IMHO. "Odayaka kizoku" ~ a gentleman's...

What do you do when you realised you've been swept to another world you don't really know? 

You start patting everyone's head of course, touch their cheeks, call them good boys and sleep together holding hands. Not all the time, no. 

But frequently. 

Because it's a gentleman's vacation. A very gentle gentleman. 

Just pure male friendship between brave adventurers. 

If you manage to get past these cringy moments of touchy-feely friendship, you'll get a poorly designed fantasy adventure with a few dungeons and dragons, which could be developed into something interesting if its potential weren't wasted on the sugary sweet and pretty meaningless interactions between the male characters, all of them being just by coincidence young cutesie-wootsie faces.

If you enjoy pretty guys dining, travelling and filling documents together, this is for you. I'm afraid, I don't. 

Give me back my time, please.

P. S. 

The voice actors in this show have pretty good pronounciation, so using this series for listening comprehension might be a good idea if not for the fact that the characters switch between formal and informal speech very often. This inconsistency may bring more confusion than profit, so 'Odayaka' is probably not the best source for learning the language, unless you're already familiar with levels of politeness in Japanese. 

IMHO. Last Exile attempt #3, and Last Exile Fam attempt #1

I've been doing it the wrong way all the time! Epic dramas actually are a source of great fun! 

Frodo leaves his homeland because he's emotionally scarred? Lol! 

Paul Atreides declares he will marry another woman in front of his beloved? Rofl! 

Light learns the real name of L and writes it in the Death note? Funniest moment in the series!

Right, reddit commenters? 

Is it so funny in fact? Or is it that kind of nervious laugh people have when they don't know how to react? 

I was actually wary of watching 'Last Exile' for the 3rd time, but I shouldn't have been. It's no less breathtaking, no less impressive. It has the same depth and scale. Not for a moment was I bored or my attention scattered. Not a single voice actor or soundtrack was out of place. 

Of course, it has its own limitations, especially the last episode, and especially its epilogue, which could become an episode of its own, but works like this - and my keyboard prompt replaces 'works' for 'worlds' - yes, worlds like this are so rare and precious. No recent 'isekai' can offer this. 

And somehow, the more complex and grand-scale the anime is, the more it gets criticised and picked at, even more than questionable titles that obviously have at least 1 dimension less. 

People said the 2nd season isn't as good as the 1st. I was afraid it's not, because people said it's not.

Turns out I was afraid of something different - of seeing life go on after the events of the 1st season.

It was hard to admit it was not the end of the world, but the end of that particularly story.

And when I finally conquered that fear... The first one came to be true. 

Of course, after achieving freedom through all that pain and sacrifice, people from the Last Exile world deserved their right to have fun. It just looks like they're trying to have fun too hard. Like the authors said 'let them go all out now'. 

Tatiana, who refused to become vice-captain of Silvana, suddenly is seen enjoying her own ship. Sophia, always neat and composed, dons a flashy pirate attire. Dio reverts to his childish self and behaves even more childish than before. Instead of Claus and Lavie, who were forced to grow up too soon, we see girls of the same age who aren't even going to grow up despite all the atrocities in front of their eyes. More than that - they casually save the world while enjoying their youth.

Wars look like it's a board game. Warships look like they are from a mobile strategy. 

Is it possible in an anime? Most certainly.

Is it possible in the world of Last Exile? I doubt it.

Instead of Okino lazily humming his 'Cloud age symphony' we have to listen to Maaya Sakamoto trying to make a hit out of her generic j-pop cute song.

The second season was trying too hard. But it's too down to earth both literally and figuratively. 

And I want something different. "If you're going to fly in the sky, I want to be the wings". 

IMHO. 'Frieren'

What happens after the journey ends?

Nothing.

That's why all adventure stories are about journeys, not about ever after. Even if some ever after is described, it's usually only to accentuate the main plot. 

So basically you need to create another journey so that the viewers have... something to view.

And here we have the result - trying to sit on two stools and falling somewhere in the middle. Neither of these two timelines is developed enough to create a fully immersive story. 

