Thursday 29 March 2018

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

See... at least one of the shows I watched this season doesn't involve an orphan.... or at least... we don't know if his parents are alive or dead so i'm just going with not an orphan.

Death March start in the real world with a programmer working his ass off to finish a game with a team before the deadline hits. It immediately swaps to a sucked into another world story when he finds himself looking younger and in a mix of the two games he was working on.
Unlike other people he has acess to some pretty terrifying magic, this essentially maxes out all his stats and gives him seemingly limitless skill points to assign as needed.
He uses this new found god mode to be a merchant, travel around the world and make it a better place (well he kinda fall into that)
For a show about a character who is quite literally overpowered, it's pretty chill. Sometimes it's like a cooking anime, it's got it's Harem moments though the main character doesn't seem to be perusing anyone in the harem.
There are moments when there are battles but for the most part he is doing his best to hide how strong he is.

It's a cute little show that was fun to watch.... however...

So far it's only 12 episodes, there doesn't seem to be any hint when we will get more... and as a full story that as of this moment is "complete" It falls flat in every way.
We don't know why he is in the world... just that his condition for being there is different then everyone else.
we don't know why he has a HUD still, we don't know about the warnings concerning one of his party members, their main quest isn't complete and overall too much is just left unfinished.
Now it does say "this isn't the end of the story" but at the same time right now this is all there is and until we got notified of season 2 (which could happen later this year or many years from now) I cannot reccomend this show [unless you just want a chill experience that goes nowhere, then yeah enjoy]

I almost feel like the season finally should have been a few episodes back because it was the end of a large event and we actually get some closure (they even changed then ending osng which made me think maybe this was the end of the season) It would still be incomplete but it wouldn't be ending on such a dull note.

If there is more I will probably watch, it's a cute and fun little show just very disappointing about where it decided to stop for now.

Sunday 25 March 2018

School Babysitter

This is a really cute and sweet story about two orphans being taken in by a lady who owns a school.

I swear I watched more then just... stuff where the main characters parents are dead....

Anyways Ryuuichi and Kotaro have a hard time getting used to their new home when they find out that the eldest brother will be forced to help with the school daycare during his time off. His brother attends the daycare so this all kind of works.
The rest of the show focuses on the kids at the daycare and those who end up as part of the "babysitting club" but the show isn't afraid to blindside you with the fact that Ryuuichi character recently lost his parents and hasn't had time to grieve.

Overall theres no real plot other then everyone warms up to each other more over time and the kids are cute.
Still this show gives me Natsume Yuujinchou Season 1 vibes... it's good and sweet but it feels like there could easily be another 5 seasons...

Past that my only dislike about the show is the proportion of the kids... they all look like babies when most of them are toddlers and should be reaching the teanagers/adults knees not ankles. (and the one actual baby can fit in their hands it just... it's really distracting)

Will there be more? no clue. I would love for there to be more but if this is all we ever get then it was a cute little show in a season where I wasn't watching very much.
Though on that note if there was a sequel where Kotaro was older I think that could be really interesting.

For now though I enjoyed it.

Saturday 24 March 2018

The Ancient Magus' Bride

Normally by the end of a show I'm pretty sure i know how i feel about the overall.
That is probably why this show perplexes me.
24 episodes and i'm still not sure what i think... So lets break it down.

The story follows Chise Hatori, a teenage orphan who can see spirits.
Considering the parallels to my fav show Natsume yuujinchou you would think that this would automatically make me favour the show more. However...
After trying to jump off the roof of the school building she is approached by a man who owns an auction. he convinces her that instead of dying why not sell herself to someone who can make use of her gift.

She ends up being bought by a Magus who is tall like a giant and has a head made of bone and horns on either side of his head. He informs her that he wishes to teach her to be a magus as well as make her his bride.

The story then ends up being more episodic. We learn more about what Chise is and why she is considered so special and rare to those in any of the magical fields. We see her try to use her powers without destroying herself. We see her try to grow a backbone after being such a doormat for so long. Above all else we see her trying to figure out how she fits into this family dynamic.

