Review: The Boy and the Beast

I’ve had this movie on my “to watch” list for a good while now. It wasn’t until after our previous episode of Super S that I finally decided to give a whirl. I should have just left it there.

In a nutshell, The Boy and the Beast is about two beasts duking it out to take over for the grandmaster of the beast world as he is retiring and going to reincarnate into a god. One of the beasts, Kumatetsu (the beast), is in search of a disciple and decides to pluck one from the human world. Kumatetsu bumps into Ren (the boy), a runaway, and decides to take him on as his disciple. The story goes from there.

The animation in this movie is top notch. Everything is absolutely stunning. Both the beast world and human world are fucking gorgeous. There’s just the right amount of CG that it’s not overbearing or annoying. There are times when the human world looks like it’s an actual photo of Tokyo. It’s that good. The characters are also unique, no one character looks like the next. This is helped by the fact that the story mostly takes place in the beast world.

Sadly, though, I was bored halfway through the movie. The first half was great and chock full of character development. It was nice to see how Ren and Kumatetsu needed each and are better beings because of it. It’s just that the story dragged. As it is, the movie is two hours long, longer than your typical animated movie. Even then, it didn’t get to the climax until the last 20 minutes.

There’s also an underlying message in this movie: don’t let the darkness in your heart turn you into a monster. Great message, but did the grandmaster really have to tell us this as if we couldn’t figure it out on our own? No. It was painfully obvious when the “villain” turns to a black figure with a wormhole near his heart. Speaking of villain and painfully obvious, how stupid is everyone? From the second he was introduced, I knew that he was... well, I won't tell you that part.

Of course the movie ends with a happy ending, but by then I really didn’t care and just wanted it to finish. I went into this movie wanting so much and was extremely let down. The animation is by far the star and the saving grace of the movie, which is a real shame.

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The Boy and the Beast

Writer/Director: Mamoru Hosoda

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Review: Masou Gakuen HxH – E.01

At this point it almost seems as if there needs to be one really heavy-handed fan service show per season. That said, Masou Gakuen HxH is that show this season. I mean I knew just from the promo image it would be, but I had no idea to the extent it would go. Hell, Crunchyroll even has it uncensored so you can see all the nipply goodness that the show has to offer. Because that’s all it has to offer.

The premise to Masou Gakuen would make The Testament of Sister New Devil blush if that gives you any indication. If you liked either season of Sister New Devil (poorly translated by the way) then you’ll be happy to know that Masou Gakuen is from the same studio!

The story is seriously just a combination of The Testament of Sister New Devil and Sky Wizards Academy. That is to say, there’s CG aliens attacking the last remains of humanity and only three women having their breasts, butts and hey nows can save the day. It’s also I guess similar to Hundred which I hated last season, but clearly had a lot of fan service because the show did quite well in the ratings.

As for the actual episode… whoever put this fucker together clearly only cared about maximizing breast exposure. We open in the “love room” which is like a fucking holodeck for this dude to rub the girls down. We have zero context, just that when he goes for the booty it fills her suit and she goes back to fighting shitty looking CG aliens. Then it’s the next girls turn.

And then we flash back to the dude as a kid being told he’s useless by his sister… or mom. I don’t know. I don’t care. That rolls us into the beginning of the actual fucking story as he’s of course showing up for his first day of school after being contacted by his sister. Which, I guess it’s his sister even though she’s at least a two decades older than him in the flashback and hasn’t aged at all in the present day. We see all our main characters just walking around and shit and then there’s an attack on the school. Dude for some reason just keeps chilling where he is and watches the silver hair chick fight. She of course gets injured and he saves her. His sister calls him and tells him to get to rubbing. Did I mention there was a battle going on? He rubs and rubs and wouldn’t you know it, after he basically eats her out… fully charged suit! Oh, because the suits are some representation of the heart and of course the heart only wants to bang.

The animation is great of course. With the exception of the CG. The CG is just terrible and I don’t get why any show ever would do both. No one, and I mean no one wants both. People that watch animation will enjoy one or the other, but never both. I can say that definitively because a certain personality type watches animation past childhood and none of us what to see three meshing with two. The fan service is well done. This is the best non-hentai, hentai you’ll see.

Now as a straight white dude, I know it seems questionable that I would complain about a show that is purely fan service. Maybe Prison School and High School DxD has corrupted me into believing that you can actually have a story and fan service. I somewhat enjoyed the first season of The Testament of Sister New Devil, but the second season found a way to spend time rubbing girls than moving the story along which really killed the story for me. I couldn’t finish the season because of it and I figured if I wanted to just see the fan service part I would just find one of the many sites dedicated to showing you it all in its glorious uncensored version. I have zero expectations for this show. If I watch another episode it will be to see how much more it can get away with because there is no story. There’s not even a glimmer of a chance of a story here. And that’s too bad because as I pointed out, you can have story and fan service, you just have to be a talented creator and clearly that’s not the case here.

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Masou Gakuen HxH – E.01

Official Site

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Review: Food Wars! The Second Plate E.01

Food Wars is back with it’s long awaited Season 2. Okay, so long awaited might be an overstatement. Could be worse, like all those losers (Dustin) waiting for Attack on Titan to return next year.

Within the first minute (literally), you're able to gather the story. The eight first year contestants that won the preliminaries are to duke it out in the main competition of the Autumn Elections. Soma’s up first in what I guess you would call the quarter-finals. His opponent is Alice Nakiri, the prodigious granddaughter to Academy Director. Their battle? Bento. For those of you that don’t know what Bento is, let me [attempt to] give it to you in layman’s terms: Japanese lunch with the presentation of a TV dinner.

