/otaku/ - Japan / Otaku / Anime

>>3701
My overall rating: 5/10
I wanted a ryokan-employee simulator and I got a ryokan-employee simulator. However, it unfortunately came with some undesirable features. Although the ryokan setting is very authentic and immersive, and executed with flawless visual production quality, its inhabitants are annoying and unlikable. Furthermore, the writing is as cliche and lackluster as the characters themselves.

Sakura Quest had its flaws too but I enjoyed it more than this; it certainly had way better characters. I haven't seen Shirobako yet but hope to watch it soon.

Here are my comments on the Home Sweet Home movie:
- I should mention that I watched this immediately after finishing the TV anime, and was already feeling pretty burnt out on the series after 26 episodes. It's possible I might have enjoyed it more if I let the TV anime digest in me for longer, although honestly I doubt it.
- Visually, the show was the same but with slightly better production quality. The TV anime already had solid visuals, so there wasn't much room for improvement here anyway.
- I liked the focus on teenage Satsuki. I actually think they did a good job depicting her and her youthful struggles, especially with the limited runtime. I think I would have much preferred her as the MC in the TV series.
- There was not much of an overarching plot and the movie basically just consists of an assortment of mostly SoL-style scenes. I was fine with this; it would have been a mistake to try to cram a serious plot into this short runtime.
- Aside from the scenes that depicted teenage Satsuki, this movie felt just like another TV episode (including the usual flaws).
- My rating for the movie: 5/10


Hanasaku Iroha has kind of a 'live action' feel to it, in the sense that I could easily imagine it being played out with real-life actors. People who typically prefer live-action TV dramas might like this anime.

>>3701
Hey sushi, I wonder if you could take your reviews someplace else since I feel they kinda clash with the casual vibe of the site. Also it's not like they generate much discussion and giving a rating may repel viewers who could potentially derive more enjoyment from a show. Just my two cents.

>>3703
Is it my imagination or did we have this same conversation in the previous thread? My next review is looking like it will be more positive, but in any case I think that people are capable of digesting various opinions and arriving at their own conclusion about whether or not they should watch something.

>>3703
I enjoy reading his reviews, it's always nice to see someone go into detail when sharing their thoughts on imageboards. I don't see what's so unfitting about them.

>>3703
I will throw my voice in the ring and say I like reading rolls reviews. I don't think even a scathingly negative review would be out of place as long as it doesn't devolve into fighting. It's just opinions.

>>3705
>I don't see what's so unfitting about them
They're big blogposts on an sushi rollymous imageboard and the fact that the reviews are reposted on other IBs doesn't help. I can understand that the reposting is done to get a wider variety of opinions but it could attract uncomfy attention.

>>3707
Excluding shitchan, the only two other IBs I post reviews on are basically on life support, especially with respect to anime discussion. The only reason I post them on 4/a/ (they usually go straight to page 10) is so it ends up in the archive so when people (like myself) search the shitchan archive they will find my review.

Also I really like the unfiltered feedback (including negative replies) I get in this medium and it's not something that can be replicated elsewhere. I also watch a fair bit of obscure stuff and it can be very difficult to find english speakers with similar interests.

To the people who want me to leave: show me an alternative platform and I'll gladly look into it.

One of these years I may finally launch a serious high-effort blog, but I work a lot and don't have much free time. In the meantime I am just trying to contribute to imageboard culture before it completely fades away.

Moved the most uncomfy posts to >>>/superhell/414

Reviews are of course allowed.

Nobody have to like everything, but there is no reason to be mean about it.

Edit: I fucked up when moving the posts. I'll ask Seisatsu to fix ;_;

>>3725
Yuno is an integral part of the /otaku/ (formerly samachan) experience and it saddens me to see his contributions relegated to superhell…

https://myanimelist.net/anime/36038

I watched Net-juu no Susume, also known as Recovery of an MMO Junkie or Recommendation of the Wonderful Virtual Life. Here are my thoughts:

In terms of the writing, the characters are a strong point – they are likable and often relatable, particularly the MC (Moriko). However, the plot is cliche and predictable. I don't want to be too harsh on the plot though because it set up a ton of situational comedy and was a fertile source of humour in general. Regardless of the story, the script itself is overall well done; I thought they totally nailed it during some scenes, and it was further enhanced by the voice acting. The dialogue was often funny too. I enjoyed the humour in this a lot, and the script and its delivery was a major component of that. I laughed out loud at every episode.

