Jeoffrey

A cute, fun, and light-hearted romcom with a nice, brisk pace that manages to deliver a complete story in just twelve episodes. If I had one small gripe, it would be with the animation. It’s not terrible, but it feels a bit basic—maybe that's just the style of the original work, but the animation doesn’t quite elevate the key moments as much as it could. Some more expressive facial animations here and there would have made the whole "pseudo-harem" dynamic land even better. That said, the animation never outright detracted from my enjoyment. The music, on the other hand, was solid. It fit the romcom vibe perfectly—sometimes emotional, always pleasant. Story-wise, I was really satisfied. The pacing was spot-on, and I enjoyed seeing the full evolution of the central duo's relationship. Their playful back-and-forth was a lot of fun, with Eiji sometimes taking the lead and other times letting Rin shine. By the end, I was fully convinced their relationship would continue to be just as lively and interesting, and I found myself rooting for them more with each episode. Initially, Eiji felt a bit underwhelming to me, almost like he was playing second fiddle and letting Rin do all the work. But as the series progressed, he became more entertaining, and the show became more enjoyable because of it. Rin, on the other hand, was fantastic from the start. I'll admit, the whole "pseudo-harem" setup with someone as charming as Rin would be a dream for a lot of viewers. Throw in some cosplay, and you'd never get bored—every day would feel like the start of a new story. Big shout-out to Saori Hayami for her voice acting as well, and I can’t help but love the "cool-chan" vibes that totally reminded me of Yor from Spy x Family. All in all, Giji Harem is a solid, breezy romcom that I'd recommend to fans of fun, straightforward, and well-paced romances. 8/10.

For an anime about an OP hero with one seemingly underwhelming ability, which he’s mastered to absurd levels—basically a premise we've seen a million times—this actually wasn’t bad at all. First off, I gotta say: anyone who tries to claim that "parry" is a weak ability clearly hasn’t spent enough time playing Dark Souls. Anyone who's tried parrying there knows it’s an insanely powerful skill if you know how to use it. So, from the get-go, the whole “parry is useless” concept loses some credibility for me. That aside, there are the usual complaints: clichés and a few repeated jokes, like the hero being oblivious to how talented he actually is. It’s funny at first, but after a while, it makes Noor seem a bit clueless. Which is a shame, because Noor is what really carried this series for me. He’s the definition of a likable guy—hardworking, humble, unbreakable, and totally down to do the dirtiest jobs. I mean, cleaning sewage in a medieval town? That takes guts. He’s a grown man, not another overpowered teenager, and his well-earned muscles make him look cool wielding a sword almost as big as he is. I appreciate that we’re getting more protagonists like him this season; he's way more relatable than yet another Kirito clone. Unfortunately, the supporting cast didn’t stand out as much. In fact, I found myself liking most of Noor’s mentors more than his female companions. The story itself was pretty standard—your classic "zero to hero" journey—but with the added twist that he had to “parry” something in every episode. I do have to give props to the creators for sticking to the title; the challenges Noor faced were often surprising and sometimes genuinely funny, even if his cluelessness occasionally got frustrating (but I've already covered that). All in all, it’s a charming, straightforward fantasy series—something you can easily binge and enjoy without overthinking. I wouldn’t mind watching more episodes, and I even debated giving it a fourth star. In the end, though, I parried that idea, just like Noor would, and landed on a strong 3. 6.4/10.

The Ministry of Health warns: Deer may cause brain cell loss! Wait, what? Deer! Why? Because DEER! Don't try to make sense of it, you won't win. You'll just end up thinking that Nokotan was probably born one day when a manga artist, under the pen name Oshioshio, went for a walk in the woods, locked eyes with a majestic deer, and thought, "If you were a cute girl, we'd be having a lot more fun!" And so, Nokotan was born, a manga whose entire joke hinges on that one magical word—Deer! Meanwhile, WiT Studio seemed to be going through an identity crisis. Maybe they were tired of hearing that all their recent works—Owari no Seraph, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, The Empire of Corpses—were just Attack on Titan knockoffs. So, they ditched the Titans and brought in some new directors, including the legendary troll Masahiko Ohta, the man behind Yuru Yuri and the unforgettable Umaru-chan. With a fresh approach, WiT was expanding its horizons, dabbling in more genres. Even Ohta got involved, directing Onipan!, which built its own loyal fanbase. It was time for their next quirky project, and with Deadpool still trending, they decided to go all in on breaking the fourth wall with something creative, unexpected, and... well, absurd. Enter: Nokotan. Legend has it that one day Yasuhiro Misawa got a commission to create the opening theme for an anime, with just one condition: the song had to include the series' name, "Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan." What the anime was about or how the song should sound? Nobody told him. So, while working on it, he repeated the tongue-twisting title in his head until he realized—hey, that could be a catchy chorus! And well, we all know what happened next. The creators decided to release that chorus to the world, and overnight it became a total meme. Word about the show spread like wildfire, and when the first trailer dropped, it was clear this was going to be completely ridiculous but potentially hilarious. Fans, including myself, started hoping for a new king of absurd comedy, maybe something that could stand alongside Nichijou and Azumanga Daioh. The hype was real. The full opening turned out to be addictive—millions of views later, it's still stuck in my head. Hours before the first episode aired (and even now, after the finale), people were playing the same chorus on a loop. So, did Nokotan manage to take the anime throne? Did it revolutionize modern anime? Sadly, I have to say... no, it didn’t. It quickly became clear that the whole series was built on one joke (deer) and endless variations of it. Fourth-wall breaking can be brilliant when done right, with a clever meta context, but you can’t just spam it and expect magic. I also realized I'm getting kind of tired of the constant self-aware shtick in so many shows. The jokes about Nokotan’s antlers were amusing at first, but after a while, they barely got more than a chuckle out of me. Even the deer cracker ads started to wear thin. The humor only really landed about half the time, and unfortunately, most of the best jokes were already spoiled in the trailers. The pop culture references were cute, but I would've liked to see more of them. The characters were likable enough—Nokotan was undeniably adorable, and I can see how caring for her would be fun—but she didn’t quite pull me into the "deer cult" (I’m sticking with Mitama). The other characters were fine too, though aside from Torako, they didn’t do much to stand out. What really hurt the show, though, was the botched English subtitles on Crunchyroll’s release of the first episode, which were probably AI-generated and made a rough first impression. Overall, my expectations weren’t fully met. I was hoping for something even more chaotic and high-energy. That said, don’t get me wrong—I don’t think My Deer Friend Nokotan is a bad anime at all. It kept me entertained, made me laugh a few times, and the animation by WiT Studio was solid. But given all the hype and what I thought this series could be, I’m left a bit disappointed. The humor, which was supposed to be the main draw, was often just... average. Nothing groundbreaking here—this deer-centric series is worth about seven out of ten deer (6.8/10). And I’ll end with this: you can’t stop the deer march!