Soma is a character that I feel like everyone could get behind. Tough exterior, but deep down there's more to him. He's confident but not overly confident making him a prick. He knows how to cook but he also knows how to deliver what people want to feel while eating.  Soma's pretty nifty, too, thinking of a molecular gastronomy technique by simply reading the ingredients from a cheap candy product. Who the hell does that?

Food Wars never failed to deliver something beautiful to look at. The quality of the animation is by far the best out there. The food... oh, man. How often have you seen an anime where the food looks so damn good that you want to rip it out of the screen and stuff it in your mouth? The “foodgasms” also make their triumphant return and they are as colorful as ever. Nothing like seeing a bunch of grown ass men frolicking through a grassy plain.

The pacing was a little fast in this first episode but it was never much of an issue. I’m assuming it’s going to a constant theme throughout the season as it’s only slated to be 13 episodes. Episode 1 held back no punches and it was every bit as exciting and enjoyable as I thought (and hoped... fuck you, Berserk) it would be.

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Food Wars! The Second Plate E.01

Official Website

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Review: ReLIFE E.01

If you were given the chance to partake in an experiment that would cover your costs of living for a year, would you do it? What if the experiment called for taking a pill that makes you look younger and you have to go back to high school? Would you still do it?

ReLIFE is just that. Kaizaki Arata is a 27 year old deadbeat who can’t land a full-time job and has to work part-time just to get by. After a night of drinking with his pals, Kaizaki is handed even more damning news: his family is not going to be giving him money for the next month. Kaizaki is then approached by a “spokesman” of ReLIFE and given this opportunity and jumps right on board. I mean, who wouldn’t? ME.

After finalizing the contract with ReLIFE the next morning, Kaizaki is ready for his first day back in high school. It’s at school that we found out that the spokesman, Yoake, is apparently a student as well. Of course Kaizaki is conflicted by this discovery. All of that gets put aside as he finds he has three tests to take. With luck never being on his side, he reaches into his backpack and what you do you know, no pencil box to be found. The teacher approaches him and requests to see the backpack. Disgusted with what she finds, she pulls out a pack of cigarettes and questions him. He casually replies with, “what of it?” It isn’t until after she repeats what he said that he realizes he is no longer 27 and freaks out. Hilarious.

After the end of school and on his way home, Kaizaki runs into Yoake. It is then when you learn that Yoake is in fact an adult as well. He is merely in his class to keep an eye on him as well as offer support. In order to train to be of adequate support, Yoake was a student the previous year as well. Yoake also reveals the true purpose of ReLIFE: a program to rehabilitate NEET’s.

The animation follows a lot of your typical anime tropes: over the top reactions, cloudy colorful backgrounds when a certain emotion is evoked, similar character designs, etc. It’s not bad, but it is something that has been played out for too long. Luckily, it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment. The only issues I had, however, was with Kaizaki. I could not tell the difference between him at 27 and him at 17. He looked exactly the same.

The premise is something interesting and not one that I’ve seen before. It makes me wonder, too, would someone really be willing to to take another stab at high school and aim for a better outcome? I’m curious to see how all of this plays out, so it looks like I’m on board for the long haul. Luckily for me, it’s available all at once.

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ReLIFE E.01

Website

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Review: Berserk (2016) E.01

When I first heard the news of Berserk coming back and FINALLY getting its deserved sequel, all I could think was that animated gif of Ron Paul... IT’S HAPPENING!

If this is your first time watching Berserk, you’re not going to be getting any back story. Really, I’m not even sure why you’re starting here. Go watch the movies. Anyway, all we can seem to gather from this uninformative first episode is that Guts, our protagonist, is a “mercenary” with a mechanical arm, can swing a huge sword like no one’s business, and attracts incubi (demons born from people that died). There’s also an obnoxious eunuch fairy named Puck that likes to pester Guts. That’s it.

The animation is all over the place and I fucking hate it. Some parts are CGI, some parts are traditional animation. There are even places where it’s both at the same time. Even worse is when characters switch to a different style in the same scene. In one instance, CGI Puck is bothering CGI Guts as he’s eating. After Guts tells Puck to fuck off, Guts switches to traditional animation as he takes a bite out of his dinner. Little things like that make this difficult and extremely annoying to watch.

The unfortunate thing is that both animation styles are done poorly. The CGI, for the most part, is flat, lacking lots of detail and shadows. When it’s not CGI, the traditional is reminiscent of those Marvel anime, inferior and cheap looking. I’m not sure why both styles are even present. Is it cheaper to have both? Is it faster? Maybe I should watch more Shirobako to find out.

I’ll be honest with you: I’m a huge fan of the franchise, but this shit flat out sucks. From the second I saw that the animation was going to be CGI, I knew it was going to be a problem. Not only that, but they didn’t even bother to give the series another name. Unless you’re a fan and/or have read into the series, there’s no way of knowing this is a sequel. I really wish I had something positive to say but I don’t. I will only continue watching this because of my personal bias.

