/jp/ - Japan/Anime

cyberpunk edgerunners was cool

Remembered this show that I saw several episodes of on Cartoon Network a long time ago called s-CRY-ed. I remembered really liking the main character's design even though it's kind of generic I guess (the whole show is a bit generic, being a fight-fight-fight anime). I wound up watching the whole series today and, even though I'm a lot older than when I first watched it, it was still entertaining enough. Comparing it to Kill La Kill or Gurren Lagann, I think I like this show more (although the animation quality is probably better in those two, but I haven't seen them in years).
Only two things that really bothered me were a horrible recurring gag with one of the characters and that two episodes are basically recaps but contain just enough plot development that I didn't want to skip over them entirely. Not gonna endorse it because I'm not going to accept blame for anyone who wastes time on it and doesn't enjoy it.

>>39469
>>39408
>>39357
>>39335
>>39266
Seeing that most of the series are you just complaining and giving them between 4-6 is clear that the problem are not the series but yours.

>>39505
He literally watches every single anime in whatever year he picked, unlike most people he has no filter for what he picks basically. 4-6 is an accurate take if you watch every mediocre shitheap put in front of you.

>>39506
>He literally watches every single
Which means the problems are on him and not on the series.

>>39508
Maybe I interpreted wrong what you were saying. Haven't sleep in a while.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/35251

I watched Sengoku Night Blood. Here are my thoughts:

This is first and foremost a reverse-harem show (it's an otome-game adaptation). If that doesn't appeal to you then you shouldn't watch this. If you don't want to be surrounded by hot vampire werewolf warrior men in a historical Japan setting, then this is not the anime for you.

Unfortunately I think the premise of this show is not used to its full potential; the supernatural elements of the story aren't really explored at all, even though they are what makes the show most unique – definitely a missed opportunity there. Instead, much of the dialogue revolves around the military conflicts between various factions, which sounds like it might be interesting but the execution is underwhelming.

I found the story difficult to follow; a ton of random names (well, many characters are named after historical figures like Nobunaga) are thrown at the viewer from early in the show, and it's difficult to digest it all and keep track of the lore, plus the viewer is never given a reason to care in the first place. I often felt like this anime was designed with the expectation that the viewer already had background knowledge of the lore and characters, which I guess isn't surprising for a niche otome-game adaptation. The story (and its execution) is a weak point of this anime, at least from my uninformed perspective. I often felt confused by the events taking place. This issue is compounded even further by the enormous size of the supporting cast – there are dozens of warriors who interact with the MC throughout the show, and keeping track of all of them and their relevance to the plot is not a simple task. Anybody who intends to watch this should assume that they won't be able to fully comprehend the story if they're otherwise unacquainted with the franchise, particularly during the first half of the anime. Comprehension issues aside, I found the overall writing totally unengaging and dull; I was never interested in the story at all, aside from the romantic context it provided. Additionally, most of the characters feel underdeveloped and tropey. Although the enormous cast size is certainly one factor in this, even the MC herself is lacking in personality, beyond being shy and useless.

At times, I thought the character interaction in this was done well – particularly for the MC and her chemistry with the rest of the cast. Although a little cliche at times, this show shines during the many little moments of interaction between the MC and her male companions. It doesn't rush things either, and seemingly mundane scenes are frequently stretched out to savour these special little moments. As amateurish as this anime feels in other ways, the character interaction is sometimes surprisingly well done. A major component of this is the script: although the scriptwriting is a little crude sometimes, there are also scenes where it feels quite intimate (when the characters aren't loredumping random information). There are some really romantic scenes lurking in here that made watching this anime worthwhile. I'm pretty sure it was an unwritten rule that the MC needed to be princess-carried at least once per episode, haha.

The character designs for some of the men were a little too animal-ish for my tastes. The big wolf ears and big mane-like hair on some characters was a little too much for me. I'm sure other people like that kind of thing though. I found the vampire guys hotter than the werewolf guys. I also found some of the designs a little too bishounen-ish for me and wished a lot of them were more masculine, especially since they're supposed to be fighters. Somewhat conversely, I disliked the mullet-like hairstyle of the female MC. Like OMG honey you need some conditioner. She looks like she should be a greasy rockstar from the 80s, and I don't mean that in a flattering way. She also only wears one boring outfit the entire time, which was disappointing. If those guys (read: animation staff) really treasured her they would get her some nice pretty clothes!

Historical shows are often a good opportunity to exhibit unique outfits, and the outfits in this are fairly detailed, but some are pretty gaudy and aren't always aesthetically pleasing despite the effort put in to animate them. A lot of the outfits are 'overdesigned' so to speak. One small detail I appreciated was how they would include sounds for the sword scabbards shuffling around on the characters' hips. So for example, when somebody would sit down on a wooden floor you could hear the sound of heavy sheathed blades against the wood.

Although the animation quality is nothing special, the lighting effects in this, both indoors and outdoors, are often done pretty well and can enhance the romantic feeling of a scene. This show kind of feels like it's a decade older than its actual production year, in terms of visuals as well as the premise, story, and even the soundtrack. True to its title though, the night sky of this anime always looks good.

The voice acting for pretty much the entire cast is mediocre, including the MC. The OST is also nothing special.

The comedy in this is applied very lightly and is not particularly intrusive or frequent – I am grateful for this. The show takes place during some kind of military conflict/stalemate and the tone most of the time is serious. In terms of sexualization, it's not over the top and usually not graphic; a lot of it is subtext related to the supernatural warriors wanting to drink the blood of the MC (which is very erotic to be honest). The warrior men get power by sucking the blood of the female MC – to be candid I found this psychologically super hot and it's one of the main reasons I stuck with the show. In all seriousness, it's a very good idea for a plot mechanism in a supernatural romance story. The MC being a pivotal tool in warfare as well as sexually attractive is hot on like an abstract meta level.


