Animation Revelation's Animation Blog

Actually, I Am…

Ok, first things first. What the hell is with the title of this show? I know this is supposed to be a literal translation of the Japanese title but I thought this was supposed to be called “My Monster Secret” not “Actually, I Am…” . That’s the name of the original manga right? Goddammit Sentai, next time chose the title that DOESN’T SOUND STUPID outside of the original nihongo.

Well now that that rant is out of the way, how is the show? Fairly decent, surprisingly. It doesn’t rewrite the book on the standard high school supernatural rom com to any degree that shows like DxD have done in the past, but it doesn’t really make me wanna claw my eyes out like a certain OTHER show with a similar subject did earlier this week. That’s a big improvement if anything.

So what’s the story? Well its pretty damn simple. Sad sack shlub Kuromine has the hots for the emotionally distant Shiragami but, due to his own sense of worthless predictability, can’t quite make it to first base. Finally he is goaded in confessing his love to the wallflower but there’s one small problem. Shiragami is…kind of a…vampire…

Whoops!

Yeah, pretty standard plot there. It only works because the two leads are actually likable (yes, a Natsuki Hanae character who is actually likable. Top that Matsuoka!) for the most part, and some of the jokes elicit a few chuckles. Maybe I’m feeling deprived after some of the more horrible shows I’ve viewed in the last few days but this was enough to make me feel somewhat more chipper. — Lord Dalek

Aquarion Logos

EDITOR’S NOTE: In regards to reviewing this show, we at Thaumatropy were unable to find a writer to take on the task. The reasons for the unavilability of a Aquarion Logos review is as follows…

I’m already doing twenty shows, I’m not doing this shit. — Shadow Gentleman

I’m already blogging Crowds! I can’t do anymore! — Lord Dalek

They’re fighting Kanji! I’m out! — Bloody Marquis

 This is too ridiculous, even for me. — Crimson Rynnec

Words have failed the characters. And they have also failed me. — Foggle

[Could not be reached for comment] — Mahoumagica

[Sounds of a porpoise in heat] — DarkSydePhivator

Can we go back to watching J-Dramas yet? — RacattackForce

Bikini Warriors

From the hot springs, big and bouncy,
like “Pillars” of fatty sacks they got great ass
and keep on jiggling
Ruse the enemy, with your mammaries
Let’s see you catch these nasty felons,
with your big ol melons,
These swim suits you wear, barley contain dat wicked booty
give them all a smile, show of your goodies
Keeping on swaying left and right, moving not a bit too fast
so the they can get a great view of your rocking legs, tits and ass
Keep on fighting on, even when you get an inch from your tiny thong
Like Bikini Strings, fall of like Bikini Tops
watch these sexy girlies as the hop and flip and flop
to keep this show on air, you’ll have to flash your derrière and forget
those delicious honkers

meh pretty fun 10/10 IGN AOTY — Shadow Gentleman

Second Opinon!

The fabric of the bra embraced
Burn it high and make a miracle happen
We have to be half-naked
The faraway lingerie we promised to each other
BIKINI FANTASY!!   Yes, only dreams
are the strings of the bra that no one can steal.
SAINT Strippa!!   cute girls are all…
SAINT Strippa!!   …the sexy women of tomorrow.   oh yeah
SAINT Strippa!!  Like the hooker…
SAINT Sripper!!   …unfasten your bra-straps now! — Crimson Rynnec

Castle Town Dandelion

I had to take a full night off in between watching and writing this show because—as I have been informed—I was in an incoherent frothing rage from the actions and characters hiding in this series. People who should be in high school were doing things expected of children unable to wipe themselves. Grand concepts like democracy and oligarchy were glued together into a horrible Orwellian society, where cameras are everywhere and acts of public embarrassment were the accepted means of societal ascension. Another show would use these ideas for dark lampoon, but the closest to a joke is one girl complaining that everyone can now see her panties thanks to the proliferation of CCTV.

Perhaps it’s a satire on how we’re more obsessed with the lewdness of the elite instead of our own problems, where our civilization is fueled solely through our royalty’s personal lives and issues, no matter how inane. It could be like how modern society is obsessed with the Kardashian dynasty, and how the public is more obsessed over the second eldest daughter’s behind than the tangled government corruption we have all over our world. Is this all meant to be a cruel tragicomedy, where brother and sister must fight amongst another to satisfy the common people’s amusement? Does the director suggest that the modern princes and princesses are no better than mere jesters thanks to the advancement of technology and the decay of private freedoms?

Then I remember this is based off a 4-koma, the family members have super powers, and the patriarch wears his crown even while eating dinner among his estranged family. This isn’t meant to challenge our beliefs in kings and conquerors, but made to make us giggle at the girl showing off her panties when using her power of flight. We’re also allowed to make lewd assumptions as to whether or not the eldest brother is romantically involved with one of his sisters, but not his brothers, because that would be too homosexual for this show’s palate. We are expected to laugh at how one of the children only has powers over statistics instead of a real super-ability, along with the apparent inability for any of the girls to wear pants if they are so fearful of their hindquarters observed. But I cannot feel laughter from these events. I can only express abject horror, and a refusal to not look too far into what probably has as many layers as the new season of Working. But I must look into silly gag anime, for it is my, no, our duty as anime bloggers to discover the horrors that lie within goofy cartoons expressly made for manchildren. — Bloody Marquis

Second Opinion!

Meet Akane. She’s your normal, everyday girl. But there’s just one problem…well, 8 of them to be exact. And when you’ve got 8 siblings, things can get a little crazy.

Whooooa!

But that’s not all. They’re all royalty!

Say whaaa?

And only to make things worse, they’re part of the wildest *guitar riff*, craziest *honking noise*, most totally outrageous reality show ever!

But being a reality TV star isn’t all bad…when you have SUPERPOWERS!

Shut. Up.

And when you’ve got powers like Pepsiman and Gold Experience, and King Jim Bob for a dad, sibling rivalries can get pretty crazy!

*shot of Akane’s panties showing because this is anime and girls don’t wear pants yah dingus*

O. M. G.

Catch the Duggar Bunch, Mondays at 7e/6c, only on Disney Channel.