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Berserk (2016) E.01

Website

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XQr7LvFZrlE

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Unboxing: Loot Anime x Crunchyroll - June 2016

We have another Loot Anime unboxing from Loot Crate. This is the June box in which they teamed up with Crunchyroll to curate the box if you will. Now that you've watched the video I'll give you my honest thoughts... it's an okay box. The thing is, I'm not into either anime that was featured so it's kind of meh. That and I don't need any more Nintendo items thank you very much Loot Crate. I get that Nintendo is easy to work with and they merchandise like crazy, but I've gotten something Nintendo related every month, sometimes twice since starting this experiment. I will likely never wear the shirt, but I will read the manga. That was the best thing provided in the box. Here's some pictures to round out my review.

Review: Gintama

Do you have 126 hours to spare? GREAT! You’ll definitely want to check out this little number of an anime called Gintama. Not only is Gintama the one anime I recommend to everyone--yes, everyone. I even told my parents to watch it. Ok, not really..but it’s one of my favorite anime of all time, aside from One Piece, of course. [su_quote]Synopsis: Gintoki and his trusty “sidekicks” run an odd-jobs business. What could possibly go wrong? Anything and everything, that’s what.[/su_quote]

On the surface, and based on the lackluster synopsis, you would think that Gintama is a one trick pony. Well, dear readers, you’d be far from the truth. Not once have I ever stumbled upon an anime that not only supplies comedy so well, but action/adventure and even drama are delivered just as masterfully.

The series revolves around your four main characters: Gintoki, the ex-samurai; Kagura, the alien with superhuman strength; Shinpachi, the empty dojo running nerd; and Sadaharu, a freakishly large dog. An unlikely quartet, really, but that’s what makes it work. The dialogue amongst themselves and the shit they do to each other is amazing.

Gintama, for all intents and purposes, is an episodic comedy. Sure, there are the occasional “arcs,” but those are a dime a dozen. The comedy is where this anime shines. You know those silent issues of comics? Well, imagine the opposite of that and in anime form: all the dialogue taking place on a single frame. Within that one frame, the trio talks about how shitty their ratings are and for sure they’re not going to get picked up for another season, all the while bringing up how they need to save Sunrise money so they’ll be doing more episodes like this. They do get picked up for another season, obviously, but how often do you see an anime make fun of itself to that extent. Breaking the fourth wall is just the beginning. Gintama also exhibits a slew of other forms of comedy: slapstick, parody, gags, crude humor (not as bad as Prison School, though). Anything you can think of, Gintama will have it. To further shine the light, Gintoki is actually a play on words for silver balls. Yes, those kind of balls.

The animation is top-notch. For them saying that their ratings are so bad and they have to cut back on costs, they sure do know how to pump out something that is easy on the eye. That’s not to say that the scenery is realistic looking, but everything looks great overall. The action sequences are some of the best I’ve seen. Episode 180 is a prime example. Gintoki is fighting the enemy of an arc and during the battle the color shifts to some of the most beautiful black and white you’ll ever see. The lines, the shadows, the amount of detail, everything is just gorgeous.

If you listened to the latest episode of our podcast, Super S - Anime Podcast, you may have heard me mention how I want to rewatch it. Well, now that I’ve written this review, I REALLY want to rewatch it. This thing got me through plenty of hours at my old job. The least I can do is thank it by rewatching it.

Look, what it really boils down to is this one thing: watch the anime. You won’t regret it.

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Gintama

Seasons 1, 2 and 3 Streamable on Crunchyroll

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Review: Kiznaiver – E.02

This episode picks up right where the last one left off. The thing is… it’s not just a simple pick up and go let’s figure this thing out team. No, instead our crazy student council person decides that it’s time for them to play a game that will help them all get to know each other better or die. Kacchon finds himself strapped to a table and electrocuted whenever the team gives a wrong answer, which is a few times. The reason being is that the question is vague, “Introduce yourself”, but the answer is complicated. Eventually they figure out that it’s the secret about themselves that they have never shared and would never say out loud. For instance, that Mad Dog is actually afraid of dogs and has gone so far as to research where all the dogs are in town and what their schedule is so he never crosses paths with them. Or that the girl who believes in fairies doesn’t actually believe in fairies and just wanted to be eccentric so that people wouldn’t hate her for being rich and perfect.

I’m pointing those two out because it just goes to show what the Trigger team is doing with this story. By embracing the typical anime tropes they’re using them, but then improving on them so that by the end they’re so different that you have to wonder if they’re even technically using them. I’ve lost count of how many characters in anime that have been exactly like “Mad Dog” and yet they added depth to him. They showed this analytical side to him that comes about due to his overwhelming fear of dogs. They also showed that he can be terrified, which is a rarity. His character reminded me a lot of Ranta from last season’s Grimgar, but it didn’t take an entire season to build and develop the character… just two episodes.

That is the brilliance of the writing at Trigger. Unlike shows Mayoiga which rely on slowly and painfully building the story up and hitting every story beat associated with the genre, Trigger introduces familiar elements and pulls from the collective experience with those elements to condense the build up and move forward. If this had been any other team, we would have spent two to three episodes with the characters figuring out their connection and doing the secret reveals. Hell, that’s typically six episodes right there because we would have spent so much time with them proving that they’re this character type or the other. Instead, we’re on episode two and all of that is out-of-the-way. Even Kacchon’s character has changed and develop; I hate to say it again, but if it were a different series he would remain the same until damn near the end of the show to have his big growth moment.

The art is of course fantastic. There are five or six really, really good anime this season and this is one of them. I couldn’t rank them if I tried, but this would be near the top. The way the characters moved when they were running looked really good. They stumble, but not too much and at just the right moments. That and ridiculous goons dressed as cartoon characters are a nice touch to this overly serious world.