The voice acting in this is surprisingly good, especially for the female MC. Her voice work definitely enhanced the humour for me in many instances, and she also handled emotional moments well. In fact all the lead characters do a good job. Lily's in-game voicework is great, as is Lilac's. Hayashi does a good job too. The voice acting in this was a significant contributor to my enjoyment. Conversely, the OST seemed like it lacked variety (even for the short runtime) and felt low budget and unremarkable. There is one nice piano melody that is used frequently though.

As for the romance aspect, there are certainly some cute moments but I wouldn't say it's the main appeal of the show. This is more of a romcom (which I know is an off-putting term for many people, myself included). It doesn't play it straight and serious like a typical romance; comedic relief is frequent, including during romance-heavy scenes. Ordinarily I would take issue with this, but I really enjoyed the comedy of this anime and thought it was skillfully implemented. The mixture of sweet and funny feelings made for a really enjoyable viewing experience. It's very rare for me to feel this way about comedic relief, which I think is a testament to how well it's executed in this instance. Overall this is a surprisingly well-directed show.

The visuals are pretty basic and lackluster. Although I will give credit to the fact that the character animation is consistently on-model, which is not something I take for granted (especially with the presumably low budget of this anime). Even so, the visuals are adequate at best and there is definitely room for improvement in this dimension.


My overall rating: 8/10
I was either smiling or laughing while watching this. This show is funny and relatable. The MC is quite likable. The script is usually well written and delivered surprisingly well by the VAs. Although the plot is cliche and predictable, it created a lot of hilarious situational humour. Regardless of its lackluster production quality, this is a surprisingly well-directed show; I was consistently engaged by it and always looked forward to the next episode. This is a really fun anime and I'm glad I watched it.

I would definitely recommend this to people who spend a lot of time in internet communities, or have a significant component of their social life online.

This anime is 10 episodes plus one full-length special sequel episode. Just warning you, that 11th episode is one of the weaker ones IMO, so don't get your hopes up too much. You should treat the 10th episode as the finale.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/31240

I watched Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, also known as Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World. I watched both seasons (including both parts of season 2), as well as the two movies. Here are my thoughts:

I should mention that I watched the director's cut for the first season, which supposedly had slightly more content than the original TV series. The first-season director's cut consists of 13 ~50-minute episodes, instead of the 25 TV episodes that composed the original version. For this reason my viewing experience might have been slightly different than others', although I've heard anecdotally that there's not much difference between the director's cut and the TV version.

The setting of Re:Zero is a fairly typical classic-fantasy world, but with a few unusual mechanics thrown in. There are a few cool things (like the flying magical whale), but overall it is pretty standard-fare fantasy stuff.

I'm really not fond of the character designs. Seriously, every single character in this is an eye sore, in my opinion. I just personally don't like the character art style at all. I also found the character animation during season 1 to be sloppy, however that did improve during season 2. Conversely, the setting and backgrounds in the show are sometimes animated well (moreso during season 1). The clash between the detailed backgrounds and poor character animation was impossible to ignore. It is quite stark and there are countless frames that look absurd because of it (again, this is a much more prominent issue in season 1).

I don't particularly like any of the characters, especially the MC. The story is told entirely through the perspective of the MC, and he is pretty much constantly on-screen, so my distaste for his personality was a major issue that seriously impeded my enjoyment of this series. My dislike for the characters (especially the MC) also prevented me from feeling empathy for them, which in turn inhibited my overall emotional engagement with the anime. The MC's behaviour and motivations were often stupid or even incomprehensible, and I frequently felt frustrated by his actions. Simply put, I would have enjoyed this anime more if the MC wasn't constantly behaving like a childish imbecile. His personality really is intolerable. Furthermore, even by isekai standards, the MC comes across as very 'self-inserty.' The rest of the cast is also fairly bland, and most supporting cast members just exist to facilitate aspects of the plot. The story really does revolve entirely around the MC (with the exception of some portions of S2P2).