*laugh track*/10 — Shadow Gentleman

Chaos Dragon

The first thing one notices while watching Chaos Dragon is how butt ugly it is. All the characters, instead of the usual big ass circles we’ve come to expect from every anime ever, have these gaunt pentagonal eyes that rarely appear on model. Once you get past that though comes the other problem: the show itself. In case you’re not aware by now, this is based off a series of  books which were in turn adapted from a D&D campaign played by several well known LN writers including Kinoko (“Fate”) Nasu, Ryogo (“Baccano!”) Narita, and Gen (Every great anime in the last five years) Urobuchi. And in the great Lodoss tradition, said campaign had enough background stories to create several novels which in turn have  been animated here. Unlike Lodoss though, Chaos Dragon is a steaming turd that has been drenched in gasoline with a lit match on standby

The plot: in another magical fantasy world at war with itself, the small island nation of Nil Kamui (aka Japan) has been invaded by evil foreigners from Kouran (aka China), while neighboring nation Donatia (aka…I don’t know… America I guess) just sits on their hands and defends their own settlements. To make matters worse, the local guardian deity of the land “Red Dragon” has apparently gone cuckoo for cocoa puffs and is attacking all three factions indistinctly. Meanwhile, the true king of the land (gender ambiguous shota Ibuki) is busy wallowing in his own worthlessness at the local Whorephanage and not willing to you know… do… something.

However this idylic/worthless existence shattered when Kyube–I mean… THE RED DRAGON choses him to become a magical girl!…by forcing him to kill his sister/girlfriend/idk in cold blood. Why? Because the writers clearly feel that Ibuki needs to tap that fine cat girl ass instead…seriously? What is he? 11? There are some other characters, they’re forgettable. Moving on…

What is absolutely crippling to Chaos Dragon is that the cast is completely unlikable. If Ibuki is supposed to be some sort of tragic character then I’m not feeling it. He goes from being a whiny dick to an overpowered whiny dick because this show can’t tell if its Madoka or Guilty Crown by the end. True this could be explained away by the simple fact that its a very,very, VERY busy first episode but I’m not feeling that generous. You got to give me somebody to root for and this dumbass brat in a silly hat ain’t it. Really the only reason to watch Chaos Dragon is the animation itself. Its really, really good, about on par with ufotable’s work on the Fate franchise (maybe they got Nasu moniez too), but does it really matter? Hell no. Screw this crap. — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

Chaos Dragon is an anime based on a tabletop RPG created by Makoto Sanda, and loosely adapted from a session played by Gen Urobuchi, Kinoko Nasu, and Ryohgo Narita that was first serialized into a web novel a couple years back. Surely since this is based of an RPG, you’d think the anime would follow the adventures of Nasu, Narita, and Urobuchi’s (who’s character is a cute girl in this adaptation for some reason, not that I’m complaining) RP characters and the wacky hijinks that ensue, right?
Ha ha ha-WRONG!

Instead, Chaos Dragon follows the adventures of Ibuki (who is sadly neither the rocker girl from Danganronpa, or the ninja from Street Fighter) and his angular eyed friends as they are swept up in a conflict between two countries. Amid the turmoil, our shota protagonist makes a pact with the Red Dragon, the ruling deity of the island of his homeland Nil Kamui (which is totally not supposed to be Japan) to fight against the invading army, and become king to regain his island’s independence, or something. For an anime based a tabletop RPG there is hardly any adventuring, or anything I imagine that makes RP’ing fun, but there are hell of a lot angular eyed characters in costumes so ridiculous it’d make the cast of Code Geass blush. If you were expecting a spiritual sucessor to Record of the Lodoss War, then you’ll be disappointed, but if you wanted medieval Code Geass/Guilty Crown/Aldnoah Zero, then this is for you. Otherwise you’re better off either waiting for the fan-translations of the web novels, or having your own RPG sessions and making stories based on those. — Crimson Rynnec

Durarara!!x2 Ten

The second half of the second season premieres with the sheer bravado of seeing Izaya lying on his hospital bed for the entire episode. Any other show, and it would be visual melatonin. Imagine the thought of sitting through twenty minutes of the Ranpo Kitan kid in a hospital, and you’d be asleep as soon as the mental image popped up. But it works here since we get to see Izaya in a unique position. Thanks to the events from last arc, he’s now a sitting duck at the hospital, monitored by detectives and the like. It isn’t just like taking a fish out of water, but more like throwing a fish into a mound of salt and watching the chunks clog up the gills. And while he still has that shit-eating grin, you can tell Izaya’s not feeling too hot. He now has to wait, even beg, for someone to eventually attack him now that he can’t provoke. You get the feeling he misses Shizuo at points.

This theme was explored earlier this season, where everyone had a hotpot party while Izaya sat alone in his office. It built the idea that the worst thing that could happen to him was to be alone and ignored, as if all these attempts to mess with people’s lives was just his calling card. Without that, his life doesn’t have meaning. No hobbies or life choices could satisfy Izaya more than the joy of getting a rise out of the common folk, and he starves when taken away from that. He resorts to prank calling Shinra just to scrap the barrel. It makes me think solitary confinement would be Izaya’s view of a personal hell. He loves humanity the same way a comedian loves their audience. You take that away, and you just get a loon yelling at air.

Meanwhile, everyone else is taking the peace in stride. It’s almost so peaceful that characters are free to talk to others they’ve only just met. Aoba befriends Shinra and Celty. Shinra’s dad meets up with Namie’s uncle. We get all of these new connections lining up in preparation for what’s to come. However, I do hope this arc won’t always be like this. We only got Shizuo and Celty doing bit parts while less interesting people shared the spotlight. It feels endemic from last arc, where the newly introduced characters (except Vorona and Ruri) just didn’t have the right spark compared to their first season brethren. I’m hoping this cour could shake things up more, as well as getting better animation than last time. Watching the last storyline was like trying to read the first draft of Tintin and Alph-Art. — Bloody Marquis

Second Opinion!

When I first watched this episode, I had just gotten home after a 20+ hour flight from India back to the States and was utterly exhausted, and within the first four minutes of the episode I fell right asleep. Later, I watched the episode properly, and though I didn’t fall asleep, I felt like it. The novelty of Durarara!! has worn thin for me. The first cour of x2 was a disappointing disaster. Despite cramming 4 volumes of content into 12 episodes, the show felt slow, meandering tedious to watch, and so little felt actually accomplished. Most of the best moments in the last cour of Durarara!! for me came exclusively from Mikado’s character arc and Rocchi and Kyohei’s bro-rivalry, but those where only two plot lines of several the last cour juggled. Very few events in the last season have stuck in my memory, whereas there are plenty of scenes from the first season that I still remember, and it’s been years since I last watched that! Not to mention that the animation of x2 is a massive downgrade. Not only were the characters often off-model, there were some episodes were they seemed to only animate key-frames! That’s just embarrassing. But for whatever faults the first cour of x2 had, at least it ended interestingly. Verona’s pretty fucked, Mikado’s gone to the dark side, and the always-smug, always-winning Izaya Orihara got his ass fucking stabbed! Holy shit! So shit’s going to really start going down now, right?

