What Anime are you watching?

[jonhammstein]

First episode of Under Ninja was okay. I kinda love how ugly everyone is.

[B E C K]

I couldn't sit through Kingdom of Ruin.

Our Dating Story was kind of dull. I like the girl's design.  She cute, damaged, discount-Marin. I'm okay with the general concept, too. But the sniveling guy and his two pathetica buddies are no bueno. Their voices probably make them worse that their designs and personalities. Jeez.

Speaking of voices, 16bit Sensation has one of the worst MC voices ever. I don't care what this is about.  Make it stop.

I keep meaning to see Under Ninja and forgetting.

Paradox Live the Animation. What the fuck is this? The they/them was kinda cute. But man, there were a lot of punchable faces in this one. Once we got to the annoying bat, I called it quits.

Oh, and I saw the Yuzuki family one. The one with the four orphan brothers. It's okay, I guess. The least offensive one out of this entire post. But I'm not really interested or invested in anything that's happening. This seems like the perfect anime to make things look cozy (as in the backgrounds and environments) and nothing is cozy-looking here. It's all sterile and empty. Too bad.

[B E C K]

Something compelled me to watch Baccano! It just never caught my interest before even though Merla's seen it back when it was on Netflix. I saw a clip on YouTube and decided to watch it. Anyway, I liked it. Didn't love it, but I liked it. Needed more Claire. Some of the other characters are annoying. Graham whoever was fucking obnoxious as shit. I was sad he didn't die. He was supposed to be another Ladd but came off as "Dollar Tree Ladd." The thieves sometimes wore out their welcome but they did make me chuckle at times. Jacuzzi was... Jacuzzi. But at least most of the annoying characters that were not Graham were given enough heart that I didn't loathe them like him. Oh, oh, and I skipped a whole-ass episode by accident. I got to the end of the specials and then they're talking about shit I never saw. Because the story's so non-linear, I didn't notice until five minutes or so before the end. And because it's so non-linear, I just went back and watched it. Then I watched the end. And the order didn't feel weird or anything. Odd that this show's not on any streaming service.

Oh and I actually watched it dubbed because the clip I saw was dubbed. English seemed to fit the setting better anyway.

[B E C K]

A Returner's Magic Should Be Special was boring. I've read some of the manhwa and was interested in this but that first episode was dull as fuck. How do you make fighting a dragon to the death and going back in time ten years earlier this boring? I might check in on later eps to see if this gets better.

Tearmoon meanwhile has a massive tone problem. Sometimes it's serious and then it's wacky. Hurr hurr. Did I really need to hear how the dumb chef makes his soup? Then we get a touching scene between Mia and Anne and her answer to rewarding three years of steadfast devotion from her servant is "ur muh handmaid nao." Yay. A promoted servant. Fabulous. I get what it wanted to convey but doesn't accomplish the emotions it probably wanted in the least. Most Heretical Last Boss Queen did it better with three servants in its first episode than this show could do with one.

[B E C K]

Watched the pig one and five minutes later dumped the pig one.

I'm watching the goofy boss one now and it's a nice palette cleanser show. Totally recommend it if you watched something stupid and/or gross and need a wholesome slice-of-life anime about white-collar Japanese men to wash the ol' brain.

[B E C K]

Looking though some stuff from prior seasons:

Handyman anime is okay.  It doesn't seem to have a plot from what I saw and that doesn't really interest me.  But it's not bad or anything.  Just not what I felt like watching.

I also watched Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway.  MEHHHHH. Wish this wasn't about a damaged teen runaway and adult man but whatever. It's not awful but not the type of story I care for.

[B E C K]

Watched a few things from previous seasons.

Tried Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle. It's cute and I chuckled a few times. I like it.

I also watched some of this Dead Detective thing with a girl named Siesta which was pretty bad. And something where some step siblings used to date. For that one, the overall show and premise didn't seem bad but the girl character was clearly looking to start conflict every single time and that was damn annoying so I dumped it.

[B E C K]

Finished Sleepy Princess and really liked it. I need more seasons of this. The dub was excellent, too.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I just can't do it anymore...I haven't watched half of my summer season pulls, and I haven't even touched the fall stuff yet. I've officially hit middle age in that I can't stay up all night watching cartoons and be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in time for work at 7AM.