The flashbacks to the past journey are so short and out of context that they create little to no atmosphere. Well, if one side of the story is short, the other must be long, right? Nope. The current journey is an RPG-turned-anime involving your usual fighting monsters and/or rivals, with some slice-of-life in-between, but all of this is depicted so poorly I could memorize neither the characters nor the places, despite obvious attempts to create personal or regional differences. Most of the towns and villages leave no impression, and aloof fighters whose only reaction to events is 

don't really add any charm to the story. I didn't recognize a single voice actor apart from Taniyama, nor could I, because they're all new and flat to me. 

The idea of aristocratic villains sipping red wine, or senior mages sipping tea, was probably impressive some decades ago. Special thanks to those who created monsters who can speak and have the concept for victory through deception, but can't understand the word "family". And wear cravat. As if. 

As for jokes about 

and typically Japanese elements in a fantasy world 

I'm amazed how lazy the authors were if they couldn't think of anything else to bring fun into this otherwise gloomy story. 

The animators were clearly trying to keep us busy with finding tiny details in some frames, but it's not like I felt much gratification after doing so. It's not a game of "finding all the cats". 

Pair all this with an entirely forgettable soundtrack and theme songs I couldn't distinguish for the life of me, and you get "Frieren".

Maybe next time if you want to make a game, make a game. Don't make it into an anime, Madhouse. 

IMHO. "The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt" or "Tensai ouji"

Every country has a history of brave victories. Be it over a foreign enemy or just a clan or faction inside itself, like it was in Japan.

However, while other countries could boast such noble pretenses as freeing suffering nations, spreding true faiths or helping fellow neighbors, Japanese history books mostly tell how feudal lords scrambled for each other's lands. That's why I can't shake off the feeling that the interest for politics, war strategy and tactics in Japan is just something entirely different. Every second light novel writer in Japan imagines himself to be a talented analytic and creates his own world with his own map and his own Warring States.

The problem is, despite all the European trinkets, names and titles, they still create just another version of Japan and don't even bother to make it believable. 

That's why a woman can attend military academy or become an ambassador, but complains how she can't persuade her brothers to listen to her because she is a woman.

That's why noble ladies wear crop-tops or Japanese school uniforms while princes wear pink jackets. 

That's why, when nobody sees them, they comment on everything in slang that modern school students would use. 

I'm afraid it was supposed to be funny. 

However, you see... That don't impress me much. 

P. S. 

Learning perspective - low

This series is also heavily packed with difficult terminology (which would be written in complex kanji compounds), so I highly recommend to skip this anime as a possible source for studying Japanese, unless your goal is to specifically train in political and warfare vocab. 

'Star Driver' ~ Galactic Pretty Boy

We've already established that the Earth is best saved by Japanese schoolchildren, even if, or rather, especially if they need to pilot gigantic robots brought to Earth by another civilisation and equipped with weapons of mass destruction.

It's also clear that galactic problems are nothing in comparison with the problems people experience in their youth, such as love, friendship, school club activities, applying sunscreen on gilrs' backs...

Actually, the more girls - the better. Let's have more of them introduced in the middle of the story even if nobody saw it coming.

If singing voice actors are engaged, much attention is paid to theme songs, with the characters singing everywhere possible, including not only karaoke, but also beaches, school corridors, bus tops, and who cares where else. My personal suggenstion would be, however, not to make 3 out of 4 important songs just happy cute pop hits, so that you don't have to use the remaining one as your only option to add drama when necessary. My personal wish - start searching for decent opening and ending songs, or the art of anime music will be lost.

The final battle will easily fit one episode, with the decisive fight taking no more than 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the remaining budget. Why not turn on theme songs here again.

And at least one furry animal to accompany the story, remember.

There is something new established by 'Star Driver', though. Seems like you can be a Galactic Pretty Boy even if you're a girl. We live in the modern age, no discrimination, okay?

At least they didn't forget about the humour, that I do admit.

associations. cosmos...

After all, synesthesia may be not that strange and rare. I mean, space-themed things are so frequently accompanied by something like this

or this

or...