This show, on face value has everything I love in it.
Stunning Visuals.
Interesting world building.
Amazing Music...
And yet I still find myself on the fence... and I think i can pinpoint a few reasons why.

1. I really don't think Elias and Chise have a healthy relationship. It gets better as the show goes on but it still feels like Elias is a bit too controlling.
About 3/4 of the way through the show I saw a video essay by Lindsey Ellis that mentioned there could be some similarities between the romance in this and the romance in twilight but one is universally panned and the other is ok.
For me, I had never thought about the similarities but having it pointed out that that really made things click into place for me. Both give me that same somewhat creeped out vibe cause there is such a shift in the power dynamic...
When the show is loosely based on this one relationship and you can't really bring yourself to enjoy that then it gets harder to like the show overall.
Now as I said, it gets better... Chise grows a backbone and I really started to enjoy the show but then...

2. It ends in a way where Everything is resolved.... but also nothing is resolved.
Every main plot thread in the series is tied up in what feels like breakneck speed at the end. No loose ends, everything is good... But it feels like they haven't been able to tell their story.
Now from my research the manga still seems to be ongoing so perhaps they just wanted to finish everything in a way that both allowed for another season but also didn't disappoint if that second season never happened. I just feel like you have this great setup of Chise being both powerful but fragile and it never really amounts to anything. Perhaps this is the case in the manga, i haven't read it but in the anime it mostly felt like things were happening to Chise instead of Chise driving the plot....

3. One of the plots early one deal with cats in a way that almost made me drop the show.
Much like Natsume this show can get deceptively horrific, it does not shy away from difficult subject matter but on more then one occasion I felt it pushed it too far and that makes it really hard to enjoy the show. It's not enjoyable to be thinking "what horrors are you going to blindside me with".

I don't know if there is enough story for it but I do hope that one day we get another season... currently it feels unfinished and rushed.
I want to like this show I really do, as mentioned before the possibility for a cool story is there, it just feels like they have side stepped it. The visuals are stunning and I will probably get the OST as soon as I can cause the music is great.
And I want to be clear I didn't hate the show... but I just didn't love it either.

Anyways thats really all i have to say on this show... I think I have a couple of shows ending shortly however i didn't end up watching too much this season. next season is looking packed though (hopefully this time i'll remember to post my first impressions BEFORE I talk about the show ending~)

First Impressions: Winter 2018

New year and a ton of new anime i know nothing about, Time to give my first impression on every show I can get my hands on (so pretty much anything on crunchyroll)

First things first...

Ground rules


1. I will TRY to give every show on Crunchyroll a chance but that doesn't mean I am obligated to watch a full episode. If I stop early I will give a time stamp and reason for stopping. I will not be looking at shows on Netflix or Amazon's anime Strike because the former won't simulcast and the latter Is just too much of a pain and expense to set up.

2. No shows that are under 20 minutes in length, I don't like waiting a whole week for a 3 min gag. there are some exceptions but it's rare.

3. No shows with Brother, Sister, Father or Mother in the title... too often it goes into incest... which I really do not like.

4. If the show is a second season of a show I didn't watch before I'm not going to talk about it here.

5. No card game shows, I may give them a chance but they really aren't my thing.

6. All opinions are my own and based solely on what I have seen. I tend to go into these shows completely blind. If I don't enjoy the show after 1 episode or even quit out of an episode early I'm not saying the show is bad... just that I didn't enjoy it.

Returning show

March comes in like a Lion
This show still has some of the most creative ways of showing things like depression and anxiety. I love every moment.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card
This should probably be in new shows since it's a what.... 18 year gap bewteen the end of the last seasons (ok probably closer to 15 after localization time and whatnot) 

The Ancient Magus' Bride
I'm still not 100% on board with this... there are aspects of chise and elias' relationship i just don't buy or feel off and i feel likethe show is going to address them but I'm just on edge. The show is lovely to look at and the music is good but i feel myself putting up a wall when i watch it and i don't know why.