[B E C K]

I broke a couple of toes so I'm basically stuck being unable to do much of anything else other than sit in bed and watch YouTube and anime. I still work at home too although I have to go hybrid next year. So those circumstances and the Crunchyroll free trial that I deigned to actually keep for a little while are really the reasons why I'm consuming so much right now. I'm sort of catching up on stuff. Otherwise, I wouldn't be watching most of these shows. I will agree most of it is no good and you're not missing much. It's really hard to tell where age is a barrier and where the show is just bad, especially when so much material is about high schoolers and shows about high schoolers are so tired.


I watched Romantic Killer on Netflix. With more high schoolers in it. I liked it for the most part. But then an attempted r@pe and a psycho child-stalker make its way into this show in the last few episodes and it's, like, WHAT? I mean, all's well that end's well and it ends well, I suppose.  But, WHAT?  Those plot points were so out of place with the rest of the vibe of this show. It ruins any ability for this show to be comfy. And to add insult to injury, while the stalker was a plot point for a main character, the attempted r@pe was to a tertiary character who could've easily been removed entirely from this show and impact nothing. Look, sorry about your trauma but your story has no relevance to the plot. The r@pey guy shouldn't have even been here. It was so unnecessary.

I read some negative reviews because I was curious if anyone disliked these points and it's people complaining that the chick didn't end up with anyone, wanting the show to go in a different direction (like her getting isekai'd), or not liking most of the humor. And, it's like, okay, but what about the wannabe r@pist and the pedo-yandere? You were a-okay with them? 

[jonhammstein]

Time is definitely a factor for me. I think I've mentioned before that I watch very little at regular speed. It's 1.5x - 2.0x or nothing.

This way I've been able to get through a lot of stuff I would have otherwise given up on.

And you might say, "That's just demented, joerammstein. You're clearly demented."

Yeah, I know. But I like anime, and I needed to find a way to avoid burnout. This seems to work for me.

[B E C K]

I've tried your way but I find I'd rather skip parts entirely than watch a show or movie quickly. I call this the "nothing of value was lost" method. And if I'm lucky to find a synopsis, I can read through it quickly and move on not worrying that I missed anything. Alternatively, a synopsis may help pinpoint the best place to skip to in a program.

[B E C K]

I kinda watched Hulla Fulla Dance. The girls are cute but it's not very interesting. I just let it play in the background while I played Clash of Clans on my phone. Something happened in the film. It was dull.

I also tried a bit of Pompo: The Cinéphile. I started watching it dubbed and the singing at the beginning was soooo bad. Then there's this weird little girl who's, like, in charge or something talking about how another girl's gotta look sexy in the group's next film and we see that chick's bathing-suited tits and ass and I'm just... what the hell am I watching right now?  It seemed like it wanted to be funny and then there's this dude with bags under his eyes trying to pursue his film-making dreams but the little girl's in charge for some reason. It felt all over the place so I dumped it. Maybe I would've given it more of a chance if the singing in the beginning wasn't so bad. I suppose I could've switched to Japanese but I didn't care to. Nothing here pulled me in.

I also tried watching The Deer King because I've been curious about it but I stopped barely a minute in because it wasn't something I'm in the mood to watch. I'm looking for more light-hearted fare right now.

[B E C K]

Bibliophile Princess. I was skeptical of this one.  It looked bland as shit but so did Heretical Last Boss Queen and Sleepy Princess and I loves those two. Nah. This's bland as shit. Fourteen minutes in and nothing's fucking happening other than the princess got engaged and met Irene, who I am to understand is bad or some shit. I don't know because I wasn't interested enough to find out because this show's fuckin' boring. I get it. She loves books. That don't mean I wanna see her sit down and open and close books; pick books off of shelves; get books as gifts; etc. That's boring. Four years literally pass by and NOTHING happens. Jeez. Like someone watched Beauty and the Beast and thought people looooove bookish heroines. Okay, but do you understand that other things happened in that movie? We didn't just watch Belle silently grab books, sit with books, choose books, and get books without other stuff and characterization happening concurrently. Shiiiiiit... This show thinks I wanna sit here and watch some bright-ass anime with washed-out colors where a dull-ass chick sits and reads.