'Saiunkoku monogatari' ~ The story of the Kingdom of colourful clouds

The advantage of long stories is that all characters have enough screen time to develop and show what kind of individuals they are. The problem is that not only the viewers, but the creators themselves become bored and start thinking up one plot twist after another for the sheer sake of twisting the plot.

Still, 'Saiunkoku' is a refreshing example of shoujo genre, because the main female character, despite a huge reverse harem around her, behaves like a normal woman, trying to pursue her career and still unsure about her feelings. Because the characters around her are not the standard set of handsome love-interests, but are just as colourful as the clouds that the country is named for. Because their feelings and relationships are as colourful too.

Because the creators were not afraid to make fun of what could be otherwise awkward.

Because the emperor of the country is comforted by little pandas in the woods when he is feeling down. Because a nobleman makes a flute out of a radish.

Because a loyal friend protects the heroine with bamboo shoots.

This anime may be far from ideal. After all, I spent 2 months watching it, too long for less than 80 episodes, which means I didn't feel like I couldn't wait to watch further.

Still, I'd recommend it to absolutely everyone, because I know I already miss them - the people of the Kingdom of colourful clouds.

IMHO. 'The woman named Fujiko Mine' ~ a woman named Fujiko Mine

What if we take one the most shameless, brazen, dangerous female criminals in anime history and make her unexpectedly broken, lost, lonely and fragile?

What if we make the main characters of  'Lupin III' second to her?

What if we add another character to futher deepen the dramatic side of our series?

What if we introduce one plot twist after another so that our viewers keep getting surprised?

A decadent 'Lupin the Third'. Overboard decadent.

If we do so, we get a show that leaves us with one quesiton: what does Lupin have to do with all of it?

Actually, it looks like he knows just how out of place 'Lupin' as a franchise is in this twist. And no brilliant voice actor can chage this fact.

Like a jedi coming to help Frodo. Like Chaplin singing Chinese opera.

I mean, half the time it's Fujiko being...

And half the time it's all right. Fujiko being Fujiko. And Lupin being Lupin. And everyone else being just themselves.

Wait, she's actually not broken? She claims to always have been herself?

Well, if it were so, we wouldn't have this series.

You can stitch up black and white together. But not if you keep placing them perpendicularly to each other.

IMHO. 'Space Dandy' ~ see you space dandy

If I said that 'Space Dandy' is something from outer space, would it sound like a very cheap pun?

If I didn't, would I ever do it justice?

If the villain's ship did not look the way it does, would 'Space Dandy' be better?

Or would it be better if there weren't those episodes dealing with life and death, 2- and 4-dimensional universes, space and time, love and dreams, other planets and other possibilities?

If you were offered to become a god with no body, live forever and observe the universe, would you agree?

If you met Shinichiro Watanabe in person, would you tell him he needs to stop making these anime series with open endings?

IMHO. 'Kiznaiver' ~ Mazda for Matsuda...

The mission of saving the world is limited to middle or high school students in Japan. After all, it's only during this short period of life that teenagers are allowed to have their 'inner darkness', fall in and out of love for the first time, and behave in a way they want. After that, they're supposed to choose their future profession, enter a university, find a job and become a 'shakaijin' - a 'full-fledged member of society'.
Since it's a given, I wouldn't dream of blaming Japanese anime directors for creating one more anime about schoolchildren. I wouldn't complain that exploring the topic of pain, sharing one's emotions and interdependence could as well involve young people or grown-ups, not students.
However, I have to complain about the way it's done.
A bunch of students are kidnapped, used in a medical experiment without their consent, and ordered what to do by a kuudere gothic loli. They just go along with it, of course, demanding little explanation, because, well, how else do you make a story. The bunch consists of such generic characters and every new development is so predictable that I'm not sure if there isn't a manual called 'how to create a dramatic story about youth' circulating between anime studios in Japan. The characters conveniently wait for a new event to get angry or dissatisfied, and change their mind about things very quickly, because you know, they only have 12 episodes to show it. It's no less surprising how conveniently new aspects of this 'kizuna' interdependence are revealed, one at a time: pain - when it's necessary to explain the concept, frustration - when it's necessary to introduce more drama, mind reading - only when the characters started to get close, to make them realise it's not possible for them to become close. The pain from Hisomu, the secret 7th member, was only relayed to the rest when it was time to find him. No earlier than that. Sad things only happen under the rain and the umbrella is bound to be red. Ts-ts-ts.