During some portions of this anime I thought there was way too much unfunny tone-breaking comedy that would totally ruin the tension and emotion in a scene; this issue was most prominent during the first half of season 1, but never really went away entirely. It's really just a symptom of a broader issue, which is that the scriptwriting in this is garbage, at least from my perspective. Everything is overly spelled out so explicitly, the characters might as well be narrators. There is no nuance at all. It sounds like the VAs are reading from a rough draft. Scenes that have the potential to be emotionally impactful are often crippled by clunky unnatural dialogue and/or inappropriate comedy. Another ever-present issue is that the character interaction in this consistently feels unnatural and forced. These issues might be related to the seemingly juvenile target audience (more on that further below). The overly literal and explicit dialogue might be an intentional decision so that a younger viewer won't have trouble understanding anything. Sometimes the dialogue felt cheesy too, although that is just another manifestation of it being overly literal and explicit.

I didn't like the voice acting for Subaru (the MC) or Emilia. This is particularly unfortunate because the MC is near-constantly speaking, either to others or internally monologuing (I will concede that the VAs for both Subaru and Emilia got better during season 2, or maybe I perceived it that way due to the reduction in comedic relief). However, I did like the voice work for the two maid sisters (Rem and Ram), and Garf (introduced in S2) does a remarkable job as well.

The plot is sometimes good, and pretty much the only reason I stuck with this anime. The plot can be entertaining and sometimes the series does a good job of creating suspense. It's fairly easy to watch and the episodes pass quickly (during season 1 at least). If you want a somewhat interesting and complex plot, then this anime might be worth watching for you. It's also noteworthy that the plot is usually fairly coherent and laid out clearly, despite its complexity. There also aren't any major pacing issues (at least not in season 1). Plot execution is done well — and that very easily could have not been the case, so this is praiseworthy.

>>3747
The OST felt a little generic sometimes although with fantastic production quality. There's a lot of orchestral music – some of it is actually quite excellent. I liked the season 2 OST more than season 1, despite the composer being the same. The composer's style eventually came to grow on me, but it took a while (I listened to the OST numerous times in isolation – not having to hear Subaru's awful voice concurrently likely helped). Regardless of your personal tastes, the OST is far better produced than your average anime soundtrack. Also, all of the OP and ED songs are good, and their respective albums are worth sampling. Music is a strong aspect of this anime, overall.

The first season of Re Zero had a pretty weak start. I think a major reason for this is because Emilia occupies more screentime. This is bad not only because Emilia has the personality of cardboard, but more importantly because Subaru and Emilia have terrible chemistry together. Their whole relationship feels unnatural and forced by the writer (actually, this is the case for all of Subaru's romantic pairings). So, as more characters are introduced as season 1 progresses, Emilia's character presence becomes diluted, and the show becomes more tolerable. Another significant reason that my enjoyment of season 1 increased in its latter half is because the show becomes much more serious, and there is a corresponding reduction in the awful comedy I addressed previously. However, conversely, I found that the feeling of suspense was strongest during the first half of season one. The latter half of the season also contained more action scenes, which I personally didn't find particularly entertaining.

As for the second season, the cast of characters is just as awful. However, season 2 does excel at developing mystery elements. Although there wasn't much linear plot progression, I enjoyed the way new dimensions of the story were gradually revealed during each of Subaru's reincarnations (during part 1 at least). All of my other criticisms continued to apply though, and the overall character of the show wasn't much different from season 1. The second part of season 2 had a weaker story in my opinion. There were also a lot of flashbacks, which I found boring. The supporting cast who received more attention were somehow not any more compelling than Subaru and Emilia, which really is revealing of the author's lack of skill. I found part 2 of season 2 to be the weakest portion of the entire series, and getting through those ~30-minute episodes was sometimes a struggle.

Overall this anime feels targeted towards a relatively young audience, particularly for a (supposedly) psychological thriller show. The self-insert pandering is very transparent — almost obnoxiously so. In fact sometimes the self-insert pandering is so shamelessly excessive that it feels like a parody. Even if you try to buy into the self-insert bait, it's pretty difficult to imagine being as imbecilic as Subaru, unless you have a crippling self-esteem problem. For context, this is coming from somebody who usually isn't bothered by self-insert baiting. Many of the themes in the writing and character motivations are juvenile as well. There's nothing objectively wrong with this, but I feel it's an important observation that this show is likely to appeal more to a teenage male audience.


