Category Archives: Anime Review
Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan Random Thursday #1 (Anime Review)
Hey there, today is not a new segment so to speak. It is more of a reworking. As the series was formerly know as Random Wednesday but I want to do more comic book pick ups on Wednesday. The premise of this series is simple. I watch the first episode of a random anime and then talk about it. Today’s Anime is Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan.
Here’s a run down of the plot so we are all on the same page. Uramichi Oniisan went to university and became a talented gymnastic. However, at the young age of 31 his life is going nowhere and he is the lead character of the children’s show “Together with Maman.”. Think of this show as Barney or Blue’s Clues in this universe. The rest of the show serves to highlight the struggles of not knowing who you are or what you want to do with yourself. His co-workers are scared of his mental unhingeness and his producers, oddly enough, just put up with his outrages. This show tackles a pretty serious issue, mid-life crisis, in a lighthearted manner. One episode in and I can’t tell if the show is trying to bring light to the subject or turn it into a comedy or both. Either way, the show manages to be hilarious because of the dark subject material juxtaposed to such an innocent setting. Uramichi is trying to figure out how to get his life out of the gutter while simultaneously inspire, educate and lead small children.
Interestingly enough, I’m not sure the wide appeal for an anime like this. However, it definitely hit close to home to me. At the age of 21, I was living in my dad’s pool house. My job, babysitting my 6 little siblings. They ran the gambit in ages from 8 to new born. I hung out with them every day because they were home schooled. I helped out in their education, entertained them and always tried to be there for them. All the while having no clue what I was doing with my life. I had bounced around colleges and majors. By this time I had attended three different colleges and had 5 different majors. I started out as a Mass Communications Major with a concentration in Film and Television. After I transferred to my next school I switched to Education. I was in a committed relationship and no longer dreamed of working on movies. I liked the idea of empowering kids and teens to be their best self. After a year as an Education major, my professor told me to just major in Biology since that is what I wanted to teach. However, a lot of my math courses didn’t translate with me so I was having to take extra courses. And because my college had 2 major campuses, I could never get signed up for Chemistry. Frustrated from spinning my wheels, I switched my major once again to general business. While, taking the business core, I planned to pick one area to major in. In hindsight I almost wished I would have picked Marketing, but I chose Accounting. I then transferred to my third college with my 5 major.
Well, I only have about a year of Accounting courses left not counting my minors, but I have fallen out of love with the subject and I am taking a break from school. It sucks, but it needs to happen. So I am sitting here, watching anime about a guy who had his life all figured out now spiraling out of control while I am unsure of my own future. I can relate to trying to be positive for the next generation while your world is in constant upheaval. So that’s why I did this specific life story tangent. I feel like this anime was created for me. Obviously I have only seen the first episode, but it seems right up my alley. I love the off-beat humor, the colorful supporting cast, the non-sense slice of life scenario it is set in. Honestly, the first episode was near perfect and quite enthralling. Though I totally get it if the all-over-the-place, chaotic nature is not your thing.
Recap:
Action: This is not a violent or action packed anime. There may have been some slapstick humor but I don’t remember.
Romance: I don’t recall much in the way of romance either.
Plot: The plot is nothing really special here. It is more so the characters’ interactions and the way they handle the world around them.
Characters: We are introduced to about 5 or 6 characters that could play bigger roles. Tobikichi Usahara and Mitsuo Kumatani play his lovable mascot sidekicks. While Utano Tadano and Iketery Daga show up occasionally for musical numbers. Of course there’s also Uramichi Oniisan and the children who I cannot wait to see what weird hijinks they get into.
The World: It is a slice a life anime. The world is nothing special. It is exactly our world.
Humor: Humor is of course one of the strong suits of this anime. Again it is situational humor playing on the absurdities of these character’s lives and situations.
All in all I think this is a great anime if you like the following:
Slice of Life. There’s no great evil or end of the world stakes. It is just PvE. Real life people working through problems.
Relatable cast. A lot of us work jobs that are unfulfilling or have co-workers we have to deal with. Sure some of the characters are extremes or caricatures, but a lot of it is grounded in reality.
Nonsense or Off beat humor. The funniest aspects of the show often revolves around humor that seems out of place or all the wall.