No. Not really.

I mean, we see some glimpses in the episode of some pretty freaky things going on, like Namie trying to knife Mika, but mostly, this episode was primarily about Izaya being bored and docking around waiting for something interesting to happen. It’s sort of funny seeing just how pathetic and desperate Izaya is for attention, and his crazy rant at the end is a lot of fun, but it would have worked better if the show went farther in showing what makes Izaya tick and have some fun taking him down a notch. Instead, we switch back and forth with various other plotlines and characters. There’s an inordinate amount of time focused on Rio for some reason, lots of reused footage and flashbacks to remind us what happened in the last episode in case you forgot or something, Shinra and Celty going on a date, and set-up for other subplots that will probably happen this cour. After a while these scenes feel repetitive, rote, and a bit unnecessary. I know this is Durarara!!’s style of storytelling, but I’d rather the show have focused this episode more squarely on Izaya, and maybe expanding on Celty and Shinra’s date. Because apparently, the latter ends up involving vampire priestesses and werewolves. I really hope that isn’t just a throwaway line and we actually see that at some point.

All in all, while hardly a bad episode, it’s a meandering premiere, with a mixed ratio of interesting scenes and boring ones. I hope the stuff about Izaya’s need for attention gets brought up again, because otherwise this episode might as well be filler. If x2 turned you off from Durarara!!, this episode won’t change your mind, but if you’re still interested in the show, you can expect more of the same from the last season, both the good and the bad. — CartoonX

Dragonball Super

…

How does one review a show like Dragonball Super? The problem a writer like me faces is that the Dragonball franchise has become such a key part of anime in our pop culture lexicon that its pretty much critic proof. Of course a lot of this is from 90’s kid nostalgia. You know, the kind of person who will buy anything that gives ’em ye olde “feels”. I can understand that. I remember watching DBZ when it was in its original once weekly syndication run with Samurai Pizza Cats. I fondly remember all those nights of watching reruns of DBZ on Cartoon Network at 12:30 AM (…oh all right it was actually 9:30, I had satellite) and then on Toonami. It was just part of a way of life that we cherish.

…the problem is I’m almost 30 and that was 20 years ago.

I grew up. However, judging by their etiquette at certain other forums (translation: RICHARD EISENBEIS), DBZ/Toonami fans clearly have not. Hence… DBSuper, which somehow managed to have the single worst series opener of the entire franchise. Congratulations GT, you’re off the hook at last!

There is no narrative here. There is no structure whatsoever. There are no characters of note and nothing happens. It is the most blatant piece of filler I’ve seen in many a moon and this is supposed to be a brand new series without the need of filler. I can only deduce this is because it is supposed to be some sort of advertisement for the film Battle of Gods judging from the F-Plot with Beerus blowing up planets. The problem is…that already came out TWO. FUCKING. YEARS. AGO. Nobody cares anymore Toriyama, you’ve already moved onto Frieza. Doesn’t help that the F-plot is just sorta shoved into the back. Most of the episode has Goten and Trunks getting into MORE WACKY HIJINX!!!!(tm) involving silly snakes and magic pond water. Then Mr. Satan gives Son Goku a bazillion dollars to hush him up over that whole Majin Buu thing from 1995. And then…credits. To say I feel I wasted 23 minutes of my life watching this might be the understatement of the century, but then I remember that dumb OVA from a couple years ago featuring Vegeta’s lameass brother and it all balances out.

So what the hell do I write about Super? It didn’t give me anything…like…at all. Basically if you’re desperate for a nostalgic hard-on over 90s Shonen Jump stupidity, you’re better off watching Ushio and Tora. At least SOMETHING happened in that show! (“These pretzels are making me thirsty!”/5) — Lord Dalek

Gangsta.

Oh boy, this is the hardest kind of episode to talk about. I don’t really want to sound to negative here, but I’ll just have to say it: this was pretty boring.

I know I shouldn’t let my expectations fool me, but from the previews (and the kick-ass opening) I was expecting a action packed journey through the criminal underworld of Whocaresia. While this first episode does seem to be that kind of show, it falls short in several areas. The makings for a interesting show are here, but nothing is really used in way that generates interest. The basic plot is stretched very thin, with tedious exposition and people sitting around talking feeling in the gaps of where meaningful progression could have been instead. The characters are just kind of there, nothing about them really makes you want to be invested in them or care about there plights. Just the “prostitute with abusive pimp” plot that’s a dime a dozen in these types of shows. The actions scenes, though lackluster, are easily the most entraining parts of the episode.

While I’ll give it credit for being different and arguably more ”mature” then the rest of same old same old we see these days, Gangsta still falls short where it counts. — Shadow Gentleman

Hey, remember Jormungand? Remember Black Lagoon? Remember the shows about the space cowboys? Remember how you watched those anime because they had guns and shit? Well here is another of that genre that you have been partaking in for the last year or decade or lifetime or reincarnation cycle. Anime surpasses Buddhism, you know. This show has boobs and swords and guns and the thing that makes the people go splurt like they just sprayed tomato juice all over the bricks. That last part is fun. Let us have more of that in more animes like these. If you liked the Black of the Lagoon, you will probably like this show of the Japanese origins, wot wot?

Seriously, half of the characters look like tracings from other works. I could have sworn that was a male Balalaika in the episode. Not trying to insinuate it’s ripping off Black Lagoon or anything though, because it’s not going for that. This show’s has more quiet moments to make the loud ones stand out, like one scene will have Cody in his car chilling while the next will have a swordfight with blood gushing everywhere. Sure, it’s slow at points, and it doesn’t offer much in terms of intrigue just yet, but it’s fun to watch. Like with a show called “Gangsta”, what else am I supposed to expect?

