Cute girls do circus.

This was a very well made show, just not my genre and I need to recognize that and stop falling for the great, dramatic first episode followed by an entire season of much ado about nothing. I quickly lost all interest in this after the first episode, but I recognize that if a peaceful show about cute girls doing cute things is what you’re looking for, this show’s pretty great.

Fun fact: I recently tried aerial silks and lyra (spinning around inside a metal hula hoop hanging from the ceiling). The lyra really hurts your butt. Neither of them were for me, but an interesting experience.

• Storytelling – C – Felt like it didn’t go anywhere.
• Voice – B – I did quite like the older setting.
• Characters – B – They’re cute.
• Attention Grab – D – I got bored.
• Production – B – Looks pretty good.
• Overall – C+

Recommendations – I need to stop watching shows like this because I don’t like them, I never like them, and I always forget and think I will.

How in the world did this get a sequel…? Is there still hope for AKB0048 season 3???

I quite enjoyed it. Pretty gripping story. It’s hard to capture the balance in a show like this, when you have characters who are very much the bad guys, but it still makes you root for them at least on a small personal scale while simultaneously recognizing how awful they are. I really enjoyed the story with the two generals in particular. They’re both truly awful while trying to do the right thing (as much as possible) but still realizing how awful they are.

A shame more Nazis didn’t die but what can you do.

• Storytelling – B – Pretty gripping drama especially the second half.
• Voice – A – Nothing like it.
• Characters – B – Loved the two generals. And Tanya is fun (in an “I hope she suffers even more because she deserves it” way)
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – B – Looks fine.
• Overall – B+

Recommendations – Hellsing Ultimate

Actually they do…

A solid show! I especially liked the first half where they were trying to hide that they were playing the games at school. Then the second half transitioned to a fighting game tournament and tournaments are just not something I tend to enjoy. They did make it interesting as far as these things go though due to some larger than life characters. Especially loved the little girl who was a total asshole.

I read the start of the manga years ago, and I have to say, I honestly liked it better… What made it so much fun was the insane reaction images. The anime just couldn’t match that. Still, a fun show!

• Storytelling – B – Petered off in the second half.
• Voice – A – Fun premise.
• Characters – B – Larger than life, but felt like the second half didn’t develop the main cast much.
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – B – Looks fine.
• Overall – B

Recommendations – Don’t play fighting games

It seems tough for everyone…

This is the kind of show where everyone is a piece of shit and they all get what’s coming to them. And I am so there for it.

It’s a fun time if you enjoy that sort of humor. Honestly, not the best produced show, and probably went a bit too far into the serious side, but overall a fun time.

• Storytelling – B – It was funny most of the time.
• Voice – C – Some interesting ideas but setting feels pretty half-assed (intentionally so but still)
• Characters – B – God… these morons
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – C – The animation is not great…
• Overall – B

Recommendations – Milky Holmes

A salaryman has a crush on a cashier. He smokes behind the supermarket with her but somehow thinks it’s a different person.

Grossness of smoking aside, I think it’s pretty cute. They are both kind of annoyingly oblivious. But if they actually get together quickly that would be a lot less fun. I do also enjoy the minor dramas— like an annoying customer, the falling out with an old mentor. I feel like more “slice of life” type anime would benefit from some small amount of conflict like this to keep people’s interest.

• Storytelling – B – Cute and simple.
• Voice – A – Really basic premise, but not much else like it?
• Characters – B – Do like the more adult characters.
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – B – Looks fine.
• Overall – B-

Recommendations – Working!, It’s Difficult to Love an Otaku

What a beautiful show. Just go watch it, it speaks for itself. You’re welcome.

• Storytelling – A – I’m still crying an hour later
• Voice – A – Fuck yes
• Characters – A – Beautiful
• Attention Grab – A – Was surprised when it finished
• Production – A – Gorgeous.
• Overall – A

Recommendations – Utena

Fuck this shit.

Honestly, the first three quarters of the show were… pretty good? I thought it was cute. The guy is really awkward around the girl’s blindness but tries his best. I thought it was going well and there wasn’t much they could do to screw it up.

And then they absolutely tossed all that down the drain, when they out of nowhere gave the girl cancer and also made her lose her memory so she wouldn’t talk to anyone from her old school and was a total asshole to them (to be fair they did kind of become stalkers). But God why did we need to go in this direction. So fucking stupid.

• Storytelling – F – Seemed to be doing fine, and they threw it all away!
• Voice – C – One interesting aspect.
• Characters – B – Did like them until the plot twist.
• Attention Grab – B – Kept my interest.
• Production – C – Looked fine.
• Overall – F

Recommendations – A Silent Voice

What a beautiful show.

The first thing I love is how it’s set in Mongolia at the time immediately following Genghis Khan, a time and place that is completely neglected by anime in favor of endless rehashings of the Sengoku era, the three kingdoms era, and generic isekai world. More interesting settings please!!! And they actually take their characters seriously as people of their own time and place. For example, I loved the fight at the end over science, where the main character is yelling at the Khan about science. But she doesn’t have a modern view of science, she has an Islamic view from her time period. The stars move about the Earth on rotating spheres according to Allah’s design. I can’t stand it when the authors just put a modern view out of nowhere into a character’s head.

Second: I love the complexity, both moral and interpersonal. So much is left open to interpretation and could clearly have multiple interpretations. So many anime treat the viewers like idiots. Is it better to avenge the past wrongs or to live the best life you can given your circumstances? Is your idyllic view of the past, in which you were a slave, even true? And don’t even get me started on Toregene and Ogedei.

Finally, it looks amazing. The cutesy character designs for the Mongols as they commit countless atrocities is just fantastic.

Fuck I love this show so much.

• Storytelling – A – Perfect
• Voice – A+ – Amazing
• Characters – A – Beautiful
• Attention Grab – A – Hell yes
• Production – A – Fantastic
• Overall – A

Recommendations – Hyouge Mono

Like the crappy title says…

It’s a shame because the first episode was pretty good. An emotional arc as a man dies without achieving his dream and is reincarnated in the world of the future…

And then in episode two, he meets a cute 15 year old slave. In episode three he meets his adopted daughter who is now a hot elf principal. It only went downhill from there.

• Storytelling – D – It was fine when it tried. It didn’t try very hard.
• Voice – F – God why do we keep doing the same soulless isekai setting? What makes it so weird is that none of the RPGs which this setting is supposedly based on are actually this soulless.
• Characters – F – No
• Attention Grab – D – I finished somehow.
• Production – C – Not great.
• Overall – D-

Recommendations – I really need to stop watching these

It’s Hayate no Gotoku but less fun.

It mostly gave me exactly what I expected in a competent manner and there’s something to be said for that. It did suffer a bit from the problem that the main girl is the least interesting one. Otherwise a solid show, if nothing especially memorable.

• Storytelling – C – Does what you expect.
• Voice – D – Feels lacking in personality.
• Characters – C – They’re fine.
• Attention Grab – C – I finished.
• Production – C – Meh.
• Overall – C

Recommendations – Hayate no Gotoku