My personal overall rating: 5/10
As much as I like the premise of this show, its execution is mediocre in most ways. Its best feature is the character interaction between the MC and the warriors. What kept me watching were all those little sweet moments between the MC and her adoring warrior companions. Sengoku Night Blood has some uniquely romantic scenes, but you need to tolerate a confusing storyline to get to them.

Hanakanaru Hachiyou Shou has a very similar premise to this anime but does it better; I would recommend you watch that before trying this if a historical reverse harem is what you're looking for. I suppose Akatsuki no Yona would fulfill that criteria as well. I wouldn't suggest watching Sengoku Night Blood unless you've already exhausted the better implementations of the reverse-harem feudal-Asia template.

>>39506
Basically this. Imagine how bad the stuff I drop is, haha. The other thing to keep in mind is that it usually takes me way longer to get through a show that I know is actually good and worth appreciating, because I'm always trying to optimize my state of mind and mood for maximum enjoyment. Plus, if something is really great then I'm constantly rewinding and watching every scene at least twice (analyzing the script, taking screencaps, etc.). It usually takes me at least an hour to watch an episode of a show I'm truly savouring. Conversely, I can easily churn through episodes of trash because I don't feel pressured to appreciate it. Sometimes I just want to rot my brain with garbage anime. Unfortunately, by the time I find time in the day to watch anime, I am usually tired or intoxicated or depressed or whatever. The worst thing about being a full-time worker is that the cognitive prime of your day is wasted. I always try to optimize my enjoyment of anime, and this can impede my progression through shows that I know are excellent. I have a couple great shows in my pipeline right now but it's taking me a while to get through them for these reasons. Plus, I've been super busy IRL this year unfortunately, which also shifts my anime consumption towards trash for the aforementioned reasons. Furthermore, I am scraping the bottom of the barrel of 2017 right now, and I'm optimistic that my average rating will increase once I wrap up my evaluation of that year. 2017 has more trash in its catalogue than a third-world river basin – I'm wincing at what I'll need to include in my 'top' 5 for each season. 2017 has so much garbage. That said, one good thing about watching a lot of trash anime is that it gives you the perspective needed to really savour the good stuff. You learn to identify common pitfalls, and appreciate their absence when something is done well. It helps you build a broader understanding of this medium as a whole, which in turn enhances your enjoyment and ability to identify high-quality works. It's a virtuous cycle.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/34934

I watched Koi to Uso (including OVA), also known as Love and Lies or Koi to Kuso. Here are my thoughts:

Koi to Uso is about a group of highschool students in a world where marital partners are assigned by the government. Most of the story revolves around the MC's affections being divided between his government-assigned partner and the succubus he naturally desires.

My first impulse was to drop this, and for about half a year I did, but I ended up coming back to it out of curiosity. What I discovered is that Koi to Uso is an utterly ridiculous show but it has enough redeeming qualities to be enjoyable. For the record, I have never read the manga.

The story of this literally feels like a 13-year-old's creative writing assignment. Everything has this juvenile logic to it; the story demands a lot of suspension of disbelief. I really can't overstate how cheesy and pulp-fiction-like the story is. Even by highschool romance anime standards, this show is unbelievably corny and ridiculous. Forgive my use of youthful lingo, but this show is another level of 'cringe'. The secondhand embarrassment I felt watching this was extreme. A lot of the character interaction felt unnatural and it was kind of eerie. The way this show treats romance in general feels quite immature and juvenile, although it is somewhat endearing. It's possible that my perception of this is clouded by cultural differences in the courtship process.

The male MC is awful and has zero personality besides being a spineless, indecisive, clueless idiot, like most highschool anime protagonists. However, both the main female love interests have unique personalities and surprisingly a lot of depth to their character that unfolds throughout the show. They are more-thoughtful characters than the typical female love interests of a male-oriented hetero romance (a pretty low bar to overcome).

The thing is, pretty much all the flaws I've discussed above are storywriting issues. If you can look beyond that, Koi to Uso is actually a fairly well-directed show. It does a decent job of setting up romantic tension, and overall kept things dramatic and interesting. The character interaction, although written in an absurd manner, is sometimes surprisingly well executed. There are some romantic scenes in here that absolutely knock it out of the park with great script, music and cinematography. I know I'm showing contempt for this show in this review, but do not be mistaken: there are some scenes in here that made me gush they were so intimate. Furthermore, Koi to Uso is unique – it fully embraces its premise and explores the concept quite thoroughly. I also appreciated the absence of comedy; this show delivers its corniness with a totally straight face and I appreciated that.

As for visuals, I liked the character designs, including the eyes; the characters' eyes are huge and bug-like even by anime standards. I liked the characters' faces but they're definitely a little uncanny and other people may find them off-putting. The character animation is decent for a non-action anime, better than I expected at least. The facial expressions are well animated. During some scenes the cinematography is more sophisticated than I'd expect from a typical highschool romance show. Overall the production value is a notch above your average anime, although the manifestations of this are subtle.

The soundtrack is surprisingly good and felt quite modern and well produced – definitely a much better OST than your average anime. The background music elevated a lot of scenes and enhanced the show considerably. Conversely, I found the voice acting mediocre and none of the VAs impressed me.

I liked that the existence of sex was acknowledged in this. As opposed to so many other highschool romance shows where handholding might as well be our species' means of reproduction. This show is fairly 'sex positive' so to speak, which is somewhat rare for romance anime and might be a desirable feature for some viewers.


My overall rating: 6/10
Koi to Uso is SO BAD it's KINDA GOOD. The writing of this is comically moronic, but the execution is good enough to salvage this fanfic-tier story. The show is fairly well directed and decently produced. If you're prepared to endure a weapons-grade level of cringe, this anime is actually pretty enjoyable and entertaining. State of mind is hugely important though – you really need to embrace the corniness of this to enjoy it. There are some surprisingly romantic scenes in here if you have an open-minded attitude. Koi to Uso exceeded my low expectations.

