Jeoffrey

I feel as if someone had put ordinary dry bread covered in ketchup in my hands and claimed it was a new and original recipe. What do I mean? Well, I guess that for an original Japanese anime television series, the basic story and plotline development is very run-of-the-mill, predictable, and clichéd. I felt like I had already seen a lot of such anime series before, and nothing (especially the ending) surprised me at all. It had some energy, though, and I enjoyed the passion that the narrative and its characters (logically, except for the main male protagonist) exuded. It was probably the main reason I gave this mecha anime series a chance, even though I am not usually into this genre. Even the setting seemed promising to me. It is just that when the foundation is dry bread, even ketchup cannot possibly make it delicious. 4.8/10.

I enjoyed Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon - The Second Act more than the first season. After all, the show’s narrative followed the story more strictly. There were some touching reunions that I was subconsciously looking forward to from the beginning. In the end, everything came to a pleasant and almost too much of a fairy-tale-like conclusion. Although there is still room for a follow-up, I do not know if I want one. In the beginning, I did not even know if I cared about this whole spin-off thing, even though, in the end, I enjoyed it. As with the first season, the soundtrack still works great, as do the member berries and most new characters (I even managed to get on with Towa in the end). The concluding story was not half as dramatic as I expected. It had its strong and weak moments, although overall, it was engaging and sometimes entertaining. The villains were not just evil either, they were rather misunderstood, or perhaps they could not express themselves. The season finished at a somewhat suspenseful but otherwise quite enjoyable pace. The second season, therefore, gets 7/10.

I probably enjoyed the spin-off Cells at Work! Code Black a bit more than the second season of the original Cells at Work! anime series, and not just because it is longer, darker in tone, and more suspenseful. Everything in the show means a lot more to me rather than, say, the way a healthy body works, because as I have gotten older I have also struggled with some of the issues highlighted in the show (stress, alcohol, smoking...) to some extent and so on. Truth be told, it is quite an intense show and I think that if I had weak nerves or a stronger will, then thanks to this anime series, I would perhaps be able to quit some of my bad habits (or at least I could try to for a few months). Unfortunately, however, that is probably not going to happen. I like that there is a real point to this show, because if it helps anyone quit habits harmful to their health, then it has served its purpose. I can fully empathize here because this time we know some specifics about this concrete human body (for example, you can determine that it is a middle-aged man or even older - so same as me). I also liked the idea of the cells' daily struggle to live in an inhospitable environment, especially finding their motivation to continue their work. I also really liked the idea that it almost suggested that death is the moment when your own body and its cells just give up on you. Equally, I appreciated and reflected on the fact that a near-death experience usually leads to a drastic change in lifestyle, that there can be a real effort to change, and it can be a long-term thing for most people (again, it seems to be about willpower). The show also present the fact that when something is wrong with you, your health problems suddenly start to pile up pretty quickly. The way the necessary interventions (medical interventions) were depicted was also quite interesting. I liked the characters and the soundtrack was fine, even if the animation was a bit lacking (not just compared to the original Cells at Work!). Anyway, I found that this show was valuable and informative, which I appreciate, and I am giving this a thumbs up, because now I am aware that Joffrey could easily end up like this one day too... 8.2/10.

First of all, I am slightly disappointed that the second season of Cells at Work! is so short. Eight episodes is really not that much, especially when half of it is actually just the Cells at Work!! The Movie (that have already been aired) split into four episodes . However, I think you have to appreciate that there was not much source material left for a second season (as actually, only the sixth volume of the original manga series remains unadapted). Plus, it is forgivable considering the new episodes are still more or less as good as in the previous season. Again, some interesting new facts emerged, and I enjoyed watching the engaging depictions of some of the processes in the human body that I was somehow already familiar with. In addition, they also tell you things you can know from even a simple Actimel commercial (did you know that there are billions of friendly bacteria living in our bodies that have a beneficial effect on your digestion? I did!). It was also quite tempting to compare all of this to the spin-off series Cells at Work! Code Black, because both series sometimes had episodes that featured the same part of the human body that were aired in the exact same week. Of course, the atmosphere of this show was still quite light (again, especially compared to Cells at Work! Code Black), which was only disturbed by the great comeback of a familiar enemy. This great enemy does not seem like such a terrifying threat which would make me throw my pack of cigarettes in the trash and never go back to them, and still somehow strikes me as more like a misunderstood cell that I almost sometimes sympathize with... Anyway, I quite enjoyed these few new episodes, I perhaps even learned something, and I even smiled occasionally - so, I am now satisfied. 7.8/10.