So, there you go. We’re going to try to keep this a weekly thing but there’s going to be a big life update post soon, so get ready.
Thank you guys for watching. Have a great day.
Anime Moms (Happy Mother’s Day)
It is Mother’s Day. I know it might be the second year in a row some of you wont see your moms. Hopefully that’s not the case for you guys.
Either way, I wanted to do a post celebrating anime moms and I could only think of a few. For starters, Ash’s mom is probably my favorite mom. Yes, she was in the background but she did steal the scenes she actually appeared in. In Yu Yu Hakusho, I remember his mom being really depressed during the initial arc. In Case Closed, Sinichi’s mom has the same playful vibes Ash’s mom did. Jessica wanted to give Naruto’s mom a shout out despite, well we know how that ended. But she died very nobly and for that, she deserves a mention. I’m sure theres plenty of moms in the opening acts of Shonun that kind of fade as the stories progress past the home lands of the hero. Slice of Life animes typically have moms but very few I’ve seen have been memorable.
So with that in mind, how about you guys recommend animes with awesome moms in honor of Mother’s Day. Anyway, remember to tell your mom you love her while you still got her.
Odd Taxi Episode #4 Anine review
I watched Episodes 4 and 5 of Odd Taxi Monday. I was going to do a review over both episodes, but from what I remember, there was almost a disconnect between episodes. And it was episode 4 that stood out to me.
Both episodes were good. 5 was more of that gangster, noir espionage feel that the show has used to great effect. Episode #4, however, had a unique vibe. It told a different, but still interwoven, story about a cat and addiction. His addiction centers around collecting, gambling and loss of self identity. In an essence, it tells a story of consumerism stealing our meaning in life.
This topic hits pretty close to me for two reasons. The first is that I work at a hobby collectible shop and we see a lot people make bad financial decisions in order to obtain cool stuff. Personally, I believe people work for money and would gladly trade that money in for happiness in the form of trinkets and games. I think that part is natural. Though, there is a line where it becomes unhealthy. Some people do it because of the dopamine hit. Others do it to belong to the exclusive clubs that come along with the items. Others determine their whole self value based off of what they have in their possession. Obviously rich people do this too (keeping up with the Jones). And that lifestyle leads to bankruptcy and burn out. It happens to the lower-middle class as well.
The second reason is because in my sustainability classes, we actively preach against the false comfort that is consumerism. We talk about the power of freeing yourself from the shackles that are identifying your worth based off what you own. (Not talking about assets like stocks and such.)
The story follows Tanaka, a cat whose life is spiralling out of control. It’s been a 16 year build up of just bad decision after bad decision. The beginning of this episode deals with school yard psychology as Tanaka and his class peers compete to have the rarest most collectible erasers. One kid’s parents travel and as a result can buy exotic erasers from other countries. Tanaka cannot compete with this. I think this is an important lesson for kids and adults. There will always be someone richer than you. Dont compete with money. If I am remembering right, we never see Tanaka use any of his personal traits to win the kids over. He never uses his humor, his charm or any interesting facts about him. He just tries to impress the kids with expensive erasers. And how does he do that? He steals his dad’s credit card and pays a ridiculous amount for something half the price. This earns his father’s ire.
I’m not sure what message the show was giving by having the expensive eraser never be shipped after he won it from ebay. My only guess is to make the username the antagonist. As the username will pop up later. The next step the show takes is to have his classmates move on from eraser collecting and the eraser never shows up. However, I thought it would have been impactful for him to rush to class to show off his new eraser and the other students dont even acknowledge it or even make fun of him for still liking those while he desperately clings to the item he just spent a small fortune on.
Either way, fast forward I think 16 years and we find Tanaka has a nice job and hes learned his lesson. He still likes collecting but now its digital through a free to play zoo game. The game gives daily coins for free and will mostly reward you with common and uncommon (not rare or super rare) animals. For the ol giggles, he checks the player with the best rated zoo. It’s the same name as the eBay seller from 16 years ago. That old primal rage is resparked. He now wants the best zoo. He starts off small, only putting in a 1,000 yen a week. However, frustrated with not seeing the results he wants, he ups the spending big time. Before long, he has put about a million yen in a free to play.