If you're just looking for some ridiculously campy telenovela-tier romance, then this anime is a good candidate for that. It literally feels like some teenager's fanfiction randomly got an anime adaptation. I want to reiterate again how juvenile this show is: I think it would be hard for someone older than 14 to take it seriously. That's part of its charm though – it's so silly that it's fun. For fans of highschool romance, I think this anime is worth checking out, especially if you like this kind of thing served over-the-top ultra cheesy. This is definitely not an anime for everyone, but there is a specific kind of audience that would enjoy it. I'm glad that I gave it a second chance and didn't discard it based on its poor first impression. Also, if you're a drinker, this show is best enjoyed with a little booze to make you more receptive to the cringiness and cheesy romance.

If you are weirdly fixated on the idea of the government assigning you a spouse (I've actually seen this seriously discussed many times on the internet), then you might be interested in this show – it explores that topic quite thoroughly. Also, in case you hadn't inferred already, I think a female viewer is more likely to enjoy this due to the focus on marriage and relationship dynamics.

If you like ultra-cheesy highschool romance, you should give Koi to Uso a chance.

>Scrolls down the replies
>More 6 and 5
Predictable. Seriously what is the point.

>>39612
See:
>>36930

https://myanimelist.net/anime/1535

I (finally) watched Death Note. Here are my thoughts:

I still vividly remember how popular this show was in the Anglosphere during the late 2000s. I remember so many people I knew were super enthusiastic about this show. I remember the merchandise in the anime aisles of the hobby stores too. If you had asked me in say, 2008, to name the title of an anime? I would have said Death Note. And back then I had little interest in anime at all. Still, even as an uninterested bystander, I could recognize the characters of Death Note. And way back then, I still remember thinking the shinigami character designs were creepy as hell! Hahaha

Like most shows that manage to achieve tremendous popularity among a broad diverse audience, the real strength of Death Note is in its plot and story in general. The story is quite intricate and well thought out. Initially, it felt a little cliche and predictable, but as the episodes progress, more and more complexity gets added and it becomes impressively intricate and thoughtful. The writer of this is talented. There are lots of surprising twists and I was consistently interested in the story despite the considerable length of this show (37 episodes). It is an entertaining easy-to-watch anime and the episodes passed quickly.

I think another reason for the widespread success of Death Note is that it's very suitable material for an edgelord's self-insert power fantasy. I won't spoil anything, but just based on the premise alone I'm sure you can understand this point. Similarly, this show was very compatible with the outcast subcultures that prevailed during the mid-2000s, such as goth and the like.

The visuals are adequate but not really a source of enjoyment. Nothing about the visual presentation of this anime impressed me, except in some ways the character designs. The character designs, including for the supporting cast, often looked quite lifelike and I could easily imagine a real-life human equivalent of them. This might be a factor in why so many people unacquainted with anime latched onto this show – it feels a lot like live-action and I could easily imagine it being performed by human actors. Sometimes the facial expressions were done well too, albeit not particularly fluid. Otherwise though, Death Note looked like a generic mid-2000s anime. The animation quality was literally Powerpoint-tier during many scenes. In fairness, this isn't a show that needs visual flair – the vast majority of it just consists of people talking in various urban settings, and you need to pay very close attention to the dialogue to follow the complex story anyway.

During the second half of the show there is a noticeable change in the art style, perhaps driven by the show's success and the resulting impact on its budget. The character animation somehow got even worse, and seemed off-model relative to earlier episodes. I found this change in art style to be unwelcome despite the bar being set quite low in this regard.

I did enjoy the peculiar autism-like body language of L (AKA Ryuzaki, the MC's main adversary). Even little things like the way he holds his phone made me smirk (this is such a meticulous little detail too). In fact I liked his character a lot and wish he were the MC of the show instead, although he does thankfully get a lot of screentime. He is a great character: distinctive and memorable, unique in both his psyche and communication style, and consistently entertaining. Death Note would not be what it is without him; I think he added a ton of value to the show. The best episodes nearly always had him in the spotlight.

I thought the soundtrack was actually pretty bad, during the first half of the show at least. There are lots of abrasive guitar-heavy tracks that do not suit the mood at all (as is the case with many anime from this time period). The entire OST sounded low effort and mediocre; it never enhanced my enjoyment of the show. That j-rock OP was awful as well, and I dreaded having to hear it every time I queued up an episode. There is some choral music that fit the show well, but unfortunately it's used infrequently. I will concede that the OST improved during the second half of the show when new background music was added.

None of the voice actors impressed me except for L's (Ryuzaki) VA – he has a distinctive voice that fits his character well. The voice for the shinigami (Ryuk) could have been way better and was definitely a missed opportunity. The shinigami's voice really did not suit his role at all; he sounded literally mentally retarded and it was so out of place. I also thought the voice acting for Misa was very amateurish.

Without spoiling her context in the story, I did not like the main female love interest (Misa) in this. The points in the show where she was most prominent were also the weakest. I had a bad feeling from the moment Misa was introduced that she would herald a decline in story quality. Unfortunately, I was right. I loathed Misa's appearance on-screen almost instantaneously, and continued to do so throughout the runtime. She clashed so much with the mood and themes of the show, and was overall annoying and degraded the quality of any scene she was in. Unfortunately, she gets a ton of screentime, particularly during the middle episodes of the anime. At the very least I would have preferred her personality were completely different. Also, Misa's voicework was consistently annoying as hell. Takada Kiyomi (prominent character near the end of the anime) was a way better love-interest character and I strongly wish Misa were swapped with her.


My overall rating: 7/10
Although the anime production is lacking in some ways, the story of Death Note is an impressive work. It is intricate and thoughtful, while consistently being suspenseful and surprising me often. The praise this author has received is well deserved, and I hope they have continued to produce other stories (that don't include Misa).