The Tale of the Heike is an extraordinary anime series that caught my attention with its aesthetic, animation style, and soundtrack. It almost gave me the impression at times that I was watching a strange combination of a television series and a theatrical performance. There is much Japanese mysticism and tradition, some interesting historical characters, and a reasonably simplistic narrative concerning the fall of a great dynasty and an epic power struggle. The epic account is all told from the perspective of a young girl. Personally speaking, I saw it as an effort to bring more people closer to the Japanese classics. Getting folk to read those books would explain why a lot of the politics and plotting is so simplistic and comes across as slightly truncated to make it easier and more accessible for the audience to follow. However, it does have its own undeniable charm, and I immensely enjoyed Aoi Yuki's performance in the lead role and admired her singing in particular. It was a unique experience - a very interesting show, even though it was probably worth only one viewing. This show hopefully educated me a little, enriched me culturally, and was certainly not boring. On the other hand, I wonder if this is an anime series I would recommend to the average anime viewer, and something tells me that a lot of the people I know would find it too weird or boring. It is simply that this show is definitely not going to be for everyone, even though I did enjoy it quite a bit. 6.9/10.

I am going to try to be brief... In this show, I particularly liked the conflict between the two interesting parties, where I could not be sure who to really be rooting for, because the anime’s creators are constantly reminding the audience that the Idaten are not human and in many situations behave very differently from a human perspective and often really inhuman like true gods, very indifferent to ordinary things. Similarly, the demons are constantly reminding us that they are demons, and even though they usually have much more interesting characters than the Idaten themselves due to their humanity (and so I found some of them, therefore, more appealing that way), we are constantly reminded that they are monsters. It is all really well produced, because here the animation studio simply did not mess around with the censorship of sensitive topics, and so things happen in the show, often (like the end of the first episode) with very original graphics or musical accompaniment, that leaves you with a sense of wonder and I really enjoyed it. I also liked the animation a lot, the fight scenes had the right dynamics, and in general, the whole thing just had a nice flow to it. What the most irritating thing for me was, on the other hand, was that the anime creators decided to put some of what I thought were important expositions into fast-forward mode, and so I, therefore, could not keep up with everything written on-screen. In fact, I then had to get up and pause watching it just because I was interested in catching up on reading all of that information! But enough already, I wanted to be brief... The Idaten Deities Know Only Peace is just an enjoyable combat anime series that kept me interested, entertained, and curious regarding a possible follow-up. 7.3/10.