Frankly you’re probably already watching this show and waiting for the third episode to drop whenever it is that it drops. If you’re not watching it though then you’re missing out on one of the best series thus far. Sure we still have several episodes before I go handing out a crown, but it’s looking good so far.

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Kiznaiver – E.02

Official Website

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Review: Mayoiga – E.03

I should probably refer to this series as “The Lost Village” since that’s it’s English title, but I always seem to pick wrong. I refer to the English title and everyone else on the internet will use its Japanese name and like Mayoiga, vice versa. But I will for the sake of this review be using the title The Lost Village so I can make the following joke:

“The Lost Village, more like lost my interest!”

I know, I know… feel free to use that one. At any rate, that’s what has happened with this series. There are technically no confirmed deaths in this episode which means that the gore and horror of it all is probably waiting for episode five and six which is the typical formula for most anime. It’s unfortunate though because I won’t be sticking around for much more. I think by the time the shit double hits the fan I will probably be so numb to these characters that I won’t even be happy that they’re dead. Worst case scenario is that most of them live which would put off this show in a heartbeat.

It is the characters that I absolutely can’t stand. I find nothing to like about any of them. Even our little puppy dog main character is an unlikable douche. The only reason I put up with him in the least bit is because he actually shows human emotion on occasions, but then is quickly squashed by the rest of the herd. None of these people are acting realistically. They’re all still too friendly and too polite for the situation they’re in and it’s all because they think they’re going to be living with each other for the rest of their lives. News flash, you can still not like someone and spend a lot of fucking time with them. I mean that’s basically every job ever so I don’t buy all these asshole maintaining their internet façade while the story waits to surprise them so they can all drop them at once.

We do see some cracks in this episode as we learn a bit of the backstory behind the guy that’s always fucking yelling and telling everyone to be series. We learn this as he’s choking out the grad student that received a fucking email telling her where the town was. He eventually let’s go, but it was just a dumb fucking scene and what makes less sense is that the mentality he and the others are displaying is the same as the people that fucked him out of society.

The other two cracks come from Jack, still my favorite character due to lack of lines, as he attacks the guy that’s claiming that he’s stealing his “style.” This is the asshole with the eyepatch and weird fucking chin that looks like a pirate from a bad Disney animation in case you forgot one of the thirty plus characters. Jack tries to kill other Jack and gets locked up. This sets off the crazy fucking woman that wants to execute everyone and she tries to kill puppy boy by drowning him and he gets a boner because he sees her bra. Was I supposed to laugh? I didn’t, but I’m wondering if that was an attempt at dark humor?

This story should be serious and thrilling, but the art isn’t a good match for it. It’s all too bright and the characters are all too generic. I get that there’s danger because the story basically says there is, but there’s no sense of dread. I’m not scared for anyone nor am I scared watching and I really think with this type of story I should be. I should be worried that one of the characters are going to die, but I’m not. In fact, I’m hopeful that they will. I’m rooting for the bad guy and I don’t even know who they are. It’s not good when your entire bloated ass cast of characters all have go-away heat. What also tells me that the tone and maturity just isn’t there is the implied rape that happens between the second and third episode. Sure they mention it, but it’s not shocking and it’s glazed over like it’s no big deal which is probably the most distasteful thing about this episode and series to date.

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Mayoiga – E.03 Official Website

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Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.03

We made it. We reached the checkpoint. Finally, Subaru was able to not only get through the day, but he was also able to keep everyone alive, including himself. I guess that’s a spoiler for the episode, but if you’ve been watching the show then not really because it's the only logical outcome for the show. It couldn’t have happened at a better time because as much as I enjoyed watching this episode, I realized that I couldn’t bear to sit through this chunk of time one more episode. It needed to end and it was rewarding in the way it happened.

As we saw in the last episode our white-haired half witch that gave Subaru the name of a hated witch (still not sure why) showed up at the loot house ahead of time. Things begin playing out different and Felt attempts to flee, but the Bowel Hunter shows up ahead of time as well.

Let’s pause for a minute… Bowel Hunter.

I don’t even know what to say to that. Not The bowel hunter, but A bowel hunter. Okay let’s get back into it.

First Emilia, the white-haired half-elf (lots of hyphens), starts a fight with Felt which is then interrupted by Elsa… a bowel hunter. Due to Subaru’s heightened awareness of the situation he calls Puck to protect Emilia. No one has questioned this yet because it’s a fight for your life moment and everyone is just hyper aware of the battle going on. Emilia and Puck do some damage to Elsa… a bowel hunter, but it’s not enough and Puck has to go to sleep. Thankfully Reinhard van Astrea shows up and wouldn’t you know it he’s an amazing bad ass. I have to say, he’s actually got a pretty cool power set and what little of his personality is revealed seems different and potentially useful to the story. He didn't just come across as the polar opposite of Subaru.

The battle is great, but it’s all about the final moments of the battle and the parts that happen when Subaru is passed out. I won’t spoil that, but it’s clear that there’s a bigger story coming soon. Mostly because of Reinhard’s ominous statement about this being their last chance to calmly look up at the moon.

The animation remains great. They go all out for this episode, just like they did for the two-part first episode and the second. It’s a great looking series, but thankfully it has a story to back up that quality and isn’t a dud like Bungou Stray Dogs. I’m marking this one very high and looking forward to following it for the rest of the spring season as it’s already in my top five.