This is the huge PSA announcement. The social commentary here is how predatory gacha machines and similar games can be. It feeds off of gambling tendencies and our rush of dopamine from the chance of pulling something rare. Tanaka plays as a stand in for the audience. For the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost countless money on these gimmicks.
So, finally after 16 long years Tanaka gets his revenge. He hatches the dodo bird (the rarest animal in the game). He literally starts crying tears in the middle of the street. His joy is cut short when a crazy taxi driver (you’ll never guess who) drives recklessly around a corner. This causes Tanaka to jump out of the way, dropping his phone on the ground and into a ditch of water…
He retrieves the phone but the progress is lost. The dodo bird no longer resides in his zoo. To make matters worse, Tanaka’s real bird dies. While burying the bird he stumbles upon a gun. Now, with dead eyes and a taste for revenge, Tanaka sets out to kill Odokawa.
This episode is a masterpiece. Plain and simple. The fact that they can, in the middle of the anime, shift gears and focus on a formerly nameless character and it still has the same feel as the right of the series, you know theres something special about this anime. I love the nonlinear storytelling, the narration and dialogue, the characters and the world, it all just blends seamlessly into a near perfect anime. You have to observe everything because it could become the focal point of another episode soon enough. I’m completely sold on this anime. I already was, but now its official. This anime is genius and I cant wait to see how it end.
To Your Eternity Episode 1-2 Anime Review
To Your Eternity was an anime I was hyped for. The description was vague but enticing. It also is set up very similarly to animes I’ve loved from past seasons such as Dr. Stone and Somali and the Forest Guardian. It takes place in a secluded area not bogged down by a million characters and subplots. This leaves a lot to the mind to wonder and for the show to connect those dots as we go.
The first episode centers around an orb. Yes, an orb. But not just any orb. A presumed god’s orb. God tosses the orb down to Earth where it takes the shapes of things around it. First it becomes a rock. Then it takes the form of a dead wolf who can revive itself. As a clone of the dead wolf, the orb returns to the wolf’s owner. This is where one of the most gripping and well shot episodes of anime occur.
Episode 1 is really good. Like amazingly good. The wolf’s owner is stranded in a winter cabin. The elders of his tribe are long dead. He was left in charge of them while the rest of the tribe set off to find paradise. One by one, the elders died until it was him and his wolf, Joaan, remaining. Tired of sitting in one place and busy dreaming of the paradise his tribe discovered, the nameless boy and the orb disguised as Joaan set out to face the harsh, hazardous winter conditions.
As the days pass and the scenes progress, it becomes painstakingly clear the nameless boy wont survive the trek. His extremities freeze turning inhumanely red. His fate is sealed when the ice breaks beneath his feet. This not only intensifies his frost bite. He also suffers from cuts that break the flesh, causing constant blood loss. His delusions are cast away when he finds the remains of his tribe’s wagon and what appears to be makeshift tombstones seemingly cementing the fact they never made it to the promise land of fruits and paradise.
It’s around this time this anime really starts to kick in. The nameless boy comes to term with his own mortality. He realizes he has been having pretend conversations with his wolf and that he will never cross the giant mountain. Reluctantly, the boy and the wolf turn back around and retreat to their cabin. It doesn’t take more than 24 hours for the pain, infection and fever to sap the life from the young boy who was so full of hope and life a mere week ago.
His death is hauntingly slow and dawdles ghastly like. The show appears in no rush to give the boy the peace he deserves. And perhaps that’s what’s so compelling about this episode. The viewers know almost immediately the boy will die and yet the show spends 20 minutes making you love him, root for him and believe in his journey. Almost as if to get our guard down in some sick twist of fate. But it never left my mind. Each animation drawing him nearer to his inevitable death seemed like ferocious roars echoing against the snowscape. And as he crashes out of his bed and onto cold wooded floor, he crawls himself to his chair claiming he doesn’t want to be lying down when the others make their faithful return. He dies in his chair seconds later. And, against his dying wishes, plummets to the floor in one final defeat. The orbbed wolf pulls at his clothes out of desperation, or maybe sadness, hoping their pseudo owner would jump back up like he had done all week. No use. And just like that the transformation occurs. The orb ditches its wolf fur in exchange for human limbs, mirroring the appearance of the dead and nameless boy. He returns the fallen one to his chair upright and leaves the cabin for the final time.