My ratings are as follows:
Season 1(Director's Cut): 5/10
Season 2 Part 1: 5/10
Season 2 Part 2: 4/10
Re:Zero has a ton of flaws but, regardless, the plot was interesting enough to hold my attention. Furthermore, it is directed competently, at least in terms of plot execution. By anime standards, it's praiseworthy that a plot this complex is presented so coherently. Also, the OST is exceptionally well produced. Season 2 in particular has a very skillfully crafted soundtrack. Aside from the plot and music, nearly every other aspect of this anime is bad; but despite my negativity, I still watched over 4 cours of content, and would consider hatewatching future sequels.

Due to the arguably juvenile nature of the show and its characters, a teenage audience is more likely to enjoy this.

>>3748
Also here are my ratings for the two OVAs/"movies":
OVA1(Memory Snow): 3/10
OVA2(Hyouketsu no Kizuna): 4/10
I suggest skipping both these OVAs (especially Memory Snow) unless you really care about the franchise. They aren't necessary to understand the TV anime.

The second OVA is focused on Emilia's backstory and does an okay job of humanizing her (in stark contrast to the TV series itself). I wish I had watched it earlier in my viewing sequence (ideally halfway through season 1, certainly before season 2). Also Emilia's VA puts on a surprisingly decent performance in this OVA. Why the low rating for the second OVA then? Because it didn't have the complex interesting plot of the TV series, which is by far the primary reason I've stuck with this anime at all.

I think that Re Zero will not age well and will eventually be recognized as one of the most overrated works from this time period.

>>3749
> will be recognized as one of the most overrated works from this time period
I actually fully agree with you.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/35076

I watched Juuni Taisen, also known as Zodiac War. Here are my thoughts:

So basically, as you might have guessed, there are 12 warriors, each of whom are vaguely based on a zodiac animal. They all fight each other to the death simultaneously in an abandoned city because of a battle royale-style competition. It was interesting to see how the various warrior abilities competed against each other (and worked together in some cases). I'm a huge sucker for battle royale-style conflicts such as this.

The actual battle royale plot is easy to watch and makes for suitable binge-watch material. If you just feel like burning through an entire season in one day, this show would be an okay candidate for that, despite its flaws. This is kind of a junk-food show and shouldn't be taken seriously.

This show would be much better if they just entirely cut out the time-consuming character backstories and kept the screentime exclusively focused on the battle royale plot. Instead, literally entire episodes are wasted on inconsequential exposition for characters nobody cares about. None of these characters are compelling or interesting in any way. They easily could have filled an entire cour with a 12-fighter battle royale conflict; I have no idea why they threw away that opportunity to instead waste half the runtime on generic uncreative character backstories that would be better off in an OVA or auxiliary literature. This really was a terrible decision. By far the most boring part of this anime were all these pointless backstories. They spent way WAY too much screentime on this. Nobody cares about the exposition for some one-dimensional character in a huge cast who gets killed off one episode later. I am not watching this anime for character development (although I usually value it in other shows); this is not the situation for it and this show does not benefit from it at all. I don't care about your cliche tragic backstory or that Grug likes opera and long walks on the beach when he's not crushing skulls. I am just here to watch people with cool abilities plot against each other and fight; stop wasting my time with anything that isn't that. Just as an example to illustrate my point: they waste an ENTIRE EPISODE on the utterly generic boring backstory of a character who was killed off SEVEN EPISODES AGO. Right during what should be the pinnacle of the story they pivot to this nonsense – it was utterly ridiculous and totally stunted the show's momentum.

The character designs are overly comical to the point it almost made the show difficult to take seriously. I would have preferred them less pants-on-head retarded. Most characters in this look like they were designed by an edgy 12-year-old boy shortly after he learned about Chinese New Year. This show can be a little over-the-top edgy in general, sometimes to the point of it backfiring and being comical.

Overall the visuals are adequate but definitely not a selling point. The character animation employs this effect that blurs the linework, maybe to make it more organic-looking. I think I would have preferred that these blurred linework effects not be present, but it's not a big deal either way. The character animation was consistently adequate, so I probably shouldn't complain. Overall this show is animated competently but it doesn't excel beyond that. There isn't much of an art style, which is a missed opportunity but also not a flaw. CGI is used during some action scenes, FYI. The fight scenes were quite underwhelming and unimpressive overall. The fight scenes are also usually so shortlived that I hesitate to call this an action show at all; this is not necessarily a bad thing – I would prefer it over the tedious drawn-out fight scenes that plague some other anime. If you go into this show excited for fight scenes, you will be disappointed. The strategy aspect of the battle royale competition was far more entertaining, from my perspective at least.