Gangsta feels like candy for the senses. The soundtrack has finesse, like something you’d want to hear when walking through the city. And it goes great with the visceral animation, something I haven’t seen done well from Manglobe in ages. It looks off at points, but it goes well with the organized crime aesthetic. Plus, this show has Nick. Nick is the best if only because of his accent. I loved watching him cut guys apart and speaking like he was in the middle of gargling. I know people are going to think he’s a stupid character because of the “deaf swordsman” thing, but screw them. He’s like a play on the Zatoichi archetype, even though I’m not sure how clouding your hearing instead of your vision could enhance your abilities. Maybe it allows you more focus due to lack of noise or something to that effect?  — Bloody Marquis

Third Opinion!

These kind of gritty crime action anime tend to emphasize over the top, stylish action and waste no time in hooking viewers with a bang of an opener. Gangsta, curiously, has decided it wants to be a slow burn. The show downplays the action and instead focuses on a pretty bog standard saving a prostitute from an abusive pimp plot. It hits all the expected beats of such a story with no real twists or unique flavor, save for a pretty cool scene at the end where the deaf “dog-tag” Nic threatens a cop in garbled speech. The action in the premiere is not very impressive or memorable, the violence and bloodshed involved hardly being atypical of your typical action seinin. Both main characters have a kind of chemistry and relationship that rings a bit too similar of other gun-toting action bros; Spike and Jet, Lupin and Jigen, Train and Sven, etc. The show takes a lot of aspects of other series, but it hasn’t quite made them it’s own yet, which might make it feel a bit too derivative for some.

Still, the deliberate pacing and direction in this series manages to keep my interest. There are some choice shots and nice, subtle acting in both the animation and the performances. The tone is very mature; not in the obnoxious “let’s have lot’s of frivolous violence and sex for shock value” but the actual kind – handling adult subject matter in a tasteful way. I can appreciate the more low-key, relaxed tone of the show for now, and I’m sure based on what I’ve heard that there will be some more impressive action set pieces and stronger plot lines in future episodes. The show has a good character foundation and a decent production, and I can see it being one of the most rewarding shows to watch these season when everything’s said and done. — CartoonX

Gatchaman Crowds insight

HEY EVERYBODY! HAJIME HERE! LONG TIME NO SU I’M HERE TO TALK ‘BOUT MY SHOW GATCHAMAN CROWDS INSIGHT, THE WONDERFUL SEQUEL TO MY GRAND DEBUT LAST SEASON—if you haven’t watched it yet, you probably have worse learning difficulties than me—WHERE I SAVED THE WORLD BY SHOVING KATSE-SAN DOWN MY TATAS! I CAN STILL FEEL HIM RUMBLING N’ TUMBLING IN MY CHEST, BUT THE MORE HE STRUGGLES THE MORE HE GETS SUCKED IN. HAHAHASU

NOW I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR TO ALL NAYSAYERS WHO THOUGHT THE FIRST SEASON WAS MUY TRISTE—get it? Because Paiman’s serving margaritas—THE WRITERS GAVE ME A NEW FRIEND, AND A LITTLE NATIVE AMERICAN GIRL TO ADOPT! THEY KEEP TELLING ME SHE’S A REDSKINNED ALIEN, BUT THAT’S RUDE AND PROBLEMATIC AND RACIST AND I WON’T LET THAT IN MY MIND PALACE-SU! HER NAME IS GELSADRA AND SHE IS THE CUTEST THING! WE GATCHAMEN HAVE TO MAKE SURE SHE DOESN’T WET THE CARPET THOUGH, SO I THREATEN TO USE MY SCISSORS ON HER INDIGENOUS LADY PARTS! I KNOW THAT SOUNDS CRUEL, BUT SPARE THE ROD, SPOIL THE CHILD-SU~! WHEN IT COMES TO CHILDREARING, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO DIY! THE POWER DRILL WORKS THE BEST!

THE WRITERS ASKED ME TO EXPLAIN THE PLOT, BUT I FORGOT BECAUSE WHEN THEY WERE EXPLAINING IT TO ME I STARED AT A BUG FOR FIVE HOURS AND THOUGHT IT WAS THEM!

SO ANYWAYS, WATCH MY SHOW! IT’S CALLED INSIGHT CUZ IT’LL GIVE YOU LOTS OF INSIGHT INTO WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING IN THE PAST TWO YEARS—mostly not sleeping and writing sullen death threats in all my day planners, if you haven’t gotten a death threat from me, you will soon—AND WILL BRING YOU BACK TO ALL MY FRIENDS LIKE BLONDIE AND PANDA AND SMOKEY GUY AND LIL’ STRIPPER. HOPE TO SEE YOU THEN-SU~! — Ichinose Hajiiiiii-mesu

Dalek Opinion!

What you’re expecting me to write about this shit here? Go read Crowds-Sourcing instead… — Lord Dalek

GATE: The Self-Defense Force Goes to Another World

Almost two years ago, there was an anime called Outbreak Company. It was the story of how the fate of both Japan and a silly fantasy land rested on one NEET and his body pillows. Personally I thought it sucked but as I’ve been routinely reminded/annoyed by a certain mentally unstable one-time stalker of mine, apparently SOMEBODY liked it.

Well good news for you, creepy stalker! Even though Outbreak Company itself is neeeever going to get a proper second season, somebody at Aniplex decided to go ahead and make one anyway!…sorta. I give you GATE! The story of how the fate of two worlds rests on one NEET and his doujinshi collection! But unlike its quasi-prototype, this is a violent war story filled with rape, rape, more rape, pillage, tons of explosions, and even MOOOOORE rape!

…or at least that’s what I’ve been told. I was honestly expecting this grotesque thing that would cause me to want to slit my wrists more than Cross Ange did, but that…didn’t happen. Frankly nothing happened in Episode 1, its just about this boring guy who becomes a hero when his beloved Comiket gets interrupted by an invading hoard of mongols, orcs, and dragons. In that way, it reminds me of that first episode of Sword Art where it seemed like it might be actually watchable before all that bullshit with Sachi and Silica and the tentacle plant made you rethink that. Totally expecting Mister Type Moon Fan #1590316 to start getting into some skirts pretty soon.