Now, the only real knock I have against this episode is that it is cliche at times. Viewers will know the boy’s fate the second he is on screen thanks to a previous scene. For the orb to go from the initial rock to the appearance of a wolf, the wolf had to die. For the orb to transform once more, it require a sacrifice so to speak. Still, even with that said, there’s still some unsolved mysteries. For starters, when the boy finally teaches the orb version of the wolf how to eat, the wolf roars back at him “See”. Instead of acknowledging the talking wolf, the boy says “You can eat.” He is more dumbfounded by the fact the wolf can eat instead of the fact it spoke. Jessica said maybe his old dog couldn’t eat.
This is possible because the wolf was clearly dying when we met him. Did the boy know this though? That’s unclear. However, when the boy mentally cracks he says something along the lines of how he was having imaginary conversations with the wolf. So, theres a chance this scene never happened in the first place.
Episode 2, for better or worse, is a complete tonal shift. The orb is completely in the background as the narrative turns its focus to a small girl named March. This episode plays out like it is straight out of a Japanese folklore. Ever so often a village is selected and from there an untarnished girl from that village is chosen to be fed to the God of Prosperity. Enter March. She is treated to a royal fest and then tells her family bye for the last time. Only half way up the mountain she escapes her escort and makes a run for it. After tumbling face first down the mountain she runs into the orb still possessing the nameless one. He is devoid of manners or simple human skills. He is completely unlikable as opposed to his wolf form which actually had redeemable qualities. This is more or less how the episode ends.
Dont get me wrong, I liked March and this episode. All the characters introduced were pretty cool. There are more moral philosophies on display. The theme of coming face to face with your inevitable death continues to be a main focal point to juxtapose with the main character who can just revive himself over and over. But this episode seems completely disjointed from the first. It leaves me asking where is the show going. It loses the intimate charm the first episode had but gains charm in ways I cant explain at the moment. All in all it truly felt like watching two different animes.
That isnt enough to make we disappointed or want to drop it. I just felt it was worth noting. As a result, I will be scoring each of the first two episodes.
Episode #1: 9 out of 10. A truly magical experience that fell just short of perfection.
Episode #2: 8 out of 10. It loses what made the first episode so special, but found it’s on way to feel unique.
This anime is totally worth a watch. And I’ve been saying all week, I will go back and try to add pictures and fix any typos. I wrote this at work over the course of the last 6 hours in spurts.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
ODD TAXI Episode 1-3 Anime Review
At first glance, I was ready to write this anime off as a weird and almost budget title, as nothing impressed me within in the first minute or so. But as this show went on, man did it catch fire.
Taxi Driver vibes are hard to fend off as our main character’s occupation is taxi driving. However, were far too early to truly understand the main character’s, Odokawa, reason behind taxi driving. Though we do know he is sarcastic and brutally honest. He rarely leaves to doubt what’s on his mind. No, he’s not likeable and you’d have to have his sadistic sense of humor to love him. Yet, over time you find yourself rooting for him. I dont know if I would say he becomes more noble or more relatable (I really want to say he becomes more humanized since all the characters are animal.)
With early thoughts out of the way, let’s jump into the plot. A teenage girl has disappeared. She was last seen getting into Odokawa’s taxi and was not seen again. Of course suspension is turned onto Odokawa following the news. However, there’s a baboon named Dobu who is a gangster. Some people believe he is the one who kidnaps her. Dobu is interested in talking with Odokawa because Dobu believes Odokawa kidnapped the girl and Dobu is being set up. Dobu’s boss also has interest in finding the girl and hires him to do some snooping on Odokawa to get to the bottom of it.
So, more or less, that’s the plot. Why did this girl get in Odokawa’s taxi? Why is she hiding from her father? How does the mob tie into all this? Not to mention wondering how all the side characters fit into the puzzle. There’s an alpaca nurse who is believed to have stole a ton of drugs from the pharmacy. Odokawa’s buddy, Kakihana the gibbon. And the latest development, a girl band lead by a trio of puddles. Their agents are sneaking around in the background. And a radio duo are trying to navigate their careers.