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Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.03 Official Website

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Review: Bungou Stray Dogs – E.02

Did you like the first episode of Bungou Stray Dogs? Then you’ll continue to like the series with the second episode. For me, it was predictable and the attempts at humor continued to fail. White haired tiger dude, shows how little I care about learning his name, is given a place to stay and offered to join the agency. He turns it down and then the suicidal dude (who breaks his own character and is actually called on it by the way) offers to get him a job, but that there will be a test. If you can’t figure out that the very next thing that happens is part of the test, then this show is for you.

There isn’t enough originality to this show to make me want to watch more. I can understand why others would watch it. If it reminded you of another show that you liked, then it probably fills that gap pretty well. I know I’ve suffered through shows that reminded me of a different show I liked better because in a way it carries on those strong “feels” that you have for that show. It just doesn’t do that for me. Its following a formula and not trying to stray from that, but in doing so you have to wonder why there’s an inflated cast other than to give people cosplay options.

What it boils down to is that this show doesn’t tickle my fancy. It might tickle yours and that’s okay. Even though I found this episode predictable, it was still average. I wouldn’t score it down just because of my personal taste because what’s here is a competent second episode. In the end though, being average just isn’t enough to keep me interested.

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Bungou Stray Dogs – E.02 Official Website

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Review: And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online – E.02

Well… this is definitely a second episode. It’s not good, but it’s necessary. We stay with the scene at the restaurant with everyone getting to know each other and after a bit it’s clear that none of them really have any friends outside of the game. Then they part ways and they’re all clear that the game is the game and the real world is the real world. Meaning, they’re not going to run up to each other and just start talking at school and shit. Ako blows that up in the very next scene and the reality that this anime set up is basically broken. I tend to dislike it when that happens in a harem comedy. It’s not necessary in my opinion, but it happens more often than not. Ako finds Rusian’s class and destroys everything. They take her to the master because suddenly school doesn’t matter and she creates a club for them to play their game and this will somehow help Ako understand the difference between the game world and the real world.

The only funny, but predictable part of this was that Rusian (way easier to type so I’m going with that) can’t stop picturing his teammates as they really are. I knew it would happen, but the wardrobe switch was a nice bit of humor and fan service all at once.

I’m hard pressed to believe that everyone is going to fall in love with Rusian. I know that it can change at the drop of a hat, but it really doesn’t fit the world that’s being developed. The problem is, I didn’t see them blowing up everything they set up in the first episode either and they did. It’s why I’ll keep watching, but my hope of this being a great harem comedy has been dashed by this episode.

The animation is still really good. In particular, the scenes in which Schwein breaks from her online character and the animation follows suit. It’s a solid visual gag. Otherwise it’s at the same level as the first episode in terms of quality.

I don’t like this episode. It’s a bad episode in the way it’s constructed, paced and how often it breaks the reality of the world. It’s sadly necessary and at least they did it in one fail swoop rather than building it up which may have been terrible. It doesn’t change that this is just a bad episode and that the creators clearly didn’t really have an out after building up an interesting premise. Hopefully it doesn’t completely chase me away, but time will tell.

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And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online – E.02 Official Website

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Review: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.02

As much as I loved the first episode of this show, my big question after watching the final moments of the episode where, “how does he continue in this world?” He being our main character of Ikoma. Spoiler if you haven’t watched the first episode, he is bitten by a Kabane and manages to stop the transformation and he's very excited about it. He stopped the spread of the virus and figured out a new weapon that will kill the Kabane. Problem is… he looks fucked up and in a civilization that makes people strip to prove their not infected, he now has a huge birthday suit problem. Meanwhile, all hell is breaking loose in the town/station. The Kabane are overrunning everything and the Princess is being asked to make decisions and she’s just stuck waiting for her father. Her right hand man is helping her as much as possible, but mutiny seems likely. Then Mumei shows up and clears a path for them and beats the piss out of the Kabane. Eventually all parties converge and wind up on the train getting the fuck out-of-town, but Ikoma is revealed for what he is and thrown off the train… after saving the people on the train twice. He doesn’t give up though and actually helps the train get clear of the station when the lock won't release because of a dead body. It looks grim for our main character, but than Mumei shows up and saves him and spoiler, reveals that she too is infected and called a Kabaneri… hence the title of the show.

Another great episode. Granted it was predictable in that everyone would turn on Ikoma even after he put everything on the line to help them because they’re afraid and that fear is the thing motivating his character. He doesn’t want everyone to live in fear of being close to each other a society of strangers in a way. There’s no empathy, only fear in this society and he can't stand it which is great character motivation. Mumei is still a mystery since some clearly knew what she was and she still has her mystery mission as well. That and why she’s able to control the virus better than Ikoma; the difference being that he had to staple a bunch of cool looking Frankenstein shit to his body and she just gets a sexy ribbon that she pops when it's time to go to work. I’m sure we’ll see the answer much later in the story.

The animation continues to be some of the best of the season. There’s a lot of good-looking anime this season, but there’s something about having a great story attached to it that really makes the art better. That and the design of this world, this steampunk, zombie samurai era world, that is just fucking cool. Even if the story tanks, I will probably still watch this anime for the art.