Yeah, this is one wonderful 'sharing of pain' concept. All the connected guys felt it when Niko was lightly punching Katsuhira in the head. Still, they commented 'it does not hurt!' when Chidori and Katsuhira fell down from a height of several meters, without any time to brace themselves, on a jumping sheet. Which is of course an absolutely safe and pleasant thing to do.
If this were the only case when the concept of pain was misinterpreted by the creators, I'd understand, but it's impressive how much they managed to ignore the vast range of consequences of taking pain as the subject of research.
Is a good song used for the opening a guarantee that the anime will be good? Seems like not. At least not when the ending theme is less than impressive.
Actually, you know... I'm sorry BOOM BOOM SATELLITES' last song, and a rather listenable soundtrack, too, were wasted on this mediocrity.

Even the attempt to introduce some madness was wasted.

IMHO. Eureka 7 ~ how one realises their age

If only I were 10 years younger... I'd probably say 'Eureka' is the best anime in the world. This colourful futuristic world with different laws of physics, global catastrophe caused by an evil genius approaching, rainbow-like explosion that marks the renewal of the world, important moments emphasised with emotional music, but the best part being the charismatic characters of course... But in fact, nothing new and nothing I've never seen somewhere else.

Flow's usual 'heeeey here we go!!!' kind of opening song, optimistic rap or rock'n'roll, girls and boys whining to a guitar for opening and ending themes... Soundtrack that combines electronic and symphonic pieces... One impressive insert theme turns out to be a famous song I already know, and the other - the only listenable piece in the discography of a since disbanded group.

Young boys who find love and become brave to save the world by sheer willpower. Mysterious girls who will only smile to them. Adults who entrust these hero-boys with the fate of the world and are ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the young generation...

These things could only impress me 10 years ago when I knew much less of what anime can be like.

I mean, when you watch mecha, you don't ask why streets in all cities and even natural caves are wide enough for the giant robots to pass. You also never ask why there's a Japanese-style common bath in an aerial battleship. But you probably retain the right to ask why every new development looks like a convenient way out rather than a natural conclusion. And even all these wonderful colourful things can't hide just how much the creators were swaying between different versions of the ending, thrusting in one major event after another just because they'd changed their mind. In the end, they didn't even have enough screen time to show the future lives of the characters who were in fact the main attraction of the show. I'm sure many fans wanted to see what became of their favourite characters, not just the main couple, but what a disappointment for them.

If I were 10 years younger, I'd probably overlook all these things and give 'Eureka' 10 out of 10 in my exaltation, but 'Eureka' will have to be content with my less rapturous rating of 7. And the biggest part of it is because of these characters, and of course, their brilliant voice actors.

IMHO. 'Michiko to Hatchin' ~ as if you read a good book

'There's not enough jazz anime in this world', said Shinichiro Watanabe one day and decided to make 'Michiko to Hatchin'. 'There's not enough stories about people struggling to survive in a harsh environment', added Shukou Murase. And yes, they invited Sayo Yamamoto, but I guess I know who's the boss here. I don't think you'd ever mistake an anime created by Watanabe with anything else:

or forget about Murase - look at a bookshelf from a library in 'Michiko and Hatchin':

Well, this unlikely-characters-travelling-together trope, this pursuing-a-goal-and-finding-that-the-journey-was-more-important idea, this jazz and r'n'b soundtrack are nothing new. Even inviting cinema actors instead of professional voice actors is a trick we've seen already. But when all of that is so brilliantly done, and, moreover, done in such a way that I can clearly see just how well the creators understand what they're trying to depict... I can't but admit: my hat's off.