The OST is generic and unimpressive, and never enhanced my enjoyment of the show (although I did like the ED song). Voice acting was similarly unremarkable, despite the ample opportunity for unique voices. I guess the VA for the necromancer did an okay job. Also I gotta acknowledge the VA (Yuuichirou Umehara) for the ox fighter – that guy has a great voice and I've enjoyed him in other roles.

Often the show plays a character's internal dialogue while they or somebody else is speaking, resulting in the viewer needing to pay attention to both lines of dialogue. I found the frequency of this a little irritating but I suppose it is an effective time-saving technique in terms of getting through dialogue quickly. It's also true that the contrast between what the characters say and think can be quite significant, but maybe it could have been demonstrated better. Having to follow two people speaking at once is cumbersome and I wish this anime didn't force it so often.

>>3771
One very petty criticism I have: the city they fight in supposedly had a population of 500,000; I gotta say, a city with that population would not have infrastructure as dense as what is depicted in the show, not even in Japan. It looks like a city with a population at least double that (I know this is a silly thing to fixate on).

Yet another example of this anime's appalling waste of screentime is that the final episode consists mostly of the competition winner deliberating over what their 'wish' (the competition prize) should be. This mental deliberation of course takes place over the backdrop of some very dull screenplay, resulting in a viewing experience that is simply not entertaining. It was a very underwhelming season finale.


My overall rating: 4/10
My rating for this would be higher if the absurdly excessive and out-of-place pointless character backstories were removed from the show, or at least their duration were reduced enormously. It's mindboggling how much time got wasted on this. I try not to focus on one single issue when critiquing an anime, but it really is that straightforward in this case. When the show actually focused on the battle royale conflict, it was entertaining and easy to watch. Unfortunately, the screentime of this show was utterly squandered and the cool battle royale plot was heavily diluted by very low-quality content.

Seriously, just skip the flashback scenes. They aren't necessary to understand the plot of the show, and the anime as a whole would be much more entertaining if they were removed. Ordinarily I would be mortified by the thought of skipping content, but the banality of these character backstories is especially egregious and they add nothing of value to the show at all. This is a junk-food show and should be treated as such.

Despite my criticisms, this is still adequate binge-watch material. If you just want something to entertain you for ~5 hours straight, this isn't a terrible choice – you could do worse.

Lastly, I want to be very clear so that nobody misinterprets me: character development is usually a good thing and I have praised it in other shows (or criticized its absence). The difference is that a 12-character 12-episode battle royale action show is not at all suited for it – particularly the sheer amount of time that was devoted to it in this case.

Vague spoiler: the rat warrior's ability is really cool. It's a shame it didn't get more focus. It would have been interesting to see it deployed more from his perspective.

>>3751
It's got lots of cute girls/boys, with a variety of personalities to suit the viewers' taste. Enough fanservice to keep the waifuists interested, but not so in your face to turn off the broader audience. Story doesn't suck and it's explained clearly enough that almost everyone can follow without having to watch too closely.

Between the broad appeal and being easy to watch, I don't think it's all that surprising that it's popular. Not saying it has a lot of artistic merit, but the general public is probably going to remember it fondly.

>>3748
definitely written with teenagers as the primary demographic, as most LN adaptations are.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/34543

I watched Dive!!. Here are my thoughts:

So, as you might have guessed, this is a fairly typical sports show that is focused on diving. Much of the show revolves around the preparation, and selection, of athletes for the Olympics. Going to the (Tokyo) Olympics is certainly relevant to recent world events at the time of my writing this. Overall this show has a pretty amateurish feeling and seems low budget.

Considerable attention is paid to the technical aspects of diving, certainly moreso than I expected. This is a very unique feature of this anime and one of the main reasons I stuck with it. It was interesting to learn about the sport of diving through this medium. In fact I would have liked to have seen even more focus on the details of the sport (maybe I should've just watched a documentary, haha).

Although it was a little melodramatic, I was grateful for the absence of comedy in the show. I could consistently feel the tension in the show and the pressure the athletes were under. There was a pervasive feeling of anticipation of upcoming competitions. I much prefer this over a comedy-heavy show. So although people complain about melodrama, I just want to point out that the alternative scenario could have been much worse.