What’s makes this show so darn exhilarating is, first and for most, the main plot. This show is not afraid of some really cool scenes. Such as when Dobu gets in Odokawa’s taxi and tells him to drive while he holds him at gun point. On top of the mystery and noir genres being perfectly executed, theres all the background subplots. On top of the main genres, we have a slice of life, a buddy film, flashes of musical, and so many other genres and plots flawlessly being weaved together. The characters are not only very well written, they are well performed as well. Most of the dialogue is so fluid and smooth. It’s like watching Pulp Fiction meets Taxi Driver and for that, I think we can call this one heck of a ride.
Of the animes I’ve seen this season, this one has been my favorite for sure. I can’t wait for more episodes to roll out. This one was very hard to review. It does not fit in a generic mold. It’s unlike most animes I’ve seen. It has so many highlights it is hard to pick a favorite aspect. Yet, at the same time, there’s so many mysteries. It is hard to gauge how good the characters are right now. Will the subplots have pay offs? There’s a lot still up in the air. With that said:
Score: 9.5 out of 10 (For now)
Watch it on Crunchyroll now: https://www.crunchyroll.com/oddtaxi/episode-1-the-eccentric-driver-810846
Next up is probably To Your Eternity.
DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO Episodes #1 & #2 Anime Review
A new season of anime is upon us. The first one we will be reviewing is DON’T TOY WITH ME, MISS NAGATORO.
I’m going to be completely honest here. This anime straddles the line of cute and enjoyable to unwatchable all through out the first two episodes. The story centers almost exclusively around the two main characters: Nagatoro and Naoto Hachioji. Hachioji is an awkward introvert who mostly seeks to avoid attention from his fellow classmates. Nagatoro gets off to bullying Hachioji. Why she enjoys pestering him is still open for interpretation. Something cool the show did was it did not show any character’s (except for Hachioji’s) eyes until the 5 and half minute maker. Of course, Nagatoro’s eyes are the ones we see.
Hachioji explains why we don’t see the other students’ eyes. He says “Look away, close my mind” (at the 20:06 minute marker of Episode #1). All these students have bullied him throughout his life over his mangas and drawing. So, when we are introduced to Nagatoro and we see her eyes, I assumed she was going to be nice. Boy, was I wrong.
And that’s where my problems begin. She straight up bullies him. I sat through the second episode hoping the characters would become a tad bit more complex. Meh. There is a cafe scene that gives me hope the two will develop. However, for now, be prepared. Both of these characters are hard to root for.
Nagatoro is very harsh. She degrades him, mocks him, inflicts physical and mental abuse to him. I won’t even go into detail over some of the stuff she does to him but most of it is sexual abuse or at least taunting him. Which is what makes it so hard to watch. It is more than teasing, it is dehumanizing in a lot of way. If Hachioji could defend himself or create a line in the sand, I feel like we might get somewhere. For now, he is stuck in this mindset of “eww, she’s so mean” but also “ahhh, a cute girl”. Because he has been bullied his whole life, he tolerates her behavior.
It’s interesting to say the least. The animation is great. The sound effects and visual gags are highly entertaining. Some of the scenarios they find themselves in are innocent but still have high sexual undertones. These can be okay. For example, the vampire subplot was fine before she fell and groped him. She then used this as a chance to beat him down by mocking him saying that was the first time a girl touched him. Scenes start off fine and quickly cross a line. And based off of Hachioji’s body language it is hard to tell if he enjoys it or is too scared or nervous to ask her to stop. And Nagatoro’s outward demeanor makes it hard to gauge if she hurting him out of in
I can get the appeal of this anime. Again, it can look great and be funny. A socially awkward male lead combined with a cute and confident female do create a pretty unique working dynamic at times. Some of the teasing is entertaining. And again, the cafe scene gives hope for something deeper.
Still, as of the first two episodes this is a unique rom com that occasionally rises above mediocrity. The relationship between Nagatoro and Hachioji is different and interesting enough that’ll keep checking this one out and see if it becomes a guilty pleasure or slog to get through.