To be honest, 'Michiko to Hatchin' is not the case when you sympathise very much with the characters or make favourites. But it's surely the case when you understand them. And it's absolutely the case when you can say, after you finish, that you gained something by watching, just like reading a good book.

IMHO. 'Black cat' ~ for all my hopes...

Take all Gonzo of 00s. Calculate the arithmetical mean. And then divide it by two.

Because 'Black cat' is twice as bad as I could expect.

A very mysterious MC works for a mysterious organisation that protects world peace by fighting other mysterious organisations. Then he meets a mysterious girl who changes his view of the world, a mysterious carefree man, another mysterious girl with superpowers, and of course, he has a mysterious colleague who eventually sets to found another mysterious organisation. Which is revealed to be a part of another mysterious plot. And by the way, other mysterious characters constantly flock to the scene.

This could be rather nice if the production didn't seem to be divided between different managers. One managed the mysterious part, but didn't have enough resources. Another managed the funny part and failed splendidly, because the MC starting to joke around and behave like a fool after losing an important person in a battle - no, it's not funny.

There was a good designer, though, who introduced a revolutionary idea of interchanging pictures of the fierce battle and its static outcome, jumping between the current moment and several minutes ahead. But this was the only idea he managed to introduce, it seems, as it was used several times in the show, and spoiler: it does not look very new and entertaining when it's used for the 3rd time.

Why were these famous voice actors working so hard, I wonder?

I mean, it's the kind of anime series that makes me feel that secondhand embarrassment. If anyone new to anime saw this show and started thinking anime is all trash, I wouldn't even blame him.

IMHO. 'Samurai Flamenco' ~ samumenco

It's just that simple. If you're making fun of a certain genre, you have to make it... fun. If you're trying to introduce a dramatic element, there should be some drama in the story, in characters. If you use every possible cliche to show how lame it looks, make it really absurd. If you're showing how fanservice leads to unnatural developments, make it superfluous. 

Japanese word of the day: 中途半端

'chuutohanpa' - half-hearted.

Don't you hesitate when you make a parody.

Otherwise the result will look just like Gotou's eyes in this scene.

IMHO. 'Sakamichi no Apollon' ~ moanin'

I hate coming-of-age stories with their first-love-first-heartbreak developments, their quarrel-and-make-up friendships that only last throughout the high school because, supposedly, adolescence is such a special kind of time in life.

Not only is 'Apollon' that kind of story, but it is also so generic in many aspects that you could make a whole list of cliches used in this anime without a smallest attempt at originality. This slope leading to the school that represents life... This jazz that represents freedom and happiness... This 'unbelievable' combi of a smarty pants and a musclehead...

And I can totally understand why viewers would hate the smarty pants who can't cope with his own emotions, why to many the heroine looks like nothing more than an object of rivalry without her own personality, why people would say Kanno's jazz in 'Apollon' is not the jazz they expected after 'Bebop'.

Many people would dislike this anime and give it a low rating. And if I try to be objective, they would be right in doing so.

Lucky them.

They probably never felt like lonely loosers, like Kaoru. Never had to betray their family's expectations like Yurika. Never felt their lives crashing down when their friends grow apart, like Ritsuko.

And they never went through that acute pain of realising just how much their life lacks a friend like Sen. Or maybe, they just don't make a big deal of these things.

Looks like I do.

 

 

IMHO. 'Baccano' ~ Certainly guns, but not roses

I'm pretty sure that many people give violent shows high ratings because of a subconscious feeling that violent = mature. I'm also pretty sure that many anime producers think that the greater the contrast between different aspects of anime, the greater the effect. They create bouncy jazz soundtracks, invite famous seiyuus, and even draw the smallest details of the ceiling in the first class dining-car, and all that just for the sake of contrast between that and the heavy, unpleasant story.

I did make great efforts to at least understand those characters with their REASONS or DARK PAST, but those reasons and pasts were not reasonable and dark enough to convince me. Maybe because the characters spent much more time punching, biting, shooting and devouring each other, and when not - threatening to do so or discussing all of these, than actually thinking, reminiscing or dreaming. And while immortality certainly brings up questions of the meaning of life, physical and psychological pain, I don't think I gained any insights into these topics thanks to 'Baccano'.