So GATE really is just…average at this point. Very, very average. I don’t even know what to say about it since it made very little impression on me. Oh don’t worry, this is probably going to be the worst show of Summer 2015 if the early buzz is any indication but right now? Meh… — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

So, it’s good that the protagonist is in his thirties, right? Even though it’s still another alternate universe fantasy deal, and he’s as otaku as they come, doesn’t his age make everything better? It makes his weird interaction with that blue-haired little girl all the creepier, but at least he’s not a teenager! Aren’t you having fun with your adult generic shonen protagonist? Especially your adult generic shonen protagonist who’s the Japanese Self Defense Force despite being a dirty otaku? What’s the deal with that? I heard his reason about how he needed something to pay off his urges, but since when did being a soldier pay that much over other jobs? Does the JSDF pay more than your usual army? Somebody tell me in the comments if the salaries make being a lieutenant worth more than being a salary slave.

But the show doesn’t care about that detail. It’s just an excuse to give Youji some hand-to-hand combat experience. What the show cares more about is the political furor going on now that there’s a gate to a fantasy world. Instead of hearing about what the public says, let’s hear what the Prime Minister has to yap about! And he instantly brands a wild dragon attack as terrorism despite the word hard to apply when you’re facing up against Spartans, dragons, pigmen, and orcs with no as of yet understandable motive. Why are we bringing up the Prime Minister’s word and terrorism on a force devoid from reality unless they’re supposed to be a metaphor for… oh. Oh.

This is an analogue for immigration, isn’t it? And the focus on Japanese soldiers being cool is meant to be… oh dear. Perhaps this is just me looking at things the wrong way. Maybe *looks at chapters from the manga* Oh… It’s like if there was a Japanese Roland Emmerich and he decided to make Japanese Independence Day. And that means the main character is like Japanese Jeff Goldblum. Does that make the one elf girl in the opening Japanese Will Smith? I know these are stupid questions, but these are my comfort zone when you have to talk about a show this nationalist on your platter. On the bright side, it doesn’t have Tatsuya Shiba levels of warped ideals yet. Maybe it won’t go that path. Maybe it will just even out to be an average fantasy show. Yeah… Hope you like your weekly helpings of Nippon Banzai. — Bloody Marquis

Hetalia: The World Twinkle

What, they’ve made even more of Hetalia? Aren’t people sick of it yet? Clearly not, since the series still seems to rake in the moolah both in Japan and oversees thanks to giddy teenage fangirls buying shit-tons of it’s merchandise. I used to be a fan of the series back when it first came out, when it’s style of comedy was fresh and fun and FUNi’s english dub helped give it an edge to it’s satire that made it even funnier. But with every episode of the subsequent season the series got less creative and less clever and the dub tried too hard to overcompensate with it’s edgy humor to the point where none of the jokes in either version worked at all. The last time I tried watching the show was when the third season was first being simulcast, and I didn’t even finish watching the first episode of it before bowing out. The show had become unbearably boring and repetitive by that point, and I couldn’t bother with it any more.

Yet still, the series remains as popular in the anime fandom as it ever has, and as profitable as ever too, and the franchise will no doubt be milked dry for years and years to come. The show clearly has no dignity left; it knows that it’s diehard fans will continue to watch it no matter what it does, so it doesn’t even try to be funny any more. If you want proof that the series is creatively bankrupt, then all you have to do is watch this new season’s first episode. What does Hetalia decide to do in it’s first episode after two years? A gimmick episode where all the characters are cats. What do they do with this premise? Absolutely nothing. The only “joke” in the episode is merely the fact that everyone are chibi cats and address each other as “Italy-Cat” and “Germany-Cat” and such. Outside of that, the fact that they are cats isn’t even important. They could have done the same sketches with the characters as they normally are and they would work just the same. So what was the point? Cats are cute? Cute cats in cute situations are automatically funny? Isn’t the whole appeal of the show is cute boys doing cute things, with random history references thrown in, already? How is making the characters cats even relevant to that?

None of these questions matter. Why? Because the people who still like Hetalia don’t care. They’ll watch this and go “aw, Germany-Cat is so adowable” and eat it up. But I am not so easily amused by cuteness. This episode was only five minutes long, and yet it was so tedious to watch that it felt like 5 times the length. But, I realize the show is just not for me. Hetalia is to fujoshi what K-On and it’s ilk are to male otaku, except with more shipping. If cuteness for cuteness’ sake is your thing, then Hetalia might still be entertaining for you. But anyone who is not a teenage girl will likely find nothing of value or interest in this newest iteration, and should just spend their time elsewhere, preferably watching something that actually tries to tell a joke. — CartoonX

Million Doll

Why did I watch this? Idol anime are never good. Of course this wouldn’t be good. I had though that since the premise involved a girl otaku trying to help out an idol group that’d  help make it better than most in this sub genre, but of course it didn’t. This is an 8-minute anime. There is no effort put into it. The animation is minimal, when there is any at all. The plot is barely there. The characters are terrible. The main leads are two otaku and a trio of idols. That’s all we really learn about them. The female otaku is kind of stuck-up, apparently a hikkikomori, and a self-important blogger who promotes uses her forum-networking to promote her friends. Despite her good intentions, she is not likable. The male otaku is a creepy fanboy who goes to idol concerts and yells at them to marry him. Somehow, one idol chick he heckles finds him amusing and likes him, even though she should be creeped out and filing a restraining order. Obviously, he is not likable. We don’t learn anything about the idols. One of them is a friend of the female otaku and another is a friend of the male one. That connection will probably lead them to meet each other and work together to help their friends at some point later on, I guess. They don’t have any personality, though, so who cares? And after giving us nothing to get invested in after 7 minutes, the show ends with a skit teaching viewers about “otaku terms” to help viewers “help you enjoy Million Doll more!” “You better appreciate it!” the male otaku says. Well I don’t appreciate it. Who would appreciate it? The only people who are going to bother watching this shit in the first place are otaku. You know, people who’d probably already know these terms. To be fair, I didn’t, but I’m also not a weaboo, so I don’t care. Anyway, this show is another terrible idol anime. It might not have fan service or anything abominable, content-wise, but it’s boring, half-assed, and has does absolutely nothing to give you a good time at any point during it’s run-time. It might not be the worst idol anime out there, but it still proves the rule. — CartoonX

Monster Musume

0:00 — ………………………………………………….

They made a fucking show out of this.

They MADE. A. FUCKING. SHOW. OUT. OF. THIS.

0:30 — No.

0:35 — No.

0:40 — Nope.

1:00 — Do not want.

1:30 — Do not want.

2:00 — DO. NOT. WANT.

3:00 — No. No. I can’t even make it past the teaser. I can’t. I just… no.