New shows

A Place Further The the Universe
I'm cautious with any titles that have space related stuff in the title however the style of all the promo art I've seen is enough to give me the courage to give it a try. Also I think this has more to do with a ship then space so... here's hoping I'm not wrong.
This is a show about youth and pushing yourself in order to make your dream a reality. 
Mari has always been timid however one day while her mother forces her to clean up she finds an old journal with her goals for highschool written on the front page.
1. keep a journal (which is already a bust as this is literally the only page filled in and she's a second year student)
2. Skip school at least once. 
3. Go on an adventure with no plan 
4. Make the most of her youth. 
So it's decided... she's going to hope on the train in the other direction from school and have a youthful adventure until she chickens out at the last second... like she always does. 
On her way home from school another girl who shares her school uniform runs by to catch a train but drops an envelope in the process... an envelop that happens to have 1 million yen. (around 8900k USD for reference) 
Mari does eventually find the girl and returns he money and finds out why exactly she's been saving. She wants to follow her mothers footsteps and explore Antarctica.
However due to the fact that she is a highschool student everyone tells her it's imposible... in order toprove them wrong she continues to take steps towards her dream and even encourages Mari to join in... even if the natural reaction is to give up or run away cause it's scary. 
So.... if you couldn't tell by the far longer then normal description... i really liked this first episode. I worry that it may devolve into cute girls doign cute shit but I seriously doubt it will (or at least I hope it doesn't) The animation is a bit of an odd mix between high detailed BGs and rather simplistic character designs but in the end it does work.  
Hopefully this show continues to be good.


Ms Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles
It's pretty girls eating food.
And it's sexualized to hell and back...
So if that sounds fun to you then enjoy... it seems completely pointless.
In my case it just amkes me want to go back and have more ramen (the ramen i did have there was pretty damn good... granted i'm more of a fan of Ton Katsu)

Laid-Back Camp
This is a show about cute girls camping, the backgrounds are lovely and true to the places they are set in.
but it's too cutesy for me... I have no idea why it's got over 500 5 stars ratings in a little over a day.
Granted this kinda thing tends not to be something i enjoy so yeah most likely pass.

Record of Grancrest War
I assume based off the title this is loosely connected to Record of Lodoss War, a show i have never seen but have always been curious about.
Anyways if it does reference anything in the other show i have no clue about it.
I'm not sure if one episode is enough, the world is full of Chaos, manifestations of energy that bring about impossible things like demons.
A Mage Siluca is unable to stop a demon lord from appearing and a peace that was 1000 years in the making is destroyed in an instant. Now she travels to far away lands to contract her skills to a lord.
However along the way they are stopped by bandits, before she can even fire off a single spell a knight (or at least wannabe) named Theo comes to the rescue. Not wanted to contract with the letcherous old man she's been promised to she takes this opportunity to trick the man into forming a contract with her... their ambitions seem to line up though it is odd how blatantly pushy she is being.
Again the one episode wasn't enough to hook me but it wasn't enough to make me run off either... i'll probably give it 2-3 more before deciding if I'm enjoying it or not.

Katana Maidens ~ Toji No Miko
Monsters have been plaguing Tokyo for centuries... Thank goodness girl in school girl uniforms/mini skirts are able to weild swords to take them down.
I can't even begin to describe how much I want the military school genre to die.
The only young girls can fight the monsters (and they fight in a skirt cause that is practical) is also a genre I wish would just go away but alas... it's like the backbone of fanservice anime so yeah it's here to stay.
and to boot it looks like they are setting up a tournament  which hopefulyl is just this episode cause yeah.. not a fan of those either.... look this show just isn't for me... i wouldn't call it fanservice because even with the low angles you never see anything but it's still that kind of show.