Score: 6 out of 10 (For now)
Watch it on Crunchyroll now: https://www.crunchyroll.com/dont-toy-with-me-miss-nagatoro/episode-1-senpai-is-a-bit-senpai-dont-you-ever-get-angry-811065
Next up, we review the first three episodes of Odd Taxi (spoiler alert- I love that one!)
Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions. Season #1 Anime Review
Love, Chunibyu & Other Delusions is an anime currently airing on Netflix. It revolves around a cast of characters, but centers mostly on the awkward romantic scenarios the main leads find themselves in. The anime is based on a light novel of the same name.
I believe there are two ways to resonate with this anime. The first is by connecting with the male lead, Yuuta Togashi. Togashi falls under the subcategory of a Chunibyo. I’ll leave it up to Wikipedia to define this one. “Chūnibyō (中二病) is a colloquial Japanese term typically used to describe early teens who had grandiose delusions, who desperately wants to stand out they convinced themselves with hidden knowledge or secret powers” (Straight from our overlord Wikipedia.) Read the article here.
He was the amazing Dark Flame Master in middle school. Of course, this was a persona conjured up in his head. During his younger years, this altered identity served as a way to stand out. It was a form of self expression. By all accounts, middle school was my least favorite stent in school (of elementary, middle, and high school in the States). I certainly could relate to feeling isolated in middle school. It is just an awkward phase for most of us. As Yuuta ages and matures, he begins high school. He throws away all his drawings, clothes, and equipment of his alter ego, the Dark Flame Master. He starts high school with a new outlook on life. He is tired of being nerdy, lame, and just generally uncool. He even goes as far as to join a high school with no students from his middle school. Again, I think most people see high school, or any change of scenery, as a shot to reinvent themselves. We will continue talking about Yuuta soon. But for now, let’s look at the same story through Takanashi’s eyes.
Rikka Takanashi is the other lead. She also was a chunibyo in her middle school years. However, as she transitioned to high school she did not want to change. She wanted to live in this fantasy world that the kids created. As the story progresses Togashi constantly questions why she refuses to grow up and why she is so immature. As we learn more about Takanashi, we see that her dad died a short while ago. This personally stunted her. As her made up persona, a servant of the Tyrant’s eye, she seeks out the Dark Flame Master in her search for her dead father.
Takanashi is extremely relatable in her own way. Sure, not everyone has lost their parent or even a loved one. But, still, we all cling to things that make us happy or give us hope. We’ve all liked something that was embarrassing (i.e. a guilty pleasure). And for those of you that have lost someone, I am sure this anime hits home on a different level.
I love the juxtaposition of how simple the problems seem on the surface, but how complex they are on a deeper level. When I was first watching this anime, I thought it was a cute, light hearted, funny yet kind of weird anime. As it developed, I found it to be light hearted and fun at times, but serious and thought provoking when it needed to be.
The main conflict of the anime is that Takanashi refuses to let Yuuta leave his past behind. She constantly addresses him as the Dark Flame Master and gets him tangled up in her fights with her older sister and rival girls.
Another wonderful aspect of the anime is the fight scenes. Yes, you heard that right. A slice of life, coming of age, rom-com has massive, over the top, imaginative fight scenes. Remember, all the characters are chunibyos. They all have magical powered personas. This allows them to use completely crazy and vicious attacks on one another. Just check this out.
As you can see they are fighting with umbrellas and spoon ladles in a park. There’s plenty more scenes like this. As a result, I think this could be a good segue anime for viewers that prefer more Shonen animes or just your typical fighting style animes. The anime will constantly blur the lines between genres. Some episodes will start out as a slice of life schoolyard anime. Ten minutes later it is a supernatural magic thriller. That’s an aspect of the anime I really appreciate.
With that in mind, I really enjoyed this anime. I highly recommend this anime to most people. It teeters the line of a cutesy waifu anime and a deep psychological action anime. The romance between Togashi and Takanashi is really interesting. I never found myself rooting for them but they do almost complete each other in a way. Give this anime a chance and see what you think.
It felt good to make a blog post again. I can’t promise uploads at normal pace right now, but as always, I am working towards that goal. Thank you anyone who read this. Feel free to follow the blog and keep an eye out for some of the things we have going on very soon!
Thanks again for reading! Have a great day!
Random Wednesday #3: My Love Story!!