People who don't know much about anime use duck typing. Yes, they are absolutely wrong in thinking anime multiplies violence or inspires suicidal thoughts. But if an anime constantly drowns the viewers in blood and has little food for thought, than what else can we think? It's a violent anime with little meaning.

The most disappointing thing is that 'Baccano' was just this close to be good. The characters could have been so likeable, the story could have been so interesting, if only there were enough time for the characters and the story. Yes, you probably need to avoid shoving such an amount of characters into a one-season anime and then spending half of that season on meticulous depicting cruel fighting and its results. Especially when clearly half of the characters were repeating each other.

 

IMHO. 'Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan o Erande Iraremasen' ~ The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog

Fantasy stories are stories that contain a fantastic assumption - some fable that has to be accepted as-is, while every other element in the story maybe far from fantasy. 'Dracula' assumes there are vampires. 'Star trek' assumes there are spaceships with warp function. What does 'Honzuki' assume? That a college graduate from Japan founds herself in another world confined in a body of a 5-year-old girl? Nope. The fantastic assumption of  'Honzuki' is that right after she gets up from bed, she begins her attempts to produce books. No acclimatization, no after-death shock, no troubles with establishing relations with people around her. The only problem of the new world is the absence of books.

'Another world', an 'isekai', should be either extremely fascinating, impressing enough to make the viewers forget all their possible questions, or stop pretending to be serious. It's all very nice that Main makes commercial deals, but while everyone around calls her a weirdo who behaves as if she's much older, in fact the problem lies not in her, but in almost all children around her, and nobody seems to notice it. I'm sure children were helping parents from a very young age in Medieval Europe, but I'm also sure they were children, and that they didn't make any philosophic conclusions like chibi characters in 'Honzuki'. At the same time, Main behaves like a real child with no trace of her former 20-something-year-old self, despite the fact she remembers how to produce things.

So I've been watching anime for something close to 20 years. And my parents have had enough chances to have a look at what I watch. And 'Honzuki', I must tell you, is one of the few anime series that my mother asked 'Is this an anime for children?' about. She also praised voice acting. And what this means is simply this: that the voice actors speak in a manner easy to comprehend, so that even my mother, a foreigner with no knowledge of Japanese, can hear where one word ends and another starts, can guess the moods of characters based on their intonation, and can understand that the speech is clear. In other words... this IS an anime for children. I mean, it's not supposed to be, but it surely looks like one.

Only after my mother said this I realised what bothers me so much in 'Honzuki'. Despite getting a rating of PG-13 for some serious topics and some violence such as killing a pig, 'Honzuki' is a children's fairy-tale-cum-textbook. It's no wonder Shou Hayami with his low voice narrates the beginning of every chapter like a local Drosselmeyer. Every character explains their actions and Main herself comments on everything she does. Older characters constantly remind her what she needs to do being a daughter / a merchant / a noble. Sit down and write down, children, this is the role model for you.

Sometimes there comes in a person into the anime studio who exclaims 'But this is a drama!'. Then the staff rush to make it dramatic. They add touching moments of Main suddenly remembering that she hails from another world... Twice in 3 years, huh?

Soon season 3 will come out and it looks like it may be far from the last. But I'm sure the ending of this story is like this: they lived happily ever after. What a pity I don't give a damn about it. I only give it the 3 out of 10 it deserves for the few funny moments there were.

Now that I think of it... I didn't even make a single screenshot of this series. I guess, this is as much as there was to capture.

IMHO. 'Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta' ~ I didn't even bother to type this myself

Why did this Japanese term, 'isekai', become so popular among overseas anime fans? I mean they could keep calling the genre simply 'another world'. The genre itself is nothing new, but you wouldn't see many heated discussions mentioning 'isekai' anime series in 90s or 00s. There should be some difference between an anime about 'another world' and an 'isekai'. And unfortunately, the difference is that the new 'worlds' are just plain generic.

