching reunions that I was subconsciously looking forward to from the beginning. In the end, everything came to a pleasant and almost too much of a fairy-tale-like conclusion. Although there is still room for a follow-up, I do not know if I want one. In the beginning, I did not even know if I cared about this whole spin-off thing, even though, in the end, I enjoyed it. As with the first season, the soundtrack still works great, as do the member berries and most new characters (I even managed to get on with Towa in the end). The concluding story was not half as dramatic as I expected. It had its strong and weak moments, although overall, it was engaging and sometimes entertaining. The villains were not just evil either, they were rather misunderstood, or perhaps they could not express themselves. The season finished at a somewhat suspenseful but otherwise quite enjoyable pace. The second season, therefore, gets 7/10.

In a word - surprise! After all, a power fantasy adventure with an OP main character (and I do not care if he is an isekai or not) whom many girls crowd around usually turns out badly for me because most of them are cookie-cutter characters. The characters are often quite stupid and totally clichéd, trying to show me how awfully powerful is the generic main male protagonist. Plus, I am supposed to therefore respect and admire him for that (like his harem does), even though there is nothing really special about him character-wise. However, The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest is somewhere a little different, in my opinion. It is as if its creator Shoto Shinko used his brain when writing this. He managed to turn an anime series I went into with a ton of preconceived notions (that it would be another version of the same old thing) into a pretty fresh show that I even enjoyed watching. What did Shoto do right? Perhaps just the fact that he did not base the entire story on the fact that we have one strong and invincible male protagonist who takes everyone down with his finger up his nose and pulls solutions to problems out of his ass. Mathias thinks that it is better to share his skills with others because it might save his skin one day, and most importantly, having capable people around him who can take care of themselves and be useful makes sense. So he teaches his girls, he teaches normal students, and unexpectedly it has some impact. He even goes so far as to give the other characters room to grow on their own, not interfering if he knows it is in their power to win and knows they are going to learn something by doing so. It is not just a boring one-person show with an over-the-top fighter who takes it all in stride, and because of that, it makes you suddenly like the main male protagonist a lot more than many of his ilks before him. However, it is not just what is done right. The anime's creator has managed to build an interesting world in which the main villains operate so that you see the activity has long-term plans, not just some short-term perspective. The demons are believable with their long-term plans, and more importantly, they are carrying them out, so you perceive real consequences. Yes, it again gives you the impression that there are demons everywhere and behind everything, and you are afraid to even look in the toilet, lest the demon is there. However, the atmosphere is quite good and works well at certain points, so the threat feels much more real and powerful than in similar anime series. Plus, we are introduced to everything relatively early on; there are no cryptic hints that we are going to find out the villains' plan at some point (usually in the last episode), and it would not logically work with the way the world it is set in. The narrative builds up that way anyway. Back to the main male protagonist, there is one more thing that is true about Mathias. Even though the show tells us he is the strongest sage of all, it does not tell us he is the strongest being on earth. It shows that without some of his tools, not all of which he has immediately at hand, and without thinking about the problem and its solution, he could look bad. A hero, in other words, always has some limits, so there are situations where he has to prepare himself. Realistically, he would quickly lose if he just walked into a fight like some other similar protagonists. Unlike other fantasy power anime, there are moments when you might even be a little worried about the main male protagonist (and his team). As I have stated several times, this is always good for the overall atmosphere. You could argue that some of his gadgets and strategies are quite silly. You could also argue that the way some situations (such as the last episode) are resolved, gives the impression that the anime's creator wanted to make things as easy as possible for himself within the show's narrative, and some stuff could be described as the proverbial MacGuffin. However, I have gotten so used to cutting corners with the plot and nonsense like that over the years of watching anime series that it does not annoy me unless it is explicitly punching me in the eye. The other thing that works here is the composition of the main protagonists. The chemistry between them is very good, and everyone has a role to play, both within the story and within a specific role within the group. It is actually not a harem anime series (unfortunately for some, fortunately for me). It is clearly defined what or who each character likes, and even one romantic relationship in fact develops somewhat normally by the standards of this kind of anime series. The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest is not a groundbreaking anime series. It is nothing brilliant or breathtaking. The action scenes are weak (sparing wherever possible, a lot of things happen off-screen, do not expect any smooth sequences full of punch exchanges either), the animation is mediocre, and the soundtrack is nondescript. There are some clichés and tropes typical of this genre that I am not a fan of. Also, I was not too fond of Nina Tamaki's voice for the main character. Despite all that, I have no problem giving this series a 6/10 after the first season because it seems that one anime creator finally made a serious effort with a fantasy power adventure with a generic OP main male protagonist. It worked quite well, so I would be happy to watch the eventual follow-up.