If you're interested in Death Note, I suggest you consider reading the source material instead of watching the anime. The story is the selling point here, and if that were disregarded then the anime itself is not particularly impressive. The anime is also 37 episodes long, which is a considerable time investment; reading the manga is probably more efficient. Of course it's up to your personal tastes, but if you like manga then you should consider just reading this instead. Death Note seems well suited for a literature format, no pun intended.


>>39612
Dude, I watch a lot of trash. You have to sift through garbage if you want to find diamonds in the rough. Furthermore, these results are not unexpected if anime quality obeys a Gaussian distribution.

I realize I have been on a bit of a negative streak, but that is primarily due to the reasons outlined beneath my Sengoku Night Blood review. I have a couple 10/10 anime in my pipeline right now, but it is taking me a long time to finish watching them due to perfectionist autism.

>>39615
So you see every show in every season and decide to give most 6 and 5. There are only two possibilities for that, you're an autist, or you're one of these retarded "anime reviewers".

>>39615
Have you actually read the manga? I've never done so myself, but according to what I've heard from others over the years and my quickly glimpsing through the manga, the anime is actually superior in all ways and the manga is meh/decent.

>>39624
Anime has been superior to it's manga adaptations until CGI made it's way into being into every anime. To get the full experience of course you need to either understand Japanese or be a good speed reader of [proper] subs. Sometimes anime gets the moods wrong but that's really a different corporate/economics related issue. Besides Berserk, Blame, Jojo and some horror manga there isn't really anything visually stunning. Manga is pretty much boring to read besides looking at the cover art, the initial first few pages, and the rest is crap until the final chapter panel. Anime sets the pacing better most of the time due to VA's and music. A lot of supporting/background cast gets screentime rather than mainly looking at the MC and his thoughts in every panel of a manga.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/30375

I watched all three seasons of Starmyu (including OVAs), also known as High School Star Musical. Here are my thoughts:

In some ways, Starmyu is a fairly typical male-idol show; the cast is almost entirely young men. It consists of musical scenes, with singing and dancing, interspersed by varying degrees of forced drama. It literally feels like a live-action musical, and in this regard is a unique show. It has a very large cast – some of the characters are likeable, most are forgettable.

The show takes place in a prestigious artistic school which focuses on theatrical acting and singing/dancing. If you want to self-insert into that kind of scenario, this anime is uniquely suited for that. Much of the plot revolves around the academic activities of the artistic students and related drama. There is a lot of emphasis on kouhai-senpai relationships during every season, as well as teamwork among the various students. Sometimes there is a mild shounen-ai vibe, but it's not that prominent and can be ignored if you're averse to that kind of thing.

To be honest, this has been a go-to 'drunk anime' for me. The combination of musical/dance scenes and forced nonsensical drama made it ideal for watching under the influence of alcohol. Frankly, the storyline is silly and the drama feels quite artificial. You should completely shut your brain off if you want to enjoy this anime. You're better off not even trying to follow the ridiculous storyline, which mostly consists of endless bitchy catfights among the drama-queen cast members.

Visually, this anime is nothing special. I will give credit to the fact that the character designs, although simplistic, are distinct and easy to discern among the very large cast. Some of the guys are pretty cute too. The dancing in the musical scenes is also quite captivating, which is great because each episode has at least one song-and-dance scene.

Musically, Starmyu is quite good. The songs are catchy and stick in your head. The VAs are distinctive and have decent singing ability. The background OST is good too and does an effective job of setting the mood for the incoherent bitchfight drama. I'm looking forward to exploring the musical content more in isolation; I might even buy some albums if I can't find high-fidelity downloads. The musical catalog is quite large as well, which is always a plus.

Among the three seasons, the third was the worst. Although they all lay on the forced drama heavily, Season 3 is by far the most egregious in this respect. The plot of Season 3 is filled to the brim with some of the most forced artificial drama I've ever seen, and the way they dragged it out for 12 episodes was exasperating. Season 3 made fight videos on Worldstar seem Shakespearean in comparison. Season 3 also brought nothing new to the table in terms of content, and didn't improve on anything already depicted in the prior two seasons.


My ratings are as follows:
Season 1: 7/10
Season 2: 7/10
Season 3: 5/10

The writing of Season 3 is truly dreadful and cranks up the forced drama to an unbearable level. Otherwise, I enjoyed this anime. Although the forced drama is excessive, the dancing scenes are captivating, and who can resist imagining oneself as an art-school student or faculty member? Moreover, this show delivers on its most important selling point: the musical content is consistently good.

If you like performance arts, you might enjoy this show – it's basically an animated musical. This anime will let you experience the theater-kid life.


>>39616
>There are only two possibilities for that, you're an autist, or you're one of these retarded "anime reviewers".
I'm not sure what the distinction between these two options is.

>>39624
I haven't read the manga either but I'm under the impression it was well received overall. I was just trying to make the point that the manga may be a superior consumption method for some people and that they should consider it. I know I was reluctant to commit to 37 episodes of something I wasn't sure I'd enjoy.

I finished watching NOIR it was pretty good. to bad the ending is meh

https://myanimelist.net/anime/34902

I watched Tsurezure Children, also known as Tsuredure Children. Here are my thoughts:

These are ~12-minute episodes that consist of generic highschool romance skits between various student pairings. The characterization of these students is shallow and tropey.

I found the dialogue in this to be very clunky and unnatural. The romance feels quite inorganic and hamfisted, and overall simply not emotionally engaging. The script is seriously awful and a crippling flaw from my perspective. It feels so unnatural it's uncomfortable at times just having to listen to it.

The characters have simplistic same-face designs, and the animation quality is unremarkable. The voice acting is okay but that doesn't mean much when it's wasted on such a clumsy unnatural script.

If you can tolerate its flaws, this show can be mildly entertaining. It is sometimes cute, and some of the romance-oriented humour can be funny. To be honest, I only watched it with at least a bottle of wine in me, mainly because of how cringe-inducing the dialogue is.

