Fighting with the power of exploding yourself and groping your girlfriend. This was one of my favorites of the season that no one else seems to be watching. I generally hate fighting shows. But this is really good!!! It keeps all the fights fresh and different by incorporating such ridiculous powers. And the animation is slick. It helps that the plot is also sufficiently nuts and unpredictable. My only complaint is that some arcs were a bit weaker. Especially the mangaka arc the show ended with. Still good, just not as great as the highs. Hope this gets a second season! Storytelling – A – K ..read more

Frieren is old. I love this manga and the anime did not disappoint. Beautiful story, lovingly told. I see so much hate for this show on twitter and I really don’t get it. Yes it’s repetitive— repetition is useful to bring a theme across. Yes Himmel and Frieren never got together— that’s kind of the point. Yes Fern and Stark would be a terrible couple in real life— this is a cartoon. Come on guys. The only reason it’s an A and not an A- is the second half (tournament arc) is the worst part of the manga. It’s pretty good for a tournament arc but it’s still a tournament, and you all know how I ..read more

Rouge likes chocolate. That’s more or less the only coherent part of the plot. Should have just gone all in on lesbians instead of whatever the fuck this was. What a mess. Part of what makes me so disappointed in Metallic Rouge is that the initial episode was promising! The character designs (especially Naomi) are cute! It’s on Mars, there are robots, the creators have read a book before that they probably weren’t forced to in school! There is mystery and intrigue! And then the reveals come and oh my god I should have watched this drunk. Storytelling – D – Wtf… Voice – C – Started out ..read more

Hunting witches. Whenever I watch an episode, I’m always left wondering— why? It’s a smooth production. The battles can be cool. But it feels so hollow. Vaguely mean and despairing. What’s the point? Why should I care? Storytelling – D – All style, little substance. Voice – C – They tried… Characters – D – Weak. Attention Grab – D – Lost interest about halfway through. Production – B – Looks fine. Overall – D+ Recommendations – Undead Girl Murder Farce which I hated for similar reasons. Thinking about it the premise is vaguely similar to Fullmetal Alchemist but that show does it ..read more

A MASTERPIECE!!! 00:00 Intro 00:45 AKB0048 14:27 AKB0048 Next Stage 22:13 Outro Music Credits “Clover 3” by Vibe Mountain “Seasons” by roljui ..read more

Big Bang Bravern!!! Ok so I was extremely wrong about this show from the first episode. And understandably so! I tuned out before Bravern even showed up. But after that it ruled. Bravern’s character is just so funny, and seeing all the other characters react to him as well. I also liked Isami’s character— he is absolutely the last person who should be a hero and it’s hilarious. Lulu annoyed me but grew on me towards the end. I love how this show constantly subverted all my expectations. After the first episode it was a great ride. Storytelling – B+ – Good sense of humor. Voice – A – No ..read more

The elite love to abuse their children and teach them to be dicks. This show is so pretentious and I love it. Possibly the dumbest school setup in anime, which actively tries to destroy its students in the guise of educating them. People go to the hospital for the sake of their grades in this anime. It is so dumb and I am here for it. Pretty much all the characters, with the lead in particular, are absolute trash human beings incapable of forming a human friendship. I love it. My interest level did vary over the course of the show, with the first season being decent, the second pretty weak ..read more

Yet another isekai. But hear me out, this one rules. It’s a different premise with the whole healing magic gimmick, where the main character is overpowered but in such a way that no one wants to trade places with him. The show has a great sense of humor, from the central premise with the healing magic boot camp to the smallest detail. For example, the hero being afraid of the princess, the heroine being a giant isekai nerd, the way the final boss of the season was defeated, etc. My only complaint is that it ended on a high point when it was starting to get even better. They’re clearly set up ..read more

Mecha!!!! Objectively, maybe it wasn’t great. But it sure ticked all the nostalgia boxes for me. Robots! Singing! Betrayals! Lots of random goofiness! A convoluted love triangle! Some very confusing plot about saving the world from some weirdo’s stupid plan! This is everything I expected from a mecha show 15 years ago. It was great back then and honestly it’s still pretty great now. My main criticism would be that the characters weren’t very compelling, especially compared to something like Macross Frontier. Which in turn made the rest of the show much less gripping. I have to give it credit ..read more

Our main character moves to Hokkaido and finds out. I’m not sure why this show got so much hype in the circles I run in. I’ve certainly seen worse, but it was ultimately pretty forgettable. I did appreciate how the setting was slightly different (in Hokkaido) with a different type of female lead, but aside from that it was a thin veneer over the harem anime of the past. A few other things also make it better than these used to be: the main character has a clear preference for one of the girls, and the main character is close to the typical bland protagonist but has a few remaining vestiges of ..read more