I found the beginning of this anime series really interesting, similarly, watching the strange relationship going on had a little something to it at times, and I found Yoshida likable because the character made a lot of sense, and his head seemed to really be in the game. On the other hand, I was squirming uncomfortably at some other important parts. OK, so yeah it is perfectly normal to not try and have sex with an underage girl, however, I somehow could not get over the fact that it was still quite weird to just take her to one’s home to sleep over at night. I mean, if you really wanted to help her out just for a short time, I guess it could be OK, however, I sure as hell would not just let her stay for six months without immediately wanting to know exactly why she ran away from home and did what she did. Plus, if there was ever a good reason to contact social services then this would be it... Well, all right then, maybe I could try to get my head around it (I could come up with an explanation so I could accept it). However, there are more things that have a weird vibe and do not sit well with me, meaning I could not fully buy into it. What annoyed me, in general, was the behavior of most of the female characters (except maybe Asami), and the way they dealt with their problems. Again, I could list a ton of things that I found were just not believable, or that I just did not like. When some anime fans on a forum started gossiping about who Yoshida should get together with, intensely debating the pros and cons of all the female characters, I had already made my mind up that he would be best staying single. *SPOILER* Likewise, I just watched in disbelief at the very end as everything was being torn apart, and I could not even understand Yoshida anymore and wondered if it was not just another Dogeza: I Tried Asking While Kowtowing episode (because even here Dogeza, a traditional Japanese way to apologize, can resolve every problem and handles anything that seems overwhelming). *END OF SPOILER* The whole of this drama felt weird to me, I could not empathize with the situation, and I did not really find the way the characters dealt with it believable either, and it felt almost stupid at times. So, I am sitting here thinking about my final decision of what I should award this, what I actually took away from Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, and how much I enjoyed it. All I could bring myself to award this was a very unconvincing "meh". 4.7/10.

Well, I finally finished the fourth season of Hitori no šita: The Outcast. It took me so long mainly because after the first few episodes, I had to force myself to keep going because I did not enjoy the story dedicated to the main male protagonist and his group at all. Even though the last few episodes were interesting, I could not be bothered, really, as I had lost heart somewhere in the middle of the season. There were at least a few action-packed scenes that were good and affected the rating positively, although otherwise, I am awarding a mere 3/10, and I do not know if I can go on, although I hope not to lose any sleep over it.

For me personally, Horimiya is an outstanding production in every way. The way the show combines humor, romance, emotion, and psychology is extremely good, and I think it just makes for a great show. Yes, I have heard criticisms that this anime series should have had at least twice as many episodes, so the characters would have had more time to breathe, and everything would have been more fleshed out so the audience would have felt they had a deeper insight. However, I do not agree with that really! If this anime series had been longer, then I think the general brisk pace of the show would have suffered, and above all the realistic straightforwardness and compassion with which all the problems are dealt with would have taken a beating. Truth be told, that is probably what I liked best about the show really, and the idea of going deeply into every little trifling drama for God knows how many episodes (basically just a lot of unnecessary pathos), would have been really very irritating by the end! I thought that actually everything developed quite nicely and naturally, I found it all believable, and even though, in some people's opinion, there was not enough time, there was still a chance to get to know all the supporting characters well enough, and they interacted with each other in a good, reasonable and funny way. I also think the animation is good and it has an excellent soundtrack. In other words, I for one have nothing to fault, and I enjoyed it. 9/10.

This is a fairly traditional fantasy anime series, based on a Japanese RPG game, where the most that managed to surprise me was in the last few minutes of the twelfth episode. The rest is pretty generic, boring, full of clichés - in other words, I did not enjoy it very much. On the other hand, I probably enjoyed it a bit more than, say, King's Raid: Successors Of The Will which had twice as many episodes, and which I found as traditional, predictable, and uninteresting. I did not like the main duo, and only found two of the minor characters interesting (Deflotte and Adelheid). I definitely did not like the mascot and the maid. The villains were, in my opinion, very weak with uninteresting characteristics (especially the Pope) which I thought detracted a lot from the tension and atmosphere. I was more amused by the design of the last monster than I was scared or excited by the final confrontation. Thanks to the last part of the show, I did get the impression that somewhere very deep under all the generic pathos and clichés there might be something interesting. In other words, there is something more complicated going on behind the scenes. However, I did not see anything that deep throughout this anime series (if there were any hints, they were pretty damn weak) so I was both surprised and disappointed like "it finally started to get interesting, but now it is the end?!?" - So find out in the sequel or you will just have to buy the game! Err, no thanks - I was not pleased, I did not find the show entertaining, and even the decent twist at the end could not save it! 3.5/10