Overall this is a very juvenile anime that feels targeted to an audience in their early teenage years. Somebody in that demographic may enjoy this more than I did. Frankly, I can't imagine anyone older than early teenage years enjoying this anime much.

My personal overall rating: 3/10

>>39615
It was tough to watch this again as an adult after liking it as a teenager and realizing how utterly retarded and full of plot holes it is.

>>39678
you should stick to historical documentaries then

finished blue gender.
honestly some of the best kino ive ever seen. kind of an eva clone though.

>>39699
jesus fucking christ

https://myanimelist.net/anime/34028

I watched Idol Jihen, also known as Idol Incidents. Here are my thoughts:

This anime is about idol succubi who are also politicians within the national Japanese legislative system. Despite some mature themes involved, this show basically feels like a Saturday-morning cartoon meant for a child audience. The plot is mostly episodic and usually involves the simplistic use of some kind of political conflict, such as a scandal or public policy decision. Aside from these political themes, this feels like a generic formulaic idol show; this anime isn't nearly as creative as it could have been. Regardless, the unusual juxtaposition of idols and politics is silly and fun. The absurdity of it got some chuckles out of me. The novelty of mixing idols and Japanese politics is what kept me watching this show, even though the actual scene-by-scene story is quite dull and feels calibrated for a child audience. This anime consistently feels juvenile.

I wish there were more song-and-dance scenes and more musical content in general. All they ever did was recycle the (admittedly quite cute) OP and ED songs for the idol scenes, which was very disappointing and also just another major indication of how low effort this anime is as a whole. They also reused the exact same CG dance animation multiple times. If you want good musical idol content, look elsewhere. At least some of the idol outfits and character designs are cute.

Idol Jihen is a unique cultural artifact, but ultimately it's not particularly entertaining. If you're interested in the Japanese legislative system, you might get a kick out of this anime, but don't expect much in the way of detail or nuance; the treatment of politics here is quite superficial. Lastly, this seems like it would be a fun show to watch with other people and collectively joke about; it has a lot of meme potential, which hasn't been capitalized upon due to its low viewership.

My overall rating: 4/10

https://myanimelist.net/anime/32615/

I watched Youjo Senki, also known as Saga of Tanya the Evil. I watched the first season, the OVA, and the movie. At the time of writing, Season 2 has not yet aired. Here are my thoughts:

This anime is about a salaryman who gets reincarnated in pseudo-WW1 Europe as a young orphan succubus (Tanya) while retaining their original personality. Tanya has an aptitude for magic and joins the military as an officer in the mage unit. Tanya is sort of an 'anti-hero' main character in the sense that they are highly self-interested and morally ambiguous.

The action scenes in Youjo Senki look good and have detailed fight choreography along with nice sound effects. The audio production quality of this is what I'd expect from a movie – it's pretty nice. In fact, Youjo Senki overall has movie-like production quality. The visuals are a strong point – the setting in particular looks fantastic. The European landscape often looks amazing. Furthermore, the architecture and interior decor feels authentic for the time period and is consistently meticulous and vividly detailed. I could tell there was a lot of attention to detail put into how the setting is depicted. One of my favourite things about this anime was admiring the intricate interior design of each room, and the cinematography does a good job of displaying it! Additionally, the character animation is fluid and well done too, including facial expressions. There is also lots of variety among the character designs, making each member of the large cast distinctive and easy to discern. The visuals of Youjo Senki are excellent.

Although the premise of this show is neat, I found the actual episode-by-episode story underwhelming and very predictable. Speaking more generally, although I found Youjo Senki entertaining, I never found it suspenseful or exciting, which seems like a shortcoming for a violent action-heavy show set in a war zone. The protagonist plot armour is blatantly indestructible, and the stakes never feel high as a result. It is a fun easy-to-watch show though. Despite the war theme, this anime feels best suited for casual viewing – it never feels all that serious. This isn't Saving Private Ryan; it's just a silly isekai anime and you should set your expectations accordingly.

Tanya's VA does an excellent job and is very unique and memorable. Her voicework really enhances this show and deserves a lot of praise. The voices for the various military officers fit their roles well too. The OST seems well produced – it is mostly military themed; it could have had a little more personality I think. Conversely, the ED song sung by Tanya's VA oozes personality (Aoi Yuuki is super talented).


My overall rating: 7/10
Youjo Senki is fun and entertaining, but it is also predictable and lacks suspense. I didn't find the story interesting or engaging at all. However, the production quality is consistently movie-like and the action scenes are well done. The early-20th-century European setting often looks excellent and quite detailed, both indoors and outdoors. Tanya's VA does a memorably terrific job and adds a lot of personality to the anime. The audiovisuals of Youjo Senki are great in many respects.

For anyone fond of the early-1900s European setting, Youjo Senki is worth checking out. Even if you don't like how silly the story is, the setting really does look terrific. I would also recommend this to action fans because the fight scenes are quite captivating. If you're looking for a solid cinematic experience, Youjo Senki can provide that.

Youjo Senki reminded me a lot of Shuumatsu no Izetta, which is another anime that involves flying magic users fighting in WW-era Europe. I liked both these anime but for different reasons; Youjo Senki is more playful and has better visuals and action scenes, whereas Shuumatsu no Izetta is more dramatic and has lots of cute memorable yuri romance.


>>39678
I've seen much worse TBH, especially by anime standards. I tend not to be overly concerned with plot realism though.