citrus
I'll be honest, i'm not a huge fan of yuri/shoujo ai (i'm not sure what this falls into but i'll assume the latter) because more often then not one character forces themselves on the other character and i'm sorry that is really shitty.
Still may as well give it a chance.
*deep sigh*
Look.... i think this could be good, but I know i'm not going to enjoy it.
having a character who doesn't get "love" is interesting to me, until I figured out I'm ace I didn't get it either so seeing that in another character has potential....
but when the student council president openly gropes this girls ass after seeing her put the phone in her skirt pocket... this feels like it's just pointless pandering.
Yes i get that she is breaking school decorum rules but i'm pretty sure literally feeling someone ass through their clothing is also violation of the rules... or at very least a sexual harrasment lawsuit waiting to happen.
please don't play the teacher forcing himself on a student as romantic please don't frame an adult forcing themselves on a child as romantic...
*head on desk* While it is just a kiss thanks for proving my point about why i don't like shows like this.
Look, I have real issue when any character forces themselves on any other character. It is not okay and i really wish some genres wouldn't rely on it as much as they do. I get it she does it to prove a point but still it's just such a shitty thing to do that I wont be watching the show.

IDOLiSh7
I didn't realize this was a new show, there have been so many idol shows lately they all just blur together.
Oh man... some of this CG is rough.
um... it's your standard "we are starting a new idol group, you (a newbie to the company) will manage them. They are all colour coded so please if you cna't remember their name at least refer to them by colour (added bonus that it's a group of 7)
But hey rigth after i type this the president of the company acknowledges this and tell the newbei she has to cut down the group of 7 since that is too much to remember.
but like... the show is called Idolish7... we know they'll all be a group.
we don't even see them working for the audition... it just happens and we see them all sweating waiting for the results.
Nothing about this show separated itself from all the other idol anime out there... and boy are there a ton.

Mitchiri Neko
3 min show about gags invovling cats.
but not like.. real cats... fatasy cats that play soccer or dicuss the type of pot to get into.
in thee mines we get 6 skits... so yeah.
but yeas as much as i love cats... uh... pass.

KARAKAI JOZU NO TAKAGI-SAN
Takagi is a young girl who loves to tease the boy she sits next to.
However this boy wotn take it sitting down... he vowes to tease her back and embarras her infront of everyone... except he's terrible at it and ends up getting in trouble himself instead of making the girl sweat.
Still they both obviously care for each other quite a bit and it seems like a cute show based on a little harmless teasing.
Granted i feel like it's really stuck on a 4koma kind of pacing... so it's a lot of set up for a gag... i just don't think it's the kind of show i'd enjoy week to week but maybe i'll marathon it at the end of the season since it does seem cute.

Maerchen Maedchen
this this is how it went.
the intro plays and i think "ok this is a neat setup... sure they eyes look like SAO crossed with eromanga but... maybe the story will be good.
then the intro was full of fanservice... in face like the same fanserve at least twice... also how large is that book that you can completely sover your nakid bodywith it? also so many low angkle shots to focus on gym shorts....
just... ugh
so let me get this straight.
Whenever something even remotely upsetting happens to you... you go read... and beacuse you read so much you have no friends.... not even aquatances... no one....
uh huh...
anyways the show actually isn't bad, yes there is fanservice but it's less "lets just titilate the viewers" and more "what would you do if you had to run from a lunatic chasing you and you were in the bath and your clothes were stolen. I worry that in the future it'll just be pointless fanservice but hey maybe i will give this another episode or two.... even though my track record for Magical school anime is abysmal.
Oh right the plot, girl who likes books accidently gets magic book and stumbles into magical work after chasing a mage she sees roaming the streets.
Unable to find the mage in this new world she ends up being taken in by a kind lady and... well takes a bath and you can get the rest from there... apparentl the book she has is important and now she'll be a member of the school i guess.
... then again from that ending song.... maybe i'm giving this show too much credit... we get a swimsuit, a maid, girls in gym uniforms and a girl licking a lolipop....
I get it... some people think you have to be more eye catchign to stand out but it really does come across as trying too damn hard... if you can't keep viewers interested with your plot then don't bother.

Junji Ito Collection
Not a fan of horror series but this seems like this could be interesting.... plus i have a friend who likes this creator and I trust her taste... even if our taste vary wildly.
Call it a gut feeling..... i'm not going to like this.
So i'm just gunna pass... I have a feeling there is some shit i just don't need in my head and i do not need to stick around to find out what that is.
plus holy f*ck this guy is annoying and i just want him off the screen.