Overall the characters were fairly weak and a little underdeveloped. However, I did like the female coach (Kayoko) and the ocean-cliff diver guy (Shibuki). Shibuki was one of the reasons I stuck with this show; he was a cool character. Kayoko was also cool and I enjoyed her presence. Unfortunately the MC was a pretty lackluster character; he didn't have much of a personality and added little to the show. A better MC could have gone a long way to improving this show, or at least somehow making him more sympathetic and likable would. I found the coaching staff more intriguing characters than the divers themselves (there is a fair bit of drama revolving around the diving organization and its members). There is also a lot of focus on the athletes' state of mind – I appreciated this, even though it could have been done better, and would have been augmented by better characters.

The visuals are serviceable but certainly nothing special. There wasn't any discernable art style. Although there were no major visual flaws, the animation is basic and lackluster, and definitely not a selling point for the show. Which is kind of unfortunate because this anime could really benefit from a high animation budget; there was tons of (squandered) opportunity for visual flair. I try not to place too much emphasis on visuals, but there was definitely a lot of wasted potential here in that regard. This anime could have looked awesome if only it had the budget. Also I can't end this paragraph without mentioning those hot muscular slender diver bodies – they are indeed tight and sexy, and there is a lot of fanservice, albeit with lackluster animation. One thing I will say about the fanservice is that there was never ever screentime devoted strictly to it – it was always just incidental and never particularly intrusive. I say this in contrast to so many other shows that basically put a neon sign up saying "THIS IS THE FANSERVICE SCENE" (I'm being hyperbolic) and proceed to jiggle breasts in front of you for the next minute straight with nothing else of entertainment value on-screen; the fanservice in Dive was way more tasteful and nondisruptive than this, which is certainly preferable to the alternative. Also it's just unavoidable that a show focused on male diving athletics is going to have a lot of naked lean muscular men on-screen.

The audio is underwhelming; the OST is not bad but fairly generic, and the voice acting as a whole is quite mediocre. At least the ED song is nice and soothing.

Even though it was amateurish, there was nothing about this anime that was particularly awful. On the other hand, there was nothing about it that significantly impressed me. It is a fairly typical sports show, just focused on diving and maybe with a bit more voyeuristic flavour than usual. A bit more melodrama as well, but I still much prefer that over excessive comedic relief. On the other hand, I wished they focused even more on the sport and experience of competitive diving itself, rather than all the melodrama regarding the Olympic team and its support staff. The last few episodes definitely had some forced drama laid on heavy.

>>3776
My overall rating: 5/10
It wasn't THAT bad. Although amateurish, it doesn't have any major flaws. It's a little heavy on the melodrama but personally I still prefer that over excessive comedy; I appreciated this anime maintaining a consistently serious mood. This anime doesn't make any major unforced errors, but also isn't particularly ambitious. Although the characters are forgettable, it was an adequate sports show. I was adequately entertained and would watch a second season.

People who like sports anime should consider giving this a chance. It's a shame about the budget – I really think this anime could have benefited from better production quality, moreso than other shows. This definitely doesn't deserve to be one of the lowest-rated shows on MAL.

For the record, at the time of writing this, I have not yet seen the Free! anime (it is often compared to Dive).

I remember a long time ago when I was a child, multiple times I attended a summer camp hosted at a university with an Olympic-style pool. I swam in this giant pool frequently, and I still vividly remember the diving platforms. It was set up exactly like in this anime. It brought back some memories. I've had recurring dreams over the years about being back in that pool. It's a prominent memory in my mind. I remember jumping off those concrete diving platforms. As a kid it was really cool. I still vividly remember the feeling of those concrete diving platforms beneath my bare feet, and the feeling of jumping off them.

SPOILER COMMENT: nobody actually goes to the Olympics…during the show. The last episode takes place before the Olympics, during a preliminary competition from which the Olympic team is determined. Personally I tend not to fixate on plot milestones like this, but I know this will bother other people. The ending isn't entirely unsatisfying though. An Olympics arc would have been nice to see, but I suppose the Tokyo Olympics were still years in the future when this anime aired. As I've already alluded, most of the show's drama revolves around the preparation for the Olympics, not the actual event. So, be aware of that and set your expectations accordingly.