>>39763
>they/them/their
🚮

i watched this and it was ok. probably gonna go through it again eventually. already looking forward to SBR and whatever the part 9 manga is gonna be called (i heard JOJOLANDS but could be bullshit).

https://myanimelist.net/anime/31422/

I watched Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu (including the Taiwan special), also known as Minami Kamakura High School succubi Cycling Club. Here are my thoughts:

The title of this anime accurately describes the content. There's minimal 'filler' material in here – the screentime is nearly always focused on cycling in some way. I appreciate anime that consistently stick to their theme, unlike so many other highschool anime which devolve into formulaic episodes unrelated to the show's main selling point. Minami Kamakura Jitensha-bu could be described as formulaic as well, in the sense that the storyboard is what you'd expect for a show about novice cyclists, but at least you won't have to suffer through a culture-festival episode or a typical beach episode. I was apprehensive about the highschool setting but thankfully there's barely any classroom screentime in this. As you might expect, various landmarks in the Kamakura region are featured throughout the cycling activities. It does sometimes feel like a thinly veiled tourism advertisement, albeit not overly so and my enjoyment was never impeded by this.

I liked the brief live-action segments that play at the end of each episode. They mostly consist of various cycling-related conversations in a bike shop. These live-action segments are both informative and cute and I enjoyed them, especially because they seemed endearingly loosely scripted. This anime is fairly educational for cycling – although I already knew much of what is explained regarding bicycles, it was still entertaining to see things rehashed. This show does a good job of teaching the viewer about cycling while still being entertaining. This could serve as a kids' show. There's minimal sexualization, and the character interaction is very simplistic and straightforward such that a child could understand it easily. This anime's characters are quite tropey and there's barely any character development.

Minami Kamakura Jitensha-bu comes up short in the production-value department – it could pass as being 15 years older than its actual production year. The character designs are retro, and CG is sometimes used to animate the cycling scenes. The landscape and setting do sometimes look nice though. I found the voice acting mediocre and was also disappointed by the crummy low-budget soundtrack.


My overall rating: 5/10
If I didn't like cycling, I would have dropped this. This anime really doesn't have any selling points aside from the bicycle theme, which it does focus on consistently. This show does the bicycle theme well and is filled with lots of cycling scenes in various contexts, and also informs the viewer about some technical aspects of the activity. The characters and their interactions are tropey and simplistic. Production quality is lacking in many ways, however the Japanese outdoors do sometimes look decent.

People who like cycling might enjoy this anime. It's also suitable for a child audience while still being entertaining for a viewer of any age. I liked Long Riders slightly more than this anime – you should give Long Riders a try first if you're looking for a cycling-themed show.


>>39764
The character is canonically both genders; there's no political agenda here.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/33378/

I watched both the Haikara-san ga Tooru movies, also known as Here Comes Miss Modern. Here are my thoughts:

This anime is about a tomboy who is pressured into an arranged marriage with a half-jap soldier in the Japan army. The story takes place during the first couple decades of the 20th century and has a socio-historic flavour that some viewers may find appealing. It involves a lot of social issues in Taisho-era Japan, mainly involving female gender roles. It is somewhat interesting from a sociological perspective, although the plot velocity and runtime constraints limit the depth to which these themes could be explored. Even so, someone interested in historical Japanese society might appreciate this anime. These movies also incorporate the political nature of marriage in the writing – I found this to be refreshing, as the typically overly romanticized nature of marriage in fiction often doesn't reflect reality. I appreciated this lifelike treatment of marriage, and it meshed well with the other social themes. That said, romance is still a dominant motif in this anime, as is the relationship drama that comes along with it.

This feels like a shoujo-demographic anime, albeit not exclusively so. As you might assume from the title, the story focuses very much on the female MC. The primary male love interest lacks character depth – he's really underdeveloped. In fact the entire cast is tropey in characterization, but I don't think that could have been avoided given the runtime. The story actually reminded me of theatrical works like Shakespeare in the sense that it involved themes such as love and loss, love polygons, tragedy and reunification; it was all quite reminiscent of theatrical writing. Haikara-san ga Tooru feels like it could be a stage play instead of movie anime. Ironically however, I found the scriptwriting itself poor – many scenes in this could have been enhanced by a better script.

Similarly to theatrical writing, the story of Haikara-san ga Tooru demands a lot of suspension of disbelief. It is filled with convenient coincidences used to move the plot along and it felt crude and hamfisted as a result. The second movie in particular is quite bad in this regard and I enjoyed it less than the first. I also found the pacing of the first movie better calibrated than the second.

There are a lot of scenes in which the boorish tomboy MC is placed into situations where elegance and sophistication are expected of her – these scenes are funny and I enjoyed watching them. The sidekick ruffian henchman character (Ushigorou) also has some funny moments. Unfortunately the other sidekick character (Ranmaru), a feminine-boy childhood friend, is kind of annoying.

The visual art style and animation quality are rather lackluster. The visuals are on par with what I'd expect from a modest-budget TV anime – they're nothing special. The character designs are mildly retro shoujo-manga-like. In fact, overall this anime feels retro – if you told me it were 15 years older than its actual production year, I might have believed you. Regardless, the visuals overall feel low quality and fairly amateurish. However, the soundtrack does have some nice orchestral music. Conversely, the voice acting is consistently mediocre for the entire cast, in my opinion.


My ratings for the Haikara-san ga Tooru movies are as follows:
Movie 1 (Benio, Hana no 17-sai): 5/10
Movie 2 (Hana no Tokyo Dai Roman): 4/10

The writing of the second movie is worse than the first, mainly due to forced coincidences in the storyline. Furthermore, many scenes in these movies suffer from weak scriptwriting coupled with underwhelming voice acting. The visuals are lacking the quality I'd expect from movies made in the late 2010s, however the soundtrack is decent and worth checking out if you like classical/orchestral-type stuff. Some viewers may appreciate the socio-historic themes of these movies.

I think that in general a female audience is more likely to enjoy these movies; they kind of felt like Taisho chick flicks.

For the record, I have never seen the original anime adaptation released in the 70s.

These movies reminded me of Kono Sekai no Katasumi ni, in that they are set in a similar time period and deal with similar social themes (i.e. female gender roles in historical militaristic Japan).

I finished Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

I dont think ive ever felt worse in my life by watching an anime. Every episode was gut wrenching and made me cry.