Takagi is back! So everything finally started to progress during this season, the love story finally started to get good, and I can say that I enjoyed the third season at least as much as the first one. Yes, there are again some filler episodes where you get the impression that nothing is going on besides the never-ending banter between the main two protagonists (and the banter of the trio of Yukari, Mina, and Sanae). Still, they are interspersed with stuff that somehow moves things along. I was happier with the character of Nishikata, who turned up more, and Takagi seemed unexpectedly a bit more charming as she seemed more vulnerable. It was not as forced, one-sided, and boring in terms of the synergy between the main two protagonists as the second season was. So finally, the best episodes are the ones where the main two protagonists are given more screen time, since they are the driving force of the narrative (you can tell by the simple titles, like "Christmas"), and the others feel like filler. I found interesting bits and pieces in some of the better episodes, which have stuck in my memory (the best episode is number eight, and its four different perspectives on the same journey). Likewise, I quite liked the pairing of Hamaguchi and Hojo as I found their love story more interesting and relatable than Nakai and Mano. I am quite satisfied with the third season of Teasing Master Takagi-san (7/10) and curious about the movie coming to theaters on June 10, 2022.

Slow Loop is not the first anime series about fishing I have seen so far, and it is decidedly not the first anime series about cute little girls engaged in some kind of activity, so I have material to compare it to. I was not much impressed with the first episode, although I saw some similarities to the Laid-Back Camp anime series in the style of introducing Koharu and Hiyori. In addition, the family storyline (about the half-sisters) felt out of place. It seemed like most other romantic dramas or comedies, which are not very good and full of hackneyed tropes I have already watched a million times. Luckily, Slow Loop is not about the love story. There is certainly no drama; it is dedicated to building a genuine sisterly relationship, letting cute girls do cute things, and educating the viewer about fishing and cooking. The way this show’s creators mix things does not always work and seem to fight each other for adequate screen time. Some parts appear to be relaxing, although the girls will suddenly start explaining in detail something related to fishing. This creates a “jump” from relaxing scenes to scenes of cooking, so the mood changes quickly. Fortunately, I think everything worked out well. Cooking whets the appetite and inspiration. Fishing is demonstrative and informative, with the ability to capture most things about it that a person can enjoy. The interaction between the girls is sweet and sometimes entertaining. Family relationships are also built slowly and charmingly. However, it jumps around a bit, so it does not feel so natural. I wonder if there is too much going on for one anime series (and each episode). Therefore, I cannot work out what the anime's creators primarily wanted to focus on and what was the main idea behind this anime series. If I take the aforementioned Laid-Back Camp, the most important thing is camping and the experiences it brings. They throw out a lot of advice and demonstrations, even though the experiences help you tune in to the pleasant vibe of the show. Even the likes of Diary of Our Days at the Breakwater, which is also about fishing, were much easier to watch and ultimately a slightly more enjoyable and entertaining show. The truth is that Slow Loop concentrates more on fishing facts and the cooking aspect. However, that might only be my problem, because I guess I prefer it when a show is about an experience rather than knowledge and has a clear main concept that the rest of the show is built around. Still, it was an enjoyable anime series; the girls were fine; I liked the animation and the soundtrack. So while the jury is still out on this anime series, I wonder how much of it I will remember. There is one thing I am sure of: the final rating expresses how much I enjoyed the whole thing - 6.6/10.