[B E C K]

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun strikes me as something I would've really enjoyed thirty years ago. The character designs aren't amazing and the music's kinda annoying. If anything, it does make a good background show that I can have running while I'm browsing my phone or doing anything else. (I got through three eps this way.) I saw some manga art of this show and I liked the art but this show... it's so neon bright-looking at times that it's a turnoff color-wise. And not stylish-looking bright like Zom is but just annoyingly bright.

[jonhammstein]

I'm usually not one for harem shows, but Hyakkano has been pretty good so far. I mean, it's really more of a parody of the format than anything. Nice animation, lots of stupidly overexaggerated facial expressions.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I'm off work this Thursday...got an appointment with the local powet/internet company to run fiber into my house. My long-held, seeming pipe dream of gigabit innerwebs in Podunk Holler should become reality in a few short days! Hopefully I can spend the rest of the day catching up with some shows and a bit of yardwork now that the outdoor temps are finally sane.

My current pull list includes

• The Eminence in Shadow (first season was brilliant in itself and as a satire)
• Kimizero (similar premise to My Dress-up Darling without the cosplay element)
• Sousou no Frieren (elf outlives her party and gets maudlin over it)
• Kanojo mo Kanojo S2 (mild haremy smut, but entertaining mild haremy smut)
• Spy x Family S2 (against my better judgment)
• Tearmoon Empire (like the Villainess trope: here the princess gets sent back to her younger self to act differently to prevent her guillotining)
• Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch (immortal adopts a human who grows up nicely so people get the wrong idea as to the parent/child relationship)
• Hyakkano (see below)
• SHY (super heroes with self esteem issues...may be an interesting spin on things as long as it doesn't turn out to be an anime adaptation of Spiderman)
• The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy (for some reason I'm a sucker for high schoolers turning into demon lords or other unconventional success stories...and harems, apparently)
• Helck (continuation; it got more interesting when they finally got back on the continent and revealed Helck's backstory)

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun...

I watched most of the first season, but I couldn't hang with it. Not that there was anything really bad about it.

...Hyakkano has been pretty good so far.

A lot of people are saying the source material for that is really good, and the production values are high. It's one of my pulls. I've been pro-crazy expressions ever since watching and reading GTO. And the ridiculous premise sounds like a hoot.

[B E C K]

I'm off work this Thursday...got an appointment with the local powet/internet company to run fiber into my house. My long-held, seeming pipe dream of gigabit innerwebs in Podunk Holler should become reality in a few short days! Hopefully I can spend the rest of the day catching up with some shows and a bit of yardwork now that the outdoor temps are finally sane.

Enjoy!

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun...

I watched most of the first season, but I couldn't hang with it. Not that there was anything really bad about it.

That's very much this show.  There's nothing bad about it and it has some chuckle-worthy moments but there's also nothing stand-out. It's a kind, friendly shonen protagonist shonen-ing. It's a perfect "I'm on my cell phone but I want something decent in the background that doesn't make me angry" show.

[B E C K]

I watched the S-rank adventurer one with girl and her dad. It's all right. If the whole show is this girl never seeing her father, it's gonna get super old super fast. By the end of episode one, the concept already felt stale.

Okay, I'm so glad to be wrong. Four episodes in and there's something somewhat resembling a plot. She even got to go home and see her dad. I was so worried this show was just gonna be eleven or whatever episodes of her not getting to see her dad. I'm relieved.

[B E C K]

I like The Apothecary Diaries but the presentation is off. Not visually or music-wise, but with the way it's directed. The distribution of the stories among the episodes feels off and any sense of dramatic tension is sucked away from all the moments where they should be present.

Firstly, each episode ends with a lead into the story of the next episode. Miss me with that shit, that's so annoying. That's what the teaser for the next episode is for. We already have a teaser. It's so unnecessary. And what does this show do in the very next episode? RECAP what they showed us at the end of the previous episode. ARGH. 