It is so crazy for me to think that this is only the third Random Wednesday here on the blog. And yes, the name of this post makes it sound like this is going to be some sappy personal confession. Alas, this is just an anime review for the anime My Love Story!!. For those of you unaware, Crunchyroll has a random feature which will recommend you a random anime. This time around it recommended me My Love Story!!.
Admittedly, I remember when this show first came out, but at the time I had no interest in it or the genre. A lot of time has passed and I now have a sweet spot for the slice of life, rom-com genre. I like the quirky nature and visual gags (not slapstick but more so character faces and body language).
For half the episode I was unimpressed. The colors were gorgeous and vibrant. They really helped set the genre up right. However, the character designs were borderline hideous. Maybe this was halfway intentional. Takeo Goda is almost directly compared to the red ogre. Whereas, Makoto Sunakawa is the handsome lady killer. Either way. The character models were really off putting. Semi-bored with the plot, I thought to myself, “I would just prefer to watch TONIKAWA: Over the Moon.” (A new romance anime I watched the first episode for). However, midway through My Love Story!!, the genius of the show’s use of irony really clicked.
The show centers around three characters. The aforementioned Takeo Goda and Makoto Sunakawa and the love interest, Rinko Yamato. Goda and Sunakawa are near opposites. One, Sunakawa, is graceful, beautiful and charming. The other, Goda, is awkward, unattractive and just kinda fumbles around. Anytime he loves a girl, the girls fall for Sunakawa. Enter, Rinko Yamato. I wont replay the plot here. Just know, Goda and Sunakawa save Yamato on a train ride. The three begin to hang out daily. It becomes very clear to the audience Yamato likes Goda. However, due to the history of the two best friends, Goda assumes Yamato has fallen head over heels for Sunakawa. It is worth noting Goda really likes Yamato. He likes Yamato so much, and wants her to be happy, that he is willing to put his feelings aside and help Yamato land Sunakawa. Remember, every girl he likes becomes enthralled with Sunakawa. Sunakawa, on the other hand never has any interest in the girls. Goda thinks if Yamato is rejected by Sunakawa it will ruin her. He does not want to see her hurt like all the other girls.
I love the relationship dynamic and the unexpected irony. The characters really grew on me as the episode developed and even the art got a little charming as it went along. All in all, I really enjoyed my time with episode #1 and look forward to seeing how the weird pseudo-triangle relationship works out.
Recapping Our Anime Reviews of 2020!
We just recapped all our Manga Monday reviews of 2020. So let’s do it for our anime reviews!
Watched but Not Reviewed: Case Closed, Dr. Stone, Beastar
First up, Somila and the Forest Guardian. This anime was awesome for the first handful of episodes. Sadly I have not revisited this one since about Episode #3. This one is definitely worth your time! I rated it 9.75 out of 10. Gem. Read the full review here.
Tower of God was next. Probably the only anime I watched the full season of. This one is like Game of Thrones meets a fantasy-esque anime world. I would give it about a 9 out of 10
A Destructive God Sits Next to Me. This was almost too weird upfront. I’m glad a stuck with it because its humor started meshing really well with myself. Ultimately, I really enjoyed this one. Read the full review here.
Up next, The God of High School. This was a modern day nostalgia trip. Gather all the best high school fighters in the world and bring them together for a tournament. This one reminds me of old school Dragon Ball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho. Read my full review here.
Goblin Slayer. A divisive anime. I enjoyed the first episode and loved Goblin Slayer the main character. The Priestess however is super bland and not compelling at all. Overall, I have not felt too much need to go watch the latest episodes. Read the full review here.
Cells at Work. As someone who wanted to go for Biology to college, this anime was a blast to watch. I do want to get back to this one eventually. Read the full review here.
I’m Standing on a Million Lives. The anime that broke the blog haha. This became our first blog post to hit 100 views. Now it has over 300 views. Read the full post here.
One Punch Man. One of the first mangas we reviewed on the blog. I did not like the manga too great. However, people have been requesting me to watch the anime for about 5 years. I finally took the dive and watched the first anime. It was pretty darn good. Read my full review here.
Golden Kamuy. One of those pleasant surprise animes. I had never head of this anime. I enjoyed it a lot. Read the full review here.