I feel like the creators of Death Note decided they wanted to make their version of Future Diary, although unsuccessfully. They chose an uninteresting clown for the lead role, cast equally cliched supporting characters around him, and even replaced the charismatic Ryuk with not-so-personal angels. They still tried to get philosophical about humanity, nature, and other aspects of our souls, yet without any new ideas or charisma, so it was just a diluted rehash of their previous work. The first episode was still good, although then the whole thing went downhill too fast for me, and even worse: it became boring, irritating, and predictable. Even the fight between the worldviews of the main male protagonist and Metropoliman was not very good. I did not care for the characters. Inevitably, I dropped it after the eleventh episode, and my feeling is 3.5/10 at most.

Ranking of Kings is an anime series that managed to keep surprising me. The characters are good and overall I have only two minor criticisms which do not stop this anime series from being good. If you have empathy, you will have no problem empathizing with the characters' motivations, quickly growing to like the main male protagonist and rooting for him. There are other unforgettable characters. I never expected to be so strongly affected by the backstory of what looks like a black blob with two eyes or to consider the best character of the entire first season to be the main male protagonist's stepmother. There are surprises around every corner, and what makes this anime series stand out above the rest is how it manages to deconstruct typical narrative tropes and clichés. When the anime's creators introduce someone, they do it so that you do not waste time wondering what the person is like, and you quickly get an idea of them. However, when you think you are sure about them, the narrative changes your view completely but naturally, and the twist is not only surprising, but more importantly, it all makes perfect sense. This anime series is brilliant at filling out the individual characters, their strengths and weaknesses, and their resulting behaviors. Almost every important character is portrayed in a very complex way, so there are enough details about each one, and you are going to remember some important moments with almost all of them. They are surprising, you learn even more about them that way, and they are unforgettable. Logically, the narrative is also full of surprises, and it is not just some simple fairy tale, as it may seem to some at first glance. After all, fairy tales do not have severed limbs, and only the bad guys die. In addition, they do not deal with more complex themes such as prejudice and insecurity. In other words, it is way too deep, unpredictable, and occasionally gory for it to be a fairy tale. The setting is very interesting and the comprehensive narrative gives a respectable overview of its history, diversity, and weirdness. Of course, here comes the first minor criticism (one of the two mentioned); I feel like many things were underused in the first season and I wanted to know more, although I did not get that. The potential of the show's world is huge; its magic can be very powerful, even though I feel like I have seen and heard less of it all than I would have liked so far. On the other hand, the last episode gives me hope that it is the exploration of the world that might be the focus of a possible follow-up and that I might see the characters who were only briefly present in the story but still manage to intrigue me into wanting to know more about them (I am thinking mainly of a certain girl from the second episode and then perhaps a certain strange king from episode four). Anyway, now the second criticism is the overall pace of the narrative. The first few episodes work well; however, I found some of the events too rushed (such as Bojji working himself up from 0 to 100), and then in the second half, I found all the fighting to be unnecessarily stretched out again. Fortunately, this unbalanced pace does not affect the storytelling. In my opinion, everything feels natural and logical. The story never ceases to surprise, especially in the final episodes. Everything leads to a satisfying conclusion (which could be described as the penultimate part) and there is even a strong hint of a future follow-up (the last episode) which I am already looking forward to. Ranking of Kings caught my attention, charmed me, and convinced me of its qualities, both in production (the animation and soundtrack are wonderful) and narrative; I enjoyed most of this season and want a follow-up. That is why Bojji and Co. earned a 9/10 from me.