If you haven’t seen this anime yet, then thank Netflix for being dicks and buying up an anime that hasn’t completed yet because everyone is now competing over streaming rights and while others would simulcast this in a heartbeat we all know that Netflix does shit their way. That said, you’ll have to go with a different streaming option and I’m sure you can figure that out on your own. It’s a shame too, I think the fact that Netflix is waiting for its completion is going to hurt this series more than help it. A lot of people are missing out on what’s already proven to be one of the best of the season and possibly of 2016.

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Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.02 Official Website

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Review: Twin Star Exorcists – E.01

I’ve been curious about this property for a while now. I missed the first collected volume of the manga, but received the next two for review and haven’t read them because I really like knowing how a story starts. Sometimes in manga you can skip ahead after the first volume, but starting after the first volume is always tricky. The point is, my curiosity has been building and building. Because I can’t tell the tone from the art. The art seems goofy and serious all at the same time. I mean that guy has razor-sharp teeth… and yet all the women have a blank tsundre look on their face. I couldn’t tell the tone and after the first episode… I’m still not 100% on the tone.

It starts off with a really dark and gruesome scene. You can tell that everyone is dead, with the exception of one of our main characters Rokuro. He’s the dude in case you’re wondering. Then we meet Benio as she’s summoned to meet some exorcist bigwigs that have finally acknowledged her power and skill as one of the best exorcists out there.

From there we learn that demons or whatever they call them in this series, have their own plane of existence that looks like a flesh version of our world. Stuffs in the same spot, just red and flesh-colored. Exorcists can flip to this other side to take care of the demons. The two characters’ paths cross when Benio drops from the sky and Rokuro catches her… only to fall into the water below. Their meet-cute continues as he tries to help her find where she’s going and buys her food and they fight a demon together even though he’s sworn off of exorcising.

That is all there is to this first episode which is a shame because the hook of the series is part of the reason I’ve been wanting to read the manga. They’re fated to marry and be “the best” at their jobs. Rokuro doesn’t accept this which can only mean that Benio does.

Unfortunately, I think that this anime adaptation is suffering from the same problem My Hero Academia is suffering from in which it’s following the anime too closely. It worked for something like One-Punch Man because they adapted it to work. That and the story was just better. While both Twin Star Exorcists and My Hero Academia have good stories and interesting worlds, their anime counterpart needed stronger pacing. There’s a lot of meh stuff in this episode and while I don’t have the perfect solution to fix it, this wasn’t the best start they could give the show. It’s slightly better than MHA, but not by much. You need that hook introduced, even if it was just supporting characters mentioning it when Rokuro wasn’t there.

The animation is strong. Not the strongest, but it’s enjoyable. I really liked the costume designs as it was almost a Tron inspired overlay on their clothes. Benio’s cat mask was very cool looking, but Rokuro’s arm was too over the top. That and the goofy parts didn’t mix well with the serious parts which could hurt the animation and story going forward.

It’s a good anime, but it’s far from great. It and others are trying to follow the One-Punch Man formula, which is a good outline to follow; but also one hell of a challenge. Now that I’m kind of caught up on this I might just switch over to the manga and read that before continuing with this anime.

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Twin Star Exorcists – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.02

The second episode of Re:Zero is interesting. I don’t know if it’s as strong as the first episode because it had the benefit of being twice as long. That kind of worries me a little because it almost seems like this idea can’t properly be developed in the twenty-ish minute time frame. Time will tell on that. The episode does pick up right where we left it which isn’t surprising, but it kind of is. It’s something you think would happen more often, but it tends to get dropped to tell the story differently or because the team has written themselves into a corner. Subaru finds himself getting chewed out by the white-haired witch and not really understanding why. He unknowingly helps Felt pick her pocket as well which is more confusing to him because he still hasn’t figured out what's happening to him. He runs after them to help, but instead runs into the three dudes yet again. He still doesn’t get it and ends up getting stabbed and dying right there in the alley. What cues him into it, is the fact that the chips that Old Man Rom ate… are back in his bag. I mean, there should have been some other stuff, but whatever.

He starts over in front of the appa stand and figures out that he’s starting over. Finally. Subaru decides he doesn’t owe anyone shit and to just do whatever. But then he remembers the white witch’s death and he runs to try to help. This puts him head of schedule in reaching the loot house, but not by much. He still runs into the three dudes, a new character is introduced and he learns that knowledge is dangerous.

What I find particularly interesting about this story is that Subaru can’t just shout out that he knows the future. He does that to an extent at the very end of this episode and it makes him look really crazy. That’s the challenge for this story. How do you beat whatever event you’re trying to beat when you have all the cheats, but can’t use them? It’s just like Groundhog Day in that regard, but because lives are on the line it’s far more interesting. The villain in particular has another great scene when Subaru bumps into her (he actually physically bumps into her) and nearly shits himself.

The animation continues to be really strong. I know usually shows don’t dip from episode one to two, but sometimes they do. And sometimes they finish looking like shit when they started wonderfully, so I’m just glad to see that for now the quality is really in control and this world continues to feel alive no matter where it goes. The slums, the streets, it’s constantly moving.

Now that Subaru knows what is happening to him the story is going to shift again. If it can keep adapting and changing like that it’ll set itself apart from the rest of the run of the mill anime this season. For now, it has my attention and I’m looking forward to more.

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Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.2 Official Website

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Review: Tanaka-kun is Always Listless – E.01

Don’t laugh, but I actually liked this show. It’s dumb. I mean it’s really dumb and yet it’s like a better version of what Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto is doing. The main character does nothing. I mean that. His goal is to just nap and lay down. His friend carries him to school. His hands routinely fall asleep in class because of leaning on them for naps. He needs a cool breeze to fall asleep sometimes. He’s so fucking delicate that a piece of bread cuts his mouth and he loses his appetite. This is the entire episode. Things like this.