Jujutsu Kaisen. This anime feels like you are watching the next best thing. I really hope this anime holds up in the long run.
Burn the Witch. From the mind of the guy who came up with Bleach. This anime might be one of my favorites from the last round of animes. Read the full the review here.
Noblesse. I don’t believe this anime was well received. There were parts of it I enjoyed a lot, though it was a strange anime for sure. Be sure to read the full review here.
Lastly, The Misfits of Demon High Academy. This anime has a strong foundation. I actually watched the dub and I got to say, the actors were pretty good. Read the full review here.
We reviewed a lot of great animes last year. A lot that I would love to watch all the way through, but there’s so many good ones! Be sure to let me know what animes we should review this year.
The Misfits of Demon High Academy Episode #1
Jessica and I were staring at the endless sea of anime available on Crunchyroll. We struggled to really pick an anime. We wanted a comedy that also had action. We had been enjoying some of the more off beat anime like Girlish Number. We also figured with a name like The Misfits of Demon King Academy this was going to be a light hearted school yard comedy.
We were wrong.
As discussed, we went in expecting everything previously mentioned. Well the show was far from light hearted. There really wasn’t too much in the way of school yard antics. And it really wasn’t a slice of life anime. Instead it is mystical thrill ride filled with mythology, spells and plenty of combat. I like to think of it like the old school animes like Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, or Yu Yu Hakusho if you just jumped straight into the combat only.
Now that’s not to say they’re isnt time for character development, plot advancement or world building. Trust me, theres plenty of that too. It’s just the show never makes you wait too long for another fight or cool magic tricks. In fact the world building is mostly being teased at the moment and it very enjoyable. We know there are plenty of types of spells: teleportation spells, revival spells, origin spells. There’s plenty going on here. We know there are several elder families all vying for that role as the demon king. And we know there was an era of great magic in the past.
The first thing you notice is, that for an English Dub, the voice acting is great. Anos and Misha voice actors really killed it here. The side character’s voice actors all really shine too. The world seems to be well crafted. However, since everything is in the teasing and infancy phase, I don’t want to give it too much created yet. As someone who enjoyed the Jutsu system of Naruto , I really dug the magic system here. We’ve gone over some of the types of magic above. I’m sure there’s plenty more styles and arts of magic just waiting to be discovered. The anime is also quality. The characters are a total blast and just compliment their magic using abilities.
Honestly, as I was watching this show, I could not find much wrong with it. Someone might could argue it is generic. I’ve never really been to hold that against an anime as long as it does the genre well. So, you wont se me dock too many points for existing in a crowded genre. However, the writing is truly a weak point for this anime. I don’t even thing its that bad, but it is pretty noticeable. The voice acting and animation is so clean that when a cheesy line sneaks in, you really notice how weird it sounds. Ultimately, it does not hurt the anime too bad, but it does stop it from being a perfect.
Recap: What a perfect mix of anime tropes. Blistering combat and over the top magic spells, impeccable voice acting, a cool and developing world and hints of romance and shady and interesting characters.
Action: Combat in the form of magic vs magic. It is pretty awesome.
Romance: Romance has been mostly used for humor believe it or not.
Plot: The plot, again, can sound generic at times. A person must rise to the top to claim the title of Demon King. However, the real enjoyment comes from watching the characters interact more so than a deep and compelling story.
Characters: Like most animes in this sector, the characters are good. The villains are good for what they are. Not major threats but they give us a taste of the social hierarchy. Anos and Misha make for engaging main characters you want to find more about.
The World: As said, I don’t want to give the world too much credit until we see become a bit more fleshed out.
Humor: When this anime isn’t fast paced combat, sometimes it will slow down to be funny. The humor is really sweet and funny or ironic from bad lines. But you should be laughing one way or the other.
Verdict: Perfectly enjoyable for the first episode. I want to see more of where this anime goes. I like its foundation a lot. There’s a lot lurking in the background. These things could make the animes score explode, but what if the writing and generic-ness of the genre hold it back in the end? A lot still hinges on the development of the world and characters.
Score: 8.5 out of 10. Check it out yourself. I had a lot of fun with this one and look forward to more episodes.
Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
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