The main thing that brought this show to my attention was the mangaka Shinobu Ohtaka, as I enjoyed his previous anime series Magi quite a lot. However, I was rather disappointed at first. The setting did not appeal to me, and I found the Oni themselves to be many things. However, they were not scary. In truth, the first Oni was pointless, so it was not interesting or suspenseful. I also did not think there was much magic or mystery, which would be something to maintain my interest in this show. Then the opening locations were empty and uninteresting. In addition, the action scenes and fight scenes were nothing to write home about. In other words, the whole thing started ingloriously, in my opinion. At one point, I even considered dropping it, although, in the end, I kept watching it because of the main protagonists, who I was slowly getting used to and who I now grew to like by the end of the first season. The chemistry between the central trio works, and this anime series managed to present their worries, problems, and initial trials respectably, so I slowly began to care for them. After the typical team building and the occasional clash with Oni, the narrative got better. Over time, it became about finding yourself and the anime’s creators kept hinting that there is some mysterious history behind it all and many - as yet unrevealed - secrets in the background, so the anticipated magical aspect came through with the last few episodes, and my interest in the next installment in the summer of 2022 is piqued. To summarize, this was an anime series I was not too keen on at first, but it has become something I am curious about and looking forward to, even though I can never forget the lackluster and not-so-good beginning. That is why the first part (episode 1-12) only gets 6/10. EDIT 26.9.2022 – Part 2 (episodes 13-24). I feel similarly about the second part as I did about the first one. The first half was not so good, but the finale was quite decent. Again, it was just a slightly above-average shōnen. On the one hand, I liked the action here, but on the other hand, I sometimes felt like the creators thought all they needed to do was use as much color as possible and that was enough... Same with the development of the main character. He starts off as a total moron, who only after a few episodes realizes that it would probably be nice to learn the names of the people on his team (the series makes an awfully big deal out of it, while it's really just common decency and basic logical thinking, but never mind). In the second half, he turns into a quite likable guy who can even handle some romance. The other two main characters are absent for most of the episodes, so I have to make do with Musashi, which doesn’t really do it for me. Even though he starts connecting with other new characters, which feels like starting over from the beginning, I’m just missing the interactions between the central trio that I liked so much in the first half. On top of that, the series appeals even more to the power of teamwork, friendship, and love, probably because if those themes weren't there, it would just be an empty action shōnen about nothing. Sometimes it works, but other times it feels more like a tired cliché that's not very well done. The fights don't look all that bad, and the story still has some interesting aspects and mystery that will probably make me watch the next season if it comes out, but there’s just not enough suspense for this to go beyond a slightly above average show for me. 6/10

I guess I am going to start with what my expectations were. According to the trailer, it looked like a funny and charming show with a cool main female protagonist. According to the countless nice posters, we could expect a lot of traveling and discovering the many wonders of this fantasy world. And while the result did meet these expectations, I could find at least one huge “but” to every point. As far as the show's sense of humor is concerned, there are, on average, exactly two childish and two stupid jokes for every good joke. In practice, if you are lucky, you will have a couple of laughs, a couple of wry grins, and a few raised eyebrows, making for a rather unsatisfying comedy. The opening and end of the season are the highlights of a season with few charming moments. During the middle section, there were several episodes where I came out emotionally drained, and the overall vibe was not working. As far as the main female protagonist goes, I could root for her even though there were several moments where she acted weirdly (overly sensitive, bad-tempered). While it is clear that this was the driving force behind many of the supposedly funny moments, they were usually the exact moments the whole thing felt silly and not that funny. As for the other characters, I had a couple of favorites; however, not many to write home about. Then there is all the traveling. The back-and-forth journeys, which feel rather pointless, often lack any depth and an interesting or at least mysterious storyline; they just seemed almost pointless. The narrative fails to be interesting; again, it is sometimes rather silly with weird twists, and it did not even manage to sell me on its secrets, such as about other former players or their world. I wonder if there is any RPG game with a giant penguin as a meta boss. I liked the animation; everything was nice and colorful. Even the CGI looked pretty good, although unfortunately, it was a real shame that the narrative could not sell the locations enough, meaning there was no magical feeling when the female protagonist went to some new place. The only thing I am completely happy with was the soundtrack: it helped create the atmosphere as much as possible. In other words, I could not award In the Land of Leadale an above-average rating. As an adventure fantasy with a strong female protagonist, I found the whole anime series less entertaining and emotionally powerful than, say, the likes of I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed out My Level. Discovering and building a family was not enough to save it, so 5/10 at most.