Also, I don't know if the LN presentation was different so possibly the anime is more loyal than the manga. I can only go by the manga I read. But the manga I read had a much better first few chapters than this show had first episodes. In the manga, she's immediately kidnapped and put into the palace. I enjoyed how the manga throws you into her situation with no background info then proceeds along with the story in unfolding different aspects about Maomao: how she grew up in a brothel, how she's a crazy apothecary that experimented on herself, etc. We the reader learn little by little about her but don't get the full picture on her life there until she **not a spoiler, really** goes back home.  It all felt very organic.

This show instead blows its load in the beginning by showing various members of Maomao's family and Maomao's life before the palace, destroying that sense of curiosity and mystique about the main character that was a strong aspect of the manga as a non-LN reader. I get the distinct feeling but was done to use up running time as the first episode concludes around the end of the manga's first chapter, which indicates to me they didn't have enough material for the entire episode.

That said, it brings me back around to my first criticism: this damn show gets into the story beat of the next chapter ANYWAY. In other words, what's the point in trying to make sure one chapter/story uses up a full episode of running time if you're gonna overlap them anyway?  Cut out her damn family from the beginning of the first episode since WE MEET THEM LATER and continue with the story. They could've easily have ended the first episode with her meeting the other ladies in waiting, then ended the second episode in the latter part of the "sleepwalker" scenario, and the third episode could've ended when she's examining Lady Rifa and makes her realization about her condition. This would accomplish the same thing as inclusion of the next episode's material AND we get through the story at a much more tolerable pace. There's more than enough material so it's not like they have to pace themselves.

[B E C K]

I decided to try I Shall Survive Using Potions and watched the first three episodes. I was put off by the art but read a couple of opinions on it that liked it so I gave it a go. Overall, it's actually decent. The humor can be a tad cringey but the art is really the worst thing about it. At first it looks like it'll be chibi or something but, nah, it's mainly just this one chick who's been given the proportions of a child. And the weird thing is sometimes other characters will also have the wonky proportions, such as her two closest friends back on Earth. And then all of these other characters appear and some of them are a bit cartoony like she is while others are, just, uh, normal? Almost like a character designer missed a memo and was designing for a different show. If you can ignore the art, it's pretty okay. Although the comments from LN fans indicate it's left out some stuff.

[B E C K]

Pluto seems good. Acting, direction, setting, colors, animation... It's so well done from the first episode I saw. But it's hard to feel invested knowing what Pluto is and what the story turns out to be. Honestly, you only really need to Google what he looks like to be put off, assuming you've never seen him before. What... what the fuck is THAT?

This is probably another case of this being a "me" problem and everyone else will enjoy the shit outta this. But to me, the Blade Runner-esque investigation with Gesicht that this begins with is super fucking brilliant. Immersive. Interesting with the idea of a robot investigator who seems so human. But that's not really what the story is: it's not some singular detective story and I can't get on board with it. And while Atom is an excellent concept (scientist in his grief recreating dead son as a powerful robot), I find Atom himself incredibly weak as character for me. To see him at the end looking up into the sky and remembering the fallen... meh. Honestly, it was supposed to be a somber moment and I'm kinda cracking up at it because I'm thinking "look at all of the better characters that didn't get to survive this thing."

[B E C K]

Watched some of Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement since the author of the story is also apparently the same one behind that potion anime I'm watching. I'm not sure what the point of this is. It's not really funny, it's not a slice of life, it doesn't have an overall plot, it doesn't have much in the way of any action or adventure, and it's also not visually or musically appealing. She supposedly has a goal in mind to save up all of this gold to retire and it doesn't make sense to me. Trying to figure out why, it occurs to me from reading other impressions on this show:

-Her powers are OP. She can teleport between worlds (anywhere she's seen), she heals from anything, and she can read/speak all languages.
-She's young. She's lost her family but it's not like they left her destitute. She has a house and money to the point that she can save fat stacks in her safe at home.
-She's not approaching the movement of Earth-goods to fantasy-land in a smart way. Which should get her burned at the stake, to be frank. For example, trying to sell an entire necklace of pearls beyond the quality the fantasy-land can possibly produce. Or bottles of soap.