However, the most ridiculous thing happens when such an 'isekai' pretends to be serious while having no substance to support the claim. 

Now, 'Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta' has all the qualities necessary for us to call it a generic isekai-plus-reverse-harem. Some dozen words in its title. Your usual positive tree-climbing girl who is kind to everyone for the MC. She gathers a harem of admirers around her. All negative events are cleared by her good will. All of this happens in a pseudo-European pseudo-Renaissance/Victorian setting with rose gardens, long skirts and jewellery, white horses topped by princes, like wedding-cakes, and some magic.

So I was positively determined to give this series its well-earned 3 out of 10, pressed 'play', and for some reason... couldn't hate it.

The advantage of 'Hamefura', the unavoidable contraction of the monstrous title, is the fact that it's a parody on itself.

Yes, the heroine has some of the typical qualities of a harem queen, but in everything else - she's not. Not a 'I'm-clumsy-but-I-know-you-love-me-for-this'. And not a trembling leaf at a sight of another bishounen dead ahead. Not a girl who must prove she can while she can't. Not a girl who can't and doesn't.

Yes there's a harem, but it's not entirely a reverse harem, but, surprisingly, a mixed one? Yes, it's a different world, but the heroine gets a good chance to say goodbye to the real one, that scene making me almost cry. Yes, there are bishounens representing the common types of otome-games characters, but... they don't act the parts. In fact, their would-be selves are constantly made fun of, because none of them becomes the generic character he or she was supposed to be. Maria, the original heroine, who was not supposed to have any personality, because visual novels mostly feature faceless characters easy for the player to associate with, Sophia and Mary, some secondary friend-characters, all acquire a real story and a past. The bishounens only turn on their otome-game-capturable-character-mode when Katarina or other characters imagine what could be, but they never speak in the same manner in 'real' life.

And the backgrounds are not digital models but beautiful, almost like traditional Japanese paintings you wouldn't expect to see in a isekai reverse harem.

But the biggest achievement of 'Hamefura' is that they actually did draw a piano performer's hands the way they move in real life.

Yes, it's nothing of a masterpiece, it's just a funny story with bright colours, which in 2021 is almost an achievement.

IMHO. 'Ergo proxy' ~ We know too little. And therefore must think.

This long forgotten feeling of 'I don't know what's going on because I don't know where this is going on and I don't know what had been going on before this started to go on'. I had to stop myself from reading spoilers, but I ended up reading them just to realise that knowing them doesn't make it any easier.

This feeling when words aren't necessary. There is so much I could discuss... I could say how stunning the art is, or that the story is obviously done by people who have something to say, or that Kouji Yusa can be an outstanding voice actor between involvements in 150% commercial otome-audio-drama production. But I don't have to defend 'Ergo proxy'. I'd offend it by offering my advocacy. It's already beautiful.

Anime is not a genre. It's not cheap Chinese cartoons. Or Japanese animated porn. It's not child's play. Nor is it the biggest miracle of this world. It's just a way to create.

It's only up to the production committee whether an anime becomes one more money-maker filled with fan-service to the brim, or one more attempt to understand what human is, tackling the problem from all possible angles.

So I was desperately trying to understand what was going on in the world of 'Ergo proxy', but in fact... It wasn't that understanding which made me a richer person today. Even after understanding all the details, I may have come back to square one. But this journey was necessary.

 

 

IMHO. 'Burn the witch' ~ because she's uncapable

Oh my god, someone teach these people that an anime of this scale shouldn't be cut, shouldn't be reduced to one hour. Teach these people to plan it thoroughly. And please, teach these seiyuus to be proper seiyuus and not contestants in the dullest speech contest in Japan! Yes, you, Asami Tano, and you, Yuina Yamada, and Chikahiro Kobayashi, and Shinba Tsuchiya, and even you, Saori Hayami, who obviously started exploiting her image of a soft-spoken shy girl and stopped putting any efforts in her work. The only honey for my ears was the old-school Mugihito.

Because 'Burn the witch' as it is now, is just a perfect example of how a nice idea was wasted on a forgettable project.