World's End Harem is the Japanese version of Sexmission, although it is neither funny nor surprising. It is loaded with sex and eroticism, which is to be expected in this kind of setting; the scenes are just explicit enough to cross the line, although they did not put me off, bother or offend me in any way, which is probably an achievement. On the other hand, they did not make me feel "free" in any other way either, which might be a failure again. The most interesting thing about this anime series was introducing three different young men in an environment full of women. This show charts their behavior, trying to paint a psychological portrait of male mentality and perhaps character development, making it easy to watch. Although there is not much development, so I can still pigeonhole them into several categories. Number one is the indulger; number two is the romantic; number three is the outsider. The only thing I can see eventually is how number one could theoretically become number two, or number three could become number one again, and so on. I can quite believe what the anime's creators want to tell me about it (because it is nothing unknown nor it is something that would shake your world). The biggest character development, in the end, is focused on number three, and it is somewhat believable, again showing the role of self-confidence for men, and also that sometimes it is not that difficult to manipulate a man. I am also quite curious to see how far number three can go, and it scares me somewhat, because of what I have seen so far and the general awareness of what can happen to a victim when he gets power tells me a lot (plus I still have PTSD from Redo of a Healer). My favorite one of the trio is eventually number one because his behavior seems somehow the most natural to me. I am not going to lie; if I were one of the few guys in this purely female world, as much as I would like to claim I am definitely like number two, I would still be a number one. I understand number two to a certain extent. However, I struggle a lot because he is a rational man. His decision regarding sex does not seem reasonable to me under the circumstances (it seems purely emotional), although I admire his stamina. However, within the overall narrative, it conveniently turns out to be the right choice. I did not get on with the narrative itself as it is occasionally predictable and makes no sense. To be honest, you suspect the big reveal about who is behind the MK virus is released almost from the very beginning. You subconsciously wish there was at least a good plot twist, like in Sexmission, as mentioned earlier. However, there is no decent twist, so it is boringly predictable. Similarly, I was left reeling at the decision of the ruling clique here as to how they will treat number two and what they would be allowed. In truth, even any effort to change the overall attitude of number two becomes rather silly after a while (and gets bogged down into the category of mere fan service). I would have thought that after the first failure, UW would logically have either given up or handled it completely differently. The animation is average, and the animators run out of steam towards the end, so some scenes are, in my opinion, stilted. At one point in episode eleven, it was eye-popping. As for the soundtrack, I am not going to say it is bad because now, less than an hour after the end of the last episode, I cannot remember it at all; it is almost like there is no music playing at all. It is not elevator music; it is not music that does not fit what is happening on screen, even though it has no expression and leaves no lasting impression. Finally, the most important thing, the women! This anime series also fails at presenting a really interesting female character, someone who stands out from the crowd in some significant way and about whom I could say something profound, not just her most striking characteristic or visual form. So the most interesting character is Karen (who takes care of the trio), who at least seems like she is up to something, and I want to see if she succeeds (however, I am not rooting for her). A few things kept my attention, and if there were a second season, I would watch it out of curiosity. However, there is also a lot of stuff that I found boring or did not make any sense. 4/10.

Kotaro Lives Alone is definitely an interesting, bittersweet anime series that contains a lot of serious and powerful subject matters. I struggled with the logic of this show and the behavior of some of the characters. However, it worked on an emotional level. In practice, that means it managed to move me, entertain me, and make me sad at the right moments. It may have been a bit forced, although not excessively or unpleasantly so. In other words, even though each character was going through something so difficult and serious that it almost seemed statistically impossible for so many people with such similar and serious issues to be in one place within the narrative, it did not bother me. They gave me a coherent view of the issues being discussed from several perspectives that were always somehow related. I also appreciated that this anime series offers the attentive viewer various warning signs of how such serious problems can be recognized and even offers some, perhaps unusual, solutions. However, these mostly correspond to the characters. On the one hand, the male protagonist was unnaturally mature for his age, although given what he had been through and how they presented his character to me, I was able to find it believable. My favorite character was Karino, who I empathized with in many ways and understood most of his decisions. Of course, there were more interesting characters, mostly decently portrayed, so that the viewer could understand a little how they thought and what burdens they carried. I was expecting this to be an emotionally strong and interesting show. However, it ended up being much more complex than I had originally estimated. 8/10.