Slow Start
... this is Either just a cutesy show or hiding something horrible under the surface... it's just too cute... this can't be all it is. however i thinks this is exactly all it is... a super cute show about first year high school girls...
Ok... i feel the pain of being at the top of the roll call list.... that got a chuckle out of me...
This show doesn't; seem bad... but it's just cute girls discussing random topics with visual gags.... Its cute that the one girl is shy and she's trying hard to make friends but it's just too much nothing.
However i have a feeling this is definately on one of my friends watch lists...

The Ryuo's Work is Never Done!
*looks at march comes in like a lion and then back at this* Ok.... do you want that show minus the introspective look at depression/ptsd as well as the pressure of being gifted and what that means as you get older? Oh and add just all of the cuteness you can cram in? yeah thats this show...
Moe March comes in like a lion....
and don't get me wrong March comes in like a lion has some utterly adorable moments but they feel more natural then a small girl who happens to be in your apartment who can't say your name without biting her tongue calling you master.
I just can't figure out why air this now? why not wait till spring? i'm not sayign it's automatically going to be worse then march comes in like a lion but blatantly competing with it seem foolish. Granted i hate this kind of cutesy bullshit so i'm obviously not the target audience.... and the target audience may not like serious shows like march comes in like a lion.... so i guess it has a place but yeah.... why is this a winter show...
any this 16 year old Ryuo (a high title in the shoji world) is nearly defeated by the cutesy 9 year old who he found in his apartment... but in the end he wins so it's all good...
she's only been playing 3 months.
still she wants to be his deciple, and she's cooking for him... and he finds out she's truly givfted in every way... at this rate she'll be a ryuo at a yonge---
why is there a scene of the 9 year old in the shower.
.... yeah ok no you know what? i have my shoji anime... i am getting too many bad vibes from this show... i was worried it would just be moe bullshit but i can tell it's going to be so much worse then that. I'm out
watch March comes in like a lion.

School Babysitters
The proportion of the little kid is a bit freaky to me.... i mean they are the size of a baby but they are walking so thye have to be like... 2? and they are being asked questions like "can you keep walking" so like.... they just seem small.
Ah it's hanasaku iroha but instead of the parents being irresponsible and missing they are dead... also the old woman in this isn't stern but more a..... well you can use your imagination for a descriptor.
So anyways the main guy and his brother lose his parents in a plane crash, they may have never been hom anyways but it's still sad, luckily (?) an old lady who lost her son and his wife invite them to stay at her academy.
only when he's not in class he's going to be the schools babysitter.
i mean i've heard of colleges having daycares but maybe this is one of those academies that has all the different levels of schooling? or a really promiscuous group of teens?
or just a daycare atatched to the school?
Either way it's pathetically obvious that this old lady is actually their long lost grandma (but hey if the show just prives this as a red herring i will give it all the credit) and she acts cold but really she cares... probably.
anyways it's the teachers children... well that is very nice for the workplace to provide daycare.... dunno how they'd feel about it being run by a student but hey... thought that counts?
ugh all of these toddlers are drawn like babies... it's freaking me out man... and the one baby is SUPER small... like i get anime is styalized (hell my art is anime inspired so of course i know) btu you still kinda have to adhere to realistic proportions... most toddlers will be around 2.5-3 feet tall.... all of these looks like less then one with super chubby hands (another baby exclusive trait)
anyways it does seem like there is an adult in all this, though he was just asleep with like 5 or six kids playing unsupervised so... yeah the student may be a better choice.
oh my god the baby can fit in his hand... no... no this is all wrong
oh the kids are old enough to read? then yeah they definitely should be bigger...
Ok all bitching about proportions aside I did enjoy this show, it got me crying pretty hard in a single episode. I don;t know if i'll enjoy it in the long run but i'm willing to give it a chance. I just may draw them with actual proportions for toddlers for my own peace of mind.