The main character Tanaka is what they call listless which I would assume would better translated to having no direction in life. Whatever though. It works and you get the idea after his friend calls him “listless” over and over. His friend is the opposite, but he does everything for him. There’s a hint of yaoi there, but nothing that would actually push it fully into that category.

This episode and show does nothing. I shouldn't like it, but I do. It was fun and the humor hit. The humor relied on more than one gag and it didn’t always center around Tanaka. Though I shouldn’t count the opening song as part of the story, it’s anime and it counts. It actually shows me that there’s going to be more and more characters involved and so it’s just a slice of life high school show, but goddamn it works.

Everything I disliked about I’m Sakamoto, this was the opposite. I would watch this show because it does nothing, because it’s doing that nothing very well. A huge part of this is the animation quality and style. Its budget is much larger than the aforementioned anime and you can tell. The backgrounds are lush and beautiful. Every character is detailed and there’s plenty of background characters that are all sharply illustrated. This world feels alive. The coloring, for me is the reason why the art is better than a lot of other anime that would fall in this category because it doesn’t look cheap. It looks like a full range of colors were used. This means a lot of lighting effects which is the big difference because otherwise it would just be a bunch of filled in frames.

I will likely continue watching this anime all the way until the bitter end. It’s not amazing, it’s not a game changer, but it has my attention and it’s animated really well. At the end of the day, I’m here for visual storytelling and Tanak-kun is Always Listless does that masterfully.

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Tanaka-kun is Always Listless – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Mayoiga – E.02

If people aren’t dead by the third episode, then I have no fucking clue why I would continue watching this show. All of the characters with the exception of the main kid are either A) dicks or B) so underdeveloped it’s pointless to care about them. The guy who’s super aggressive about "starting over" tells the bus driver to keep going until the bus slides off the side of the road and gets stuck below the road. Some other dick says they should all give him their money since they won’t need it anymore and call it a day with the shitty bus driver. Who I happen to think is right about everything he’s said, but chicken shits out when he joins them later. From there they walk with their shit to what they suspect is the town they're looking for which just looks abandoned, not really hidden. Difficult to get to? Yes. Made by people with the resources of the area? Fuck no.

Because one of the thirty fucking characters worked as a maid once, she determines scientifically that the place hasn’t been dusted in a year. I wish I was making that up. They continue to search the town and find it empty. We do see someone or something watching them and find a print that’s not big enough or deep enough to be a bear… probably someone dressed as a fucking bear. Also the guy with the pedo mustache is a rapist and we’re left wondering if he victimized the girl who the main dude likes. That's the cliffhanger.

I can’t even begin to care about these characters. I really don’t even know if I’m supposed to care about them or just wish for their deaths that will hopefully happen in the next episode. Otherwise, this is just some bad fucking writing and a poor concept. Putting a bunch of annoying internet users that want to start over in life by moving to a shitty small town that would require a ton of work to survive, seems like a bad idea for a bunch of people who can’t face regular old life head-on.

“You mean over in this town I can pick a different name, not pay taxes and shit, but I have to work morning until night so I can have something to eat and running water?” "...Sign me the fuck up."

The main kid is super annoying and they just let him ramble which is part of his character, but annoying none the less. One of the women tries to be mean to him because he reminders her of an ex, but then he fucks it up by saying he’s not attracted to her like he has been with the last six women that talked to him. I know he won’t… but I still kind of want him to die first (Lion second for sure). That would be shocking in a way that would wake up the audience because right now I’m bored. There’s nothing creep or thrilling about this story, but man is it laying it on thick in an attempt to be either or both. Mayogia translates to “The Lost Village”, but I think it should be “Lost My Interest.”

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Mayoiga – E.02 Official Website

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Review: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.01

Talk about leaving an impression. I’m going to get this out of the way since I know that the obvious comparison for Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress will be Attack on Titans meets zombies. But isn’t that okay? I mean, aren’t we all waiting for AoT? And if you’re going to do it… do it like this!

Kabaneri starts off on a train. A train that looks like something out of Death Race 2000. The conductor tells them to sound the alarm and not to slow down… because shit is about to get wild. They train is attacked by zombie esque creators, but they’re incredibly difficult to kill. The use steam powered guns which is cool, but the effects are limited. One dude gets bit and they throw him a suicide bag… after a little bit he pulls it and it kills his heart before he can turn.

Inner cut with this amazing opening is our main character working on a new gun that will penetrate the heart of the Kabane (the zombie creatures). He’s very clever as we soon see. He works on repairing the trains, but his goal is actually to pick up and examine Kabane parts for his gun.

After the train arrives to the station/town, the people onboard are forced to strip down and prove their not injured. One man has a cut that seems completely unrelated and everyone overreacts forcing our main character Ikoma to get involved because he’s tired of everyone living in fear of the bushi (protectors and such) and the Kabane. The show really picks up when a second train overrun by Kabane collides with the station and the Kabane have their run of the place. The ending is sick as fuck.

I was already enjoying the premise and the characters when the train wreck happened. It thrusted the story forward much faster than I expected, but that turned out to be a very good thing. Like I said, this is going to be compared to AoT whether anyone likes it to or not. It cut out a lot of the slow build in order to just get the story going. Sure that was the charm of AoT, but the charm here is the crazy world being overrun by zombies and Ikoma. He’s… he’s awesome. The scene at the end is just incredible. You’re like, “give this guy his own show” and then you remember that you’re watching it.