I wanted anaru and jintan to get together so badly man

When it ended ive been feeling even more down…… FuCK my life.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/32901/

I somehow watched Eromanga Sensei to completion, including the OVA. Here are my thoughts:

Basically, this anime has a ton of sexualization and not much else. If you want ecchi cumbrain garbage, here's your jerk material. There's no other major selling point here.

Most of the main characters in this are writers or content creators in some form – I thought this might be an interesting dimension to explore. Unfortunately, this show does not deliver any kind of interesting story whatsoever. The supporting cast, despite being composed of artists, are mostly treated as sex objects, and the scriptwriting reflects this accordingly. I was initially hopeful for the content-creator perspective of this story, but they never really provided anything substantial in this regard. The male MC is a writer, but otherwise he is a spineless idiot with zero personality, as usual. In fact the entire cast is unlikeable for various reasons, as well as lacking character development in general.

Eromanga Sensei has very little entertainment value besides arousing your poor abused weary foul fap-blistered septic basement-dweller chode. When people say they hate anime, this kind of show is what they are thinking of. Frankly, it's the textbook definition of garbage. It has plenty of lewd content though, so it may be able to assist in draining your sweaty hairy sensitive delicious lustful intoxicating voluminous nutritious testicles, which perhaps is an advantage depending on your perspective. There's not much else of value here. Of course, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that; boys will be boys ;)

Seriously though, there are some funny moments, but I wouldn't recommend watching this unless your primary motivation is sexual in nature. This anime really is shameless cumbrain material. Some of the (usually sexual) comedy did get some laughs out of me. Also, if you're one of those people obsessed with shipping and who wins the MC's affections, or someone who sees love triangles as a glorified horse race to place bets, then you might personally find this show entertaining. There are multiple female candidates vying for the male MC's attention. The OVAs in particular focus on this aspect of the story.

I can see why this show spawned so many memes. Unlike the characters themselves, the meme material is quite fertile. There are also a lot of screencap-worthy facial expressions. In some ways, this anime feels engineered to be shitpost material.

Although the soundtrack is nothing special (aside from maybe the OP/ED tracks), the voice acting in this is not bad – I thought all the female leads were distinctive and performed their roles well.


My personal overall rating: 3/10
Eromanga Sensei is utter garbage but it did occasionally get some laughs out of me. Above all else, this is a highly sexualized anime meant to arouse the viewer – if you're into this material then feel free to shamelessly enjoy; I'm not judging anyone. There is also loads of sexual humour in here, which some people may find appealing as well. Furthermore, this show has a lot of fertile meme material and this is probably a major reason for its infamy; all publicity is good publicity I suppose.


>>40093
解た、ESL-くん。

I finished Utawarerumono this morning, overall I think it is a good story-based anime with a lot of war and interesting bits while not trying to be over the top.

Doesn't really feel like a 2006 anime except for the pace, I would say.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/34280/

I watched Gamers. Here are my thoughts:

Gamers has a serious branding issue, in the sense that the content doesn't match its marketing. This show is like 90% relationship drama, and gaming hobbies are just an excuse to facilitate that. If you go into this expecting gaming-related content, you will be disappointed. On the other hand, if you like highschool romance and relationship drama, you may be pleasantly surprised by this show. I, very selectively, can enjoy these things, and so my initial pessimism about this anime was pleasantly defied. However, people looking for a show about the gaming hobby will likely have the opposite viewing experience (and consequently give it a low rating). I should clarify that when I say 'relationship drama' I'm including the many platonic relationships featured in the show as well. Gamers is a show about relationships, not gaming. Of course there are a lot of gaming-related jokes, but what I'm trying to convey is that gaming is not the central focus here – it's just a theme or canvas upon which the actual story is illustrated.

The writing of all the various relationships and the ways they intersect is surprisingly intricate and well thought out. However, it takes a while to build the foundation for this, and the writing doesn't start to reveal its true potential in this regard until around midway through the series. The story of Gamers takes a while to really start to deliver, but when it does it's really great. This anime is fairly well directed, and does a good job of exploring and fleshing out each character's perspective. The relationship drama in this is quite well done, regardless of the juvenile mechanics it sometimes involves. Similarly, the characters and their interactions are terrific. The plot and character interaction in this feels very down to earth, lifelike and real. Gamers is an excellent 'highschool social-life simulator'. The entire cast is likable as well, including the MC who is a super-cute boy – he is so adorable!

Character animation in this is sometimes quite sloppy. In fact the visuals in general are lackluster and feel budget-constrained. However, some of the character designs are cute, like the boyish MC, and Aguri with her pink hair and cute accessories, and Chiaki with her tomboyish charm and kelpy hair.

The OST is not bad – it enhanced some scenes. There are some cute 8-bit retro-gaming-style tracks. I like the ED song too – it's ultra cute and has a nice melody that was stuck in my head for weeks. I also appreciated the variety among the voice actors in the main cast; every VA sounded distinct and suited their character well.

Just FYI, although the penultimate episode was easily one of the best, I found the finale to be a disappointing weaker episode. Also, as expected of an LN adaptation like this, there isn't any closure or finality in terms of relationships.


My overall rating: 7/10
Although the visual production quality is rough, I really enjoyed Gamers. The character interaction is so real and lifelike. The writing weaves numerous relationships together in an elaborate way, yet the story is coherent and well directed. The entire main cast is cute and likable, as are their relations with one another. Gamers is a show about relationships and it does a great job of it. It really tickled my emotions. This anime is so cute!

If you're interested in a show about gaming, you should watch something else. However, if you like cute relationship drama you should consider watching this. As I said, Gamers is seriously misbranded. On a related counterintuitive note, I actually think a female audience would enjoy this anime, for reasons you can probably infer.