How to Keep a Mummy
I thought this would be a 3 min show for sure... but NOPE it's full length.
Anyways how would you feel if your father constantly sent you horrific cursed items... this time he sends a mummy but no worries! he lets you know it's super cute! (and in a coffin with a cross on it for some reason...)
and thats the show, amn i's hard to live with a mummy but it's so darn cute.
it's not a bad show but there was little to nothing to grab my interest. it's a cute showing being cute.

DARLING in the FRANXX
Oh it's time for the a TRIGGER show... maybe i'll enjoy this one. *looks back on their catalog* i mean their track record isn't the best with me but always willing to give it a shot.
It's interesting, after Failing an exam to become a paired pilot of a franxx Hiro prepairs himself to head home to his orphanage (or more likely be disposed along the way... who has room for failures anyways?) however after a chance encounter with a girl sporting two horns and a sudden attack he soon finds out he is a (or the?) Darling this girl has been searching for to make the giant robot work well.
Well it's actually about puberty but sure... all that robot shit i guess.
the animation is really pretty, the mix of fairly simplistic designs and subtle cg work as well as interesting monster/robot design and high detailed BGs creat an odd mix that actually manage to work.
Will i enjoy the whole show for the whole cour? I highly doubt it.... we are already on mars or something so the chances we are headed to space are exceedingly high.
And last time I watched a trigger show (or a show that was done by the team that would immediately become trigger) that went into space i had a massive panic attack and actualyl don't remember the whole second half.
well except the shit that sent me over the edge... i get to remember that with cystal clarity... thanks brain.
Anyways... considering it's looking like i'll only have a couple of shows this season... i may continue with it.
Assuming is stays the hell out of space.... i wont do that again... not with this animation/creation house.
After watching episode 2: oh it's about sex more then puberty... i will still argue about it being abotu the latter but the focus is definitely on the former.

Death March to Parallel World Rhapsody
There is a certain thing where game developers crunch to get everything ready for launch, Susaki is tasked with cleaning up a rookies mistakes since said rookie vanished without a trace.
anyways after finally doign bug fixes for two games he finally can get some sleep... only he starts havign an odd dream (?) about a world thats like a mashup of the two games.
only this actualyl hurt... luckily he has a special thing that was impliments to kill all the monsters... doign so gets him from level 1 to level 310.
anyways my guess is that this will be another transported to another world story and he will be the special to save everything, it may be cute... i'll probably give it another episode or two but as of right now the only unique this is how much cg was used and yet it still looks pretty good.

Pop Team Epic
Never have I wanted some thing to be a short show more then this.
the fake show they show at the start looks terrible in it's own way but wow i'd rather be watching that.
it's a bunch of rapidfire skits... for 24 minutes
I get why people would enjoy this but I can't even last 3 minutes let alone 24.

SANRIO BOYS
Ok...
I like the concept of a show saying it's okay for guys to like cute things.
that is a good concept.
But his is taking that concept and trying to sell you sanrio cute stuff specifically and i take issue with that.
this exact same plot with a made up company would be 100% fine.
but this glorified 24 minute ad? pass.

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
The world is full of people however in Hakata 3% of the population seem to be part of a certain line of work.
So we have a story that focuses on Hitmen.... and detectives... and hitmen hitmen and also a samurai hitman.
The first episode wasn't enough to hook me but i feel like there is something interesting under the surface... a bit of a Durarara vibe to it (minus any supernatural stuff i guess)
just not sure with this one.

HAKYU HOSHIN ENGI
I follow some people who have been extrememly ecited for this, i know nothing about it but i hope at least they are enjoying.
Unfortunately this show is front loaded with a LOT of exposition... i'm not sure if thats the catch up those who haven't watched the previous anime or read the manga but it makes this first bit a bit of a slog.
Also it has a lot of tropes that seem to be extremely popular in 90 anime. neither a good or bad thing it's just really noticeable.
I have a feeling if you know the source this is probably enjoyable, i'm not the biggest fan of shonen titles to begin with and so far nothing about this show is really hooking me.

So.... i forgot to post this.... and considering i just finish magus bride... uh... better late then never?