The animation is top notch. I’ve noticed that all of the TV Tokyo shows have been (that must be a rebranding thing because they’re everywhere this season). Particularly with this show it needed to have great animation. The Kabane are intense looking, but more importantly the world feels alive and looks great. I dug the character designs as well, they stood out a lot, especially compared to the rest of the anime airing this season.

Between this and Kiznaiver, they’re the savors of the season. A lot of the other anime is so generic, too early to tell or just bad. These two shows aren’t pulling any punches and I will anxiously wait to see the next episode of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.

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Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Kiznaiver – E.01

Whether you were a fan of Trigger’s last animation Kill la Kill or not, Kiznaiver is probably for you. It’s kind of everything that Trigger is. Strange and yet iconic character designs. Beautiful animation and oh yeah a concept that is extremely over the top and yet manages to dissect anime, fandom and society all at the same time. This go around Trigger takes on the complexity of pain. Really it’s empathy that they’re taking on, but they’re using physical pain to show this. That one part of the story as the other takes on the “seven deadly sins” that have been updated for the anime generation. These sins… character architypes.

Just one of these alone would make for quality storytelling, but the fact that they’re intermingled and balanced, makes for a story that’s interesting on many levels. Because the thing about Trigger is when they say “hey we’re making fun of fan service” and then they do, they also provide amazing fan service, but use it in a way that it helps the story rather than hurting it. For that reason, I’m extremely interested to see what they’ll do with the acknowledged character types they’re using and making commentary on.

The story… is of course complex and not the easiest to explain without recapping the entire episode. I don’t particularly want to do that so I’ll condense it as much as possible. We meet Kacchon as a little boy and he looks like he’s just escaped some kind of lab. He’s running towards a faceless female child who is talking to him before she jumps. From this point on we learn that Kacchon doesn’t feel pain. He’s bullied because of this which then leads to him meeting another character and another. He wakes up on top of a building with a girl who is basically running their school (cough a bit too similar) and she goes into a lot of exposition until we see all of the characters we’ve meet in the same room. There she explains that they’re a part of an experiment and that all of their pain is connected. They share their pain, but rather than it being a forced empathy, it’s their physical pain which they learn when one of them gets kicked in the head.

By the end of the episode I knew that I was watching one of if not the best anime of the season. Even if Trigger decided to just be typical with this idea, it’s still interesting enough to continue watching. I know they won’t because they love being over the top and the commentary is already thick in this first episode.

The animation is beautiful. It’s not a re-hash of Kill la Kill even though a few of the characters have similar designs. I chalk that up to being the same studio and really that’s all anime. There’s a lot more detail in Kaznaiver because of the setting, a lush metropolis. It’s very futuristic looking with a clean white aesthetic. What’s interesting about the animation to me is that emotions seem to be a big part of the story and yet the two main characters are basically void of emotion. Which was probably challenging to illustrate since they “no sell” everything going on.

There’s only one other animation that might beat Kiznaiver, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m just happy to have two anime to be excited for and that Trigger was able to follow Kill la Kill up with something that wasn’t re-hash or worse… bad. If anything, Kiznaiver is off to a better start.

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Kiznaiver – E.01

Official Website

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Review: Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto – E.01

I can’t for the life of me figure out what the point of this show is and where the story is possibly going. The premise is that Sakamoto is amazing in everything that he does. The men hate him, but secretly love how cool he is and the women just love him. There’s three short stories for the first episode. The first is Sakamoto being bullied by three classmates, but the fail miserably. In the end, they start a fire and he tricks them into making a lot of noise for a teacher to come, but then doesn’t let them take the blame. One of them takes a picture of him and decides to make it his phone’s background. The best part was watching the same animation of the three thugs playing volleyball and talking over and over, but only because they admit that Sakamoto stole their heart and the animation was on a bad loop.

The second story is Sakamoto versus the wind and a sparrow. The sparrow ends up getting hit by something and he saves the bird in a ridiculous manner. The third story is another boy that’s jealous of Sakamoto and decides to become the class clown since he can’t compete… but his jokes suck. He too, falls for Sakamoto’s charms.

Again… I have no idea what this show is doing and where it’s going. If it’s just going to continue with stories like this, boredom is already setting in. This was a fun episode, but I didn’t learn anything about the character that wasn’t explained to me within the first two minutes of the episode. He’s always “on”, I get that. He’s the best and can never be fooled. He’s cool no matter what which makes him completely made up and un-relatable.

Where is the story going? I find a lot of anime fails to answer this on the first episode. The expect you to just enjoy the ride and come back for the first six episodes which is usually one story arc. The problem is, when you don’t answer that question or at the very least tease the answer… I don’t want to come back for more. For example, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress doesn’t specifically answer this question, but it gave enough info that you’ll come back for the second episode to get more. That and the premise and world building is tremendous… with I’m Sakamoto, the world is built-in the opening and the character development is done there as well. It’s just wacky jokes that while fun, wear thin after a few minutes. It would work as a weekly manga because you’d only get a small portion of it and never really get tired of it, but never really look forward to it either.

I’ll check out the second episode, but only to see if it’s going to even attempt something with the story or if it’ll just be the first episode with different situations over and over again.

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Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto – E.01 Official Website

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