*dropped*

ONE HOUR LATER…

*resumed*

TITLES: Wow this is the cheapest opening I’ve seen since… what was the last Gainax show again?

5:00 — NOPE.

5:20 — NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*dropped*

ONE HOUR LATER…

*resumed*

6:00 — Dear god there’s seventeen more minutes of this left… @_@

6:13 — If I had a .gif of this, it would represent my mental state at the moment.

6:53 — Monster Musume! Its True Blood…but stupider.

7:47 — Random Dragon Warrior reference is random

9:01 — So he gets arrested if he tries to have sex with the nympho………………HAREM SHOW!

9:10 — I am…literally struggling to get through this. It is a battle.

11:10 — Awww, the sensitive side of Monster Musume… hurl.

11:59 — Wow she broke his willy… k.

13:00 — Ok halfway through this… I can make it.

13:20 — …………….NOPE.

*dropped*

ONE HOUR LATER…

*resumed*

13:21 — I feel like Taylor Kitsch right now.

14:05 — siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

14:59 — No no no stop ple-oh thank god.

15:38 — Instead of laughs, there are only groans. So many groans.

16:30 — Lol dumbass racists. And that chick is black!

17:00 — of course they had to go to a love hotel. OF. FUCKING. COURSE.

17:30 — NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

*dropped*

ONE HOUR LATER…

*resumed*

17:32 — Ok Joel, you can make it, you can do this, you have seen faaaaar worse than Monster Musume….

18:12 — NO! I WILL PERSEVERE! I WILL SURVIVE THIS TRASH IF IT KILLS ME!

19:20 — Why do they have censor bleeps in anime now? Considering all the other language they DON’T censor.

20:00 — Thank god we’re almost done.

21:12 — NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*dropp–oh wait its over. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew, thank god. — Lord Dalek

Okusama ga Seitokaichou!

Well finally, someone decided to cut the fat off of an ecchi anime and make it the 8 minutes it deserves. And I suppose I should be happy nipples exist in this show’s universe. As well as condoms. It’s nice to know that characters are capable of something lewder than holding hands here. Show still feels too long despite being a third of the length of everything else. They probably could have just cut it to ten seconds of the guy sucking the girl’s breast and called it a day. Yeah, why even make your anime in minute-long segments. Maybe this anime would sell better if it was sold in webm form. The audience for this show probably wants it to finish quickly as much as they themselves can. — Bloody Marquis

Overlord

Overlord joins the family of anime adapted from fictional MMO-based Light Novels. However, unlike Sword Art Online or its ilk, Overlord takes a slightly different approach to the “trapped in an MMO” concept. Our story follows Momonga, a player of the once popular long-running MMO Yggdrassil. When Yggdrassil is about to shut down its servers, Momonga logs in for the last time to reminisce about all the good times he and his guild had in the game. Alone with only his NPC servants as company, Momonga decides to wait until the servers shut down before logging off, however,  when the clock hits midnight, not only do the servers seemingly stay on, but it turns out Momonga can’t log out or access the console at all! In a plot twist that would surprise only M. Night Shamalayn, it turns out the world of Yggdrassil has become real, and its NPC are now living breathing creatures. Momonga decides to adjust to this new reality and figure out all that he can do.

Overlord is a somewhat refreshing take on the “trapped in a videogame” concept, starting with making its protagonist look like a character you’d actually expect people to play in an MMO. It also has a sense that the author has actually played MMO’s before, which makes any scene talking about game mechanics sound plausible, as opposed to SAO’s nonsense. Overlord’s tone has a toung-in-cheek air about it, and with its characters and premise, it almost feels like a long-lost Nippon-Ichi game. Outside of a few problematic elements typical of LN’s (which is fortunately not being brushed over in-universe) Overlord is an enjoyable anime, and between the dissapointment that was Rokka, and the train-wreck that is Chaos Dragon, this is easily one of the better shows to premiere in an otherwise mediocre season. — Crimson Rynnec

Second Opinion!

It would be so very easy to dismiss Overlord as “Lich Art Online” due to both its rather bony protagonist, and the fact that its yet another in the growing stable of “Trapped in a MMO”-shows that have popped up like gophers in the wake of SAO’s massive (and completely unwarranted) success. The difference here is that Overlord tries to take the Log Horizon approach of having to apply RPG mechanics and structure to a situation that has now become your real life. I actually like this methodology and think its a much better approach to this kind of story than SAO’s “play an VRMMO to save the world/your girlfriend/her purity/etc.” bullshit (also reiterates the fact that Mamare Touno actually plays MMOs and Reki Kawahara clearly does not). However, in this case, there’s one small problem.

It’s…not…very good.

Once you get past the “AW YEAH SKELETON!!!”-factor, Lord Momonaga is an incredibly underdeveloped character. Unlike, say Shiroe from Log Horizon, he seems cold and distant and we don’t really know anything about him other than he was overleveled in the game and, now that he’s stuck in it, doesn’t seem to really care about getting out. Another part of the reason why Log Horizon worked so well was it had a clever sense of humor about its increasingly bleak situation. Not so here, there was about much liveliness as a funeral at times. That doesn’t give me any incentive to come back.

I guess I feel spoiled when it comes to this new mini genre. If .hack and Log Horizon represent the gold standard and SAO, the bottom of barrel then Overlord is right smack in the middle. It doesn’t do enough wrong to be a truly miserable sludge but it sure as hell doesn’t do enough good to warrant repeat viewings. Oh well… — Lord Dalek

Third Opinion!

 Maybe I should go to Japan and write my own “trapped in a video game” series. It would be simple. I’ll fly on a plane while pretending to be someone’s luggage, create a pseudonym, write grammatically incorrect Japanese with barely any Kanji in it, and boom, instant bestseller on the Oricon book charts! Yukio Mishima can go roll in his grave while I become a revolutionary of Japanese literature. It makes you wonder what Mishima would have said about light novels. Besides him, it would be nice to know the thoughts of old authors on the modern trends. On the other hand, Murasaki Shikibu would probably appreciate LNs.