Per the first two points above, it doesn't make sense that she'd be driven to retire. Yes, that money won't last forever and she could get stuck in the other world, so use those skills. The most obvious one being becoming a translator or some sort. The second most obvious is using her powers to acquire skills. Doesn't need a plane, a bus, or a car. She can look at a location and zap herself there. And she's so young that she faces few to any barriers. If this starred an 80-year old man or a 45-year old housewife or a burnt-out white collar worker in his 30's, those would be far more interesting approaches than a high school girl with her immediate needs taken care of and no responsibilities. It's not like she so much as has a pet to feed.

I realize her family's dead and that's sad. That she needs to deal with them being gone and that she recalls the advice of her dead brother (although her parents should get to chime in, too) is such a bittersweet moment from this show that actually carries the weight of human emotion. But this is also the only emotion in this show.

She should've had other struggles to really show her desperation at needing to save gold. Like her living situation drastically changing or the family leaving her with debt. Or her going to the other world being 100% random that it happens at any moment so she needs to be prepared with food and shelter. Why did she get healing powers? That had nothing to do with anything. And why wasn't her built-in Duolingo just exclusive to the fantasy world? She has too many advantages and is too well off (financially) that the premise feels super weak.

I heard the LN's better so I'm gonna assume it is and that the anime glossed over a lot of pertinent info.

[B E C K]

Started Tonikawa and ten eps in I'm really enjoying it. I wasn't expecting to from the character designs or the concept but it's cute and wholesome.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I enjoyed it, too, but I still haven't watched the final six episodes from a couple months back. I didn't care for the way the manga ended, so I'm interested to see how everything pans out on the show.

[B E C K]

Has the manga ended? I googled and it doesn't appear that way. It looks like there was something written like an ending but it was just a hiatus.

[Rodent of Unusual Size]

I'd not be surprised...my attention is fleeting with everything I'm trying (and failing) to keep up with.

[jonhammstein]

Watched the first episode of My Daemon on Netflix. Kind of like a fucked up Pokémon. I didn't mind it.

[B E C K]

I tried Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire. This show went from an A-tier episode one to D-tier by episode 5/6. I lost track because I got bored and left the show running. The first few episodes are relatively solid. This show dies once it gets to Hogwarts. Sorry, "the Knights Academy" or where the fuck ever.

Appearance-wise, I don't care for girl's designs. Their fanservice idol-esque outfits are kinda ugly and their faces are weird with their flushed, shiny cheeks and their beak-mouths. It's a complaint, mind you, but not enough to make me drop the show at first.

The idea of a king being reincarnated to master the sword and being reborn as a cute girl is a good premise. And I liked the idea that he kept his divine blessing and works with it in a world where it's not really a thing. I think my biggest problem with the show overall is the betrayal of the premise. This guy died wanting to be reincarnated to master the sword. The fuck that's gotta do with being a squire and enrolling in school?

This show wants it both ways: it wants a Goku-type fighter who only cares about getting stronger and is single-minded to that purpose. And it also wants a cute OP bad-ass girl-fighter being pretty and/or bad-ass at everything and everyone swoons. The first is workable and the second is fucking cringe.

The idea that she can see people suffering and shrug and go "not my problem, bro.  Just here to train, bro."  Okay, fine. I get it. You're single-minded in becoming strong. But then the show decides she utterly devoted to protecting her dumb friend. And so the reincarnated king reborn to study the blade fritters time away at fucking not-Hogwarts stuffing her face full of food, playing dress-up, going to parties, hangin' with the gals, and bouncing her titties while everyone gushes over her. "Imma gonna spirit-gun so I don't mess up my dress, tee hee." FUCK YOU.

She can't locate her former kingdom in any books and doesn't care all that much. She sees a floating land in the sky and it never occurs to her that's probably her country. A guy got fried to a crisp and another guy wants to do something about it and she's all "here to fight, bro. 'xcuse me, on my way to Hogwarts." YUCK.

It's only good for people who want to see some stupid (covered) titties and fool themselves into thinking they're watching something with a story.

[jonhammstein]

Here we go again...

Man, Winter '24 is absolutely LOUSY with fantasy and/or isekai settings. Woof.