I also want to take this opportunity to say that, despite my low expectations for a new studio, with poor animation quality to boot, I am quite impressed with the direction quality of Pine Jam, at least for these 2017 shows – especially in terms of romance. Both Gamers and Just Because completely smoked my (admittedly low) expectations. I see a ton of potential in this studio and look forward to future works. Even though it looks sloppy, it does a great job at what really matters. This studio has induced the butterflies-in-stomach feeling within me multiple times already, and I really want more.

Finished Domestic na Kanojo. Scratches the itch for cheap melodrama for its own sake. Rui is very cute. 6/10.

If you ever find yourself looking at an anime with a 5/10 rating and wondering "can it really be that bad?", it absolutely can be worse than your worst imaginings. That is my review of Jungle De Ikou. My life is forever altered. I dare not entertain the thought of watching a 1/10 anime for fear that it might endanger my life.

Finished Space Patrol Luluco

It's bad.

god this season's anime fucking blows.

>>40224
isnt 5/10 average or what? or is it supposed to be like a test score where that is considered failing

>>40256
People can't grade shit anymore. See how all video games, even the most average ones, get 7 or 8 in video game reviews.

Never cared about sports anime but I was drawn to this for some reason and it was a fun show, simple story but effective with good character design. The dub was good too as the actors weren't shy to get into character and they pulled off their personalities well.

>>38738
I had a hard time finishing it, and most the time I was just plain bored. OP/ED weren't good, either. succubus was cute, though.

I finished the entire Legend of Galactic Heros old version series. Here was the prequel recommendation order that's not on the chart.

A Hundred Billion Stars (HBS)
Spiral Labyrinth (SL)

1. Spiral Labyrinth (SL, 1-14)
2. Silver-White Valley (HBS, 1-4)
3. The Mutineer (SL, 15-18)
4. The Dualist (SL, 19-22)
5. The Retriever (SL, 23-26)
6. Dreams of the Morning, Songs of the Night (HBS, 5-8)
7. A Hundred Billion Stars, A Hundred Billion Lights (HBS, 13-24)
8. 3rd Battle of Tiamat (SL, 27-28)
9. Dishonor (HBS, 9-12)

Currently I am going through withdraw and looking for recommendations for any other anime. But next to Babylon 5 I can't think of a series that comes close. Hell LoGH relied so little on magic bullshit and aliens it is hard to compare, being more like military historical fiction than a sci-fi series. It's made me appreciate large scale fleet battles where it's not who has the biggest gun but who has the best coordinated fleet movements.

For the main series though my main gripe was the ending. if the high terrian priest had a history power level of Yang Wenli he shouldn't have been so easy to kill. And I don't know how Rienhart would capitulate to Julian even though he fell before him in a bloody mess. Any Reuenthal is MVP

>>40266
Space Battleship Yamato or Galaxy Express 999. They are both great.

>>40266
>Currently I am going through withdraw and looking for recommendations for any other anime. But next to Babylon 5 I can't think of a series that comes close. Hell LoGH relied so little on magic bullshit and aliens it is hard to compare, being more like military historical fiction than a sci-fi series. It's made me appreciate large scale fleet battles where it's not who has the biggest gun but who has the best coordinated fleet movements.
I can recommend the Crest/Banner of the Stars series if you enjoyed Legend of Galactic Heroes for those reasons. Crest is essentially a romance between two aristocrats in the military, while Banner follows them and others through a campaign

>>40270
I remember someone saying the first battle(first episode) was unrealistic, despite being literally based on some of Napoleon's battles.

finished texhnolyze, it was pain in the ass to go through.

Archival and new thread time?
>>40271
Uhhh, well, uhmm, it's unrealistic because LOL spes is 3D and water isn't!!!11 Also, I swear there is some in-universe explanation for why they conduct battles like classical naval warfare.

I've already watched welcome to the NHK bit I want to use this thread to talk about the LN and the manga. I liked the LN because it's the original piece of work. For the manga, I just finished it and it was awful., but it was more load with elements and details

I finished watching welcome to nhk for the second time. it was good and feel like home now I am a neet. because the first time I've watched it, I wasn't a neet. now I wish I had a misaki saving my life too. sad life

Finished watching Odd Taxi. It was alright. Not bad. Not great. O.K., though.

Light spoiler.

If you're thinking, "Oh, all the characters are animals, this is for furries," I'd suggest to put up with that pain. Also, this is one of those anime where the everything builds to the last episode, so if you're watching an episode that's kind of meh, keep that in mind, and don't be afraid to skip an episode that you find particularly boring. I found the one on gatcha really boring and skipped it.

Heavy spoiler if you never plan to see this.

I watched a review where the reviewer guessed at the show's twist before it got to the final episode saying shit like, "Notice how his doctor says, 'What do you see me as?'", and man I really fucking wished I never saw that review. Nonetheless, they really drop hints at it the entire show. That twist is pretty much the sole reason to watch the show.

finished watching all OG naruto. i started as a kid watching it as it aired on cartoon network in the afternoon/night, only made it to zabuza was a kid and then i lost track of everything and didnt want to spoil the stuff i missed so i stopped wathcing altogether

rewatched it as an adult around 2011 after a coworker loaned me dvd boxes of neon genesis, samurai x, samurai champloo, and some others, it got me back into anime. but i did not finish all of the og naruto. i quit my job due to some problems and it somehow was in the middle of when i was rewatching naruto. i made it to somewhere around the 150th episode

but i managed to rewatch it all now. favorite episodes were the zabuza ones, and the construction worker trapper guy. i like naruto, hinata, the sand ninja folding fan succubus, kakashi, toad sage, shikamaru, lee, guy sensei, and the bug guy. i don't like sasuke and itachi, sakura and ino, the chunin exam sensei who was uses genjutsu, gaara

it was nostalgic. they did a good job with the characters, all of them develop and change as the show goes on, except for maybe the older characters, but that's realistic. neji and gaara are good examples of the younger characters mindsets doing a complete 180. i know people shit on naruto but i love it. i can finally watch shippuden now