I don’t know if she could appreciate Overlord though. This episode was unpleasant the same way a bullet to the stomach is mildly painful. I could list all of the unfavorable comparisons to SAO or Log Horizon right now, but let me point my ire to Madhouse. These character designs and animation are some of the worst this season, and this season already has multiple atrocities that will make you yearn for a scalpel. Some of the main characters are just one layer of color shading away from being Bleach protagonists. Just take a picture from Overlord, give it to casual anime fans, and ask them what show it comes from. And feel your dreams crumble when they mistake Madhouse for Pierrot. Except Pierrot possibly could have done this better. The fight scenes are bland as toast, with awful frames per second exacerbating the ocular cancer. Maybe I could give Madhouse the benefit of the doubt and blame FUNi for delivering a bad stream, but sharing the blame won’t make things any better. Not even any riffing could improve this episode. Anyone willing to try will be left witless by the end.

But who cares? You’re just going to watch this only because of Albedo. And if you’re depraved enough, you’ll probably watch this for the twins. It’ll be just like watching hentai filled with tons of putrid-looking men and only one semi-attractive woman. And it’s okay, because some people like to make endurance matches out of their supposed entertainment. It’s the only way they can keep sane. — Bloody Marquis

Ranpo Mysteries: Game of Laplace

Oooook, stop me if you’ve heard this one before… There’s this new show on airing late nights on Fuji Television licensed by Funi. Its made by Lerche, directed by HIM, and set in a school, and the main protagonist is a boy but he looks like a gir–wait…Assassination Classroom? Nope. This is Ranpo Mysteries! An anthology based off of the shonen detective stories of Ranpo Edogawa (the inspiration for Detective Conan’s surname as well as a major influence on Kindaichi Case Files), in a way this show seems to be more of a thowback to an earlier era of animu when Boogiepops were phantoms and Lil Sluggers were agents that caused paranoia. Of course this show isn’t anywhere near those in terms of quality (to be expected, considering how derivative it is), however its opening installment is surprisingly entertaining fulfilling what little expectations the name “Seiji Kishi” now represents for modern anime.

So in a world apparently ruled by gradient gray blobs that resemble humanoids, young trap Kobayashi awakens one day with a bloody hacksaw in his hand and the headless corpse of his teacher bound in a Vishnu pose five feet away. Things get more confusing when he and his sidekick Hashiba run into teen private dick Akechi, a too cool for school asshole who lives in a love hotel and spins 45s while playing SimCity 2000. Apparently Kobayashi is being framed for this crime but there’s a twist, sensei was actually a serial killer with a perverse addiction to turning his victims into….furniture.

…

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, its that kind of show.

There’s also a clearly mentally ill fujoshi who takes over as teacher that might as well be Shokotan, and some random hardboiled cops. Yeah who cares about them. This is noitaminA, and if those josei demand shotacon they’re gonna get their shotacon goddammit! Outside of that there’s not much to say. Really the main attraction to the show is that grand guignol horror content that comes with a show involving chairs made out of corpses. That almost makes me interested in coming back, but then again I also said the same thing about Dinglerumpus and everybody knows how THAT turned out. Fool me once Seiji Kishi, fool me twice… — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

An anime named after Rampo Edogawa sounds like something that would surprise me, up until I see the first few minutes and realize “No. No, sir. I won’t enjoy this.” I know first impressions shouldn’t cast a shadow on the whole, but there was something uneven, almost sterile about this directing. Even when the animation tried to become odd, it felt phoned in. I wondered who could do such a thing, until I saw the credits and recognized our old friend the Sage Quiche marking yet another disappointing entry in his large filmography. I’m not too sure how the Sage Quiche keeps getting work despite being a one-man DEEN. Frankly, I don’t want to know under the assumption some sort of blackmail is afoot. But whatever the case, Noitamina gets to have another placeholder to remind people they still exist.

And don’t try to argue this is anything more than a placeholder once you get to the CGI jukebox. While there are certain quirks here and there other directors wouldn’t add, they have the same amount of ambition Ed Wood did when he thought up Bride of the Monster. Like there’s a semblance of a good idea around here, but there’s no structure to make it into anything other than a half-baked daydream. To understand the laws and boundaries in this show require a different, probably primitive mindset than one is used to. Maybe the entire scene where the main character chases after a butterfly is supposed to deep instead of lazy. Perhaps the faceless masses that take up a quarter of the screen aren’t merely conspicuous attempts to save on the animation budget. And possibly, I am supposed to believe the cops want to arrest an effeminate teenage boy on suspicions of murder despite any evidence connecting the two being sketchy at best.

When you combine all of that without anything gluing them together, the show continues to have this hazy, toneless feel to it. Elements are drawn and discarded as if someone submitted the writers’ brainstorming session as a script instead of an actual draft. What should be gruesome acts of crime are depicted with aloofness, like they don’t deserve to be mentioned in lieu of the edgy detective contemplating some more. It’s meant to show how dreary the world is that not even murder affects the main cast, but it just creates even more apathy, resulting in a twenty-minute trudge that’s neither entertaining nor fun to mock.  — Bloody Marquis

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers

Fantasy anime are now becoming so dime a dozen that I can literally no longer tell the differences between what I just watched and anything else that aired this season. Was Rokka the show about the Otaku who joined the military to bang wizard lolis?… or the one where  the cast of Bladedance fight the Bugrom?… or the one where Gen Urobuchi is a loli?…

Oh, oh, I remember, this is the one where that Adol Christin lookalike in a desperate need of a haircut hangs out with a rabbit girl and nothing happens! Yup that’s the ticket!

So yeah… Rokka, or as we called it last year “The Seven Deadly Sins”. I am not kidding, just take The Seven Deadly Sins, move it from Not-Europe to Not-Tenochitlan, and make the main protagonist a boring shonen braggart and you’ve got Rokka! Seriously…why the hell would you ripoff The Seven Deadly Sins, that shit was already a ripoff of Fairy Tail, which was already a ripoff of One Piece, which was already a ripoff of Dragon Ba-AND SO ON AND SO ON AND SO ON. Hell I can’t even remember what happened in the pilot, it was just that blah.

It says something when you fail to make more of an impression than GATE, but this show… it just found a way, and that was even with a recap in the middle. Yes the first episode was a recap of itself. Haven’t seen something like that since Transformers Armada. I think we’re done here. — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

Based on a series of Light Novels with really awesome covers, Rokka has your average fantasy setup. Six heroes are chosen by fate to defeat an ancient evil that has been awakened. However, a twist occurs when the heroes gather and find out they have one extra hero. Suspecting one of them may be a traitor, the heroes of fate must fight, not only against the Demon God, but also one of thier own. Such is the premise given by most anime sites. Unfortunately, the first episode is mostly filled with padding and exposition, despite a strong start. Our hero, a young man claiming himself to be the strongest, is thrown in prison after interrupting a holy tournament. He spends most of his time rotting away in his cell until he turns out to be one of the chosen heroes, and is subsequently rescued by a fellow chosen hero. Something that should’ve taken five minutes ends up taking a whole chunk of the episode due to poor pacing, and viewers are left to tune in to the second episode to see the real plot begin. Needless to say, this was a pretty disappointing first episode. There are some good points to all this, the setup and world-building is there, and the series has a lot of potential, it just needs to find its footing. If Overlord was a long-lost Nippon Ichi game, Rokka Braves of the Six Flowers is a Tales of game that Square Enix somehow got their grubby little hands on. Don’t knock it out just yet, but wait a few episodes before diving into this one. — Crimson Rynnec

Symphogear GX

Huh, a new Symphogear this season? Guess I’ll review the premiere then. I’m not really expecting anything out this show since I hear the previous seasons were apparently bad. It’ll probably be yet another forgettable magical gi-

10/10. Anime of the season. Everyone who said this show was bad should not be trusted. — Crimson Rynnec

Ushio and Tora

Now here’s a franchise I’d never thought I’d see again. Ushio and Tora was one of the first anime I ever completely watched, back in the good old days of on-demand anime that were all terrible. Going back to such an old series feels strange. I have to wonder why it was picked to get a full adaption now, seeing as how it sticks out like a radical 90s thumb in the modern anime landscape.

While I’ll don’t want to compare this first episode to the OVA since they’re basically the same, I should note that the episode does skip some scenes. While this does keep the pace fast, it also misses a chance to better flesh out the supporting characters that were just introduced. The characters themselves are pretty basic, nothing really stands out, but they also have room for improvement. The most interesting aspect of the plot is the relationship between Ushio and Tora  (duh). Watching these two learn to despise each other slightly less should make for a somewhat entertaining dynamic.

That’s what I’d call this show, “somewhat entertaining”. It has potential, but could just as easily fall into the trap of being another mostly forgotten fighting shonen. Only time will tell. Unless you read the manga.

Also, best OP of the season, hands down. — Shadow Gentleman

Second Opinion!

It’s a bit odd that someone’s dug this series up for an adaption after all this time. Sure, this year is the 25th anniversary of the manga and all, but if anniversaries were all it took to get an old property adapted into a new anime then we’d be flooded with remakes every season. The Parasyte anime last year was a part of a multi-media mass marketing effort headed by Toho to make money off the property now that the film rights had been snatched back from New Line Cinema. Really, the anime was made just to promote the films. Ushio and Tora doesn’t have anything else related to it down the pipes besides this anime. No films, no new manga, nothing. So what I’m guessing is that Mappa saw how successful Hunter X Hunter was for Madhouse and wanted in on the long-running shonen action game. Or someone working there might just a huge fanboy of the series and wanted to make an anime adaption of one of his favorite manga. I wouldn’t be surprised if either was true.

I’ve never read the manga or watched the OVA series, but based on the first episode it’s pretty obvious that Ushio and Tora is just a straightforward 90’s supernatural shonen battle series. Everything about it screams the 90’s, from the rough angular designs, to the distinctive Shonen Sunday-style of humor of that time. The relationship between Ushio and Tora and how it plays out in this first episode is almost exactly like the beginning of InuYasha, though that series came out 5 years after Ushio and Tora so if anything it’s the ripoff. Ushio is your standard teenage shonen protagonist, though being from the 90s he’s thankfully not as “hurr durr friendship is sugoi I eat lotsu me so quirky” like the worst examples from nowadays and has a bit more personality. The girls and the father don’t leave much of an impression. One girl is a tsundere, the other is playful and nice, and the father is irresponsible, and that’s all you need to know about them. Tora is by far the best character in this episode. The contrasts between his malicious desires and his ineffectual attempts to threaten Tora and convince him to free him make for great comedy, and he boasts a brilliantly flexible design, capable of being both convincingly menacing at some times and adorably cute and funny at others. Tora single-handedly gives the show a personality that distinguishes it from others of it’s ilk, making it worth bothering with.

Some people seem to find the designs and storytelling style outdated, and they are. However, it is precisely because they’re outdated that makes the show stand out amongst the samey-ness and moe-ness of modern anime. It gives the show an edge and flavor to it that just feels different, and that goes a long way in making it worthwhile. Though, really, it’s the quality of the production that really elevates this material. The animation, pacing, and direction is all spot on and it’s clear the people working on this knows how to make an exciting fighting series. There might not be much in the way of substance, but this show knows what it is and knows what it’s viewers want. It’s reflected in how adrenaline-pumping and rocking the opening is. It knows you fast-paced over the top fuck yeah action, and it gives you exactly that. It knows you don’t want to deal with the episodic supernatural school problems bullshit, so it’s Final Act-ing this bitch and condensing 33 volumes of content into 39 episodes, keeping only the most plot-relevant and action-heavy parts. The appeal of this show is to see some good old fashioned shonen fighting antics. And with the way it’s been executed here, I have good confidence that it will succeed in being an entertaining and fun take on that, and with JoJo’s gone for a still indeterminate period of time, this fills the void for a good fighting anime on my fridays quite nicely. — CartoonX

Wakako-Zake

There are plenty of over the top anime about cooking and eating, but not a lot about the quiet pleasures of savoring good food. Wakako-Zake, despite being a short anime, captures the pleasures of enjoying food you like the way you like after a long, hard day. Since each episode is only a two-minute short, Wakako-Zake really only has enough time for one joke per episode, and probably only variations on the same kind of joke every time. However, what works about it is that it taps into feelings and expresses emotions that feel very real. Savoring food you like in a certain way, trying to bond over food, and being annoyed when you don’t have something you enjoy the way you like it. I can get behind these sentiments. I can get behind the middle-class, middle-aged melancholy and the idea of taking simple pleasures in what you can (I’m not even 20, mind you, but I do feel like this sometimes). Short anime are hit and miss because there’s not enough time to really get to know characters or any really elaborate humor or story to develop, but this is one of the more successful ones I’ve seen in recent memory. Whether or not you’ll enjoy it will probably come down to how much you can relate to the situations the main protagonist get into and the emotions she feels while enjoying food, but if you do, it’s a nice, refreshing palate-cleanser. – -CartoonX