Not a show I watched recently but was reminded of since roll mentioned the Olympics. It is called Olympia Kyklos. The premise is similar to Mari Yamazaki's other work Thermae Romae except instead of it being about a bath architect in Ancient Rome, it's about an wannabe vase painter in Ancient Greece.
It's a fun little comedy, each episode's runtime is about five minutes and I definitely recommend to check it out!
The ED songs are really great too.

>>3778
Sounds similar to Sekkou Boys.

>>3778
I never finished it but I had a really good time watching it back on /a/.

>>3780
Well in a way it does sound similar considering Demetrios and Mars share the same seiyuu, Ono Daisuke

i've been watching some non non biyori lately, and i'm surprised at how engaged i am. i never thought an anime about the life of rural japanese kids would be so fun to watch but here i am ending the first season in 3 days. something about this show really resonates with me, it feels like childhood, nature and fun and i really need those things right now so it's perfect.
i'm still very new to the slice of life genre but it looks like i'll be enjoying it more often from now on

>>3787
NNB is a masterpiece in cozyness and evoking the best parts of childhood. I'm glad you've taken the SoL-pill sushi, there's a lot of great anime in that genre.

Who's your favorite girl? I like Nattsun and Dagashiya

>>3788
i love hotaru and koma-chan-senpai, their dynamic is so cute. nattsun and dagashiya are great too, the former is like a more extroverted and active version of myself so she's the most relatable person in this anime to me. i don't really have a favorite though, i feel like all the characters have a role to play in this village, and that's one of the things that make this anime shine for me, it's the sense of community and the chemistry of the characters

>>3788
>I like Nattsun and Dagashiya
Good choices, but I think it's worth pointing out who's shows up in 75% of the total images you posted

https://myanimelist.net/anime/34822

I watched Tsuki ga Kirei, also known as The Moon is Beautiful or NyQuil PM. Here are my thoughts:

I tried. I swear I tried. I tried my very best to like this show. I dropped it TWICE – once shortly after it aired, and once again when I gave it a second chance around 2019. I picked it up a third time in 2022 in a desperate effort to see what the hype was all about, yet still I was disappointed, although did finish it. I did my very best to like this show, and watched it in a variety of states of mind only to be met by unwavering disappointment.

For those unaware, this is a pure romance show focused on characters in late Japanese middle school (around 14 years in age I think).

The male lead and his female love interest are both ridiculously boring characters. They both have the personality of a three-day-old bowl of gruel. They have terrible chemistry and their interactions are mindnumbingly boring. I never felt the slightest spark of romance between them, or any emotion at all for that matter (besides boredom and frustration). Their entire relationship feels unnatural and artificial.

The dialogue is painfully boring and tedious, way WAY beyond the point of endearing shyness. This is not the cute reluctant youthful romance I was lead to expect. The two leads are absurdly deadpan – their affect is so flat I thought they were on enough antipsychotics to put a schizophrenic elephant into a coma (and if that doesn't work they should just broadcast this anime in the beast's habitat – this show is so forgettable it could invalidate prior studies on elephant memory). Furthermore, a huge portion of their interaction takes place via phone messages, which maybe is a blessing in disguise because the character animation is so bad. Which leads me to my next point…

The visuals of this anime are poor. The character CGI is awful, and I'm usually willing to overlook this. Seriously, those scenes of the school campus with the CGI-animated students were so poorly done. Besides the rare background frame, this show has poor visual production quality. Also worth mentioning is that I did not like the character designs – those sameface characters with the beady eyes were consistently unpleasant to look at. This is compounded by the bland school outfits and totally boring colour palette. Even outside of the CGI scenes, the character animation is crude and often off-model. Like, I can excuse poor animation if the show makes an effort at some kind of art style, but this show has neither! The colour palette and character designs are ugly and the animation quality is messy. I will concede that there were sometimes nice background frames (the ep.8 festival date is a good example), but that certainly does not excuse the appalling character animation. A lot of the visuals in this look like they took a real-life photo, passed it through an anime-style visual filter, and then added some hideous CGI-animated characters. The visual contrast between the characters and their environment is often quite stark. Even in scenes that take place on the street, the CGI-animated cars look like they belong in a console game released in 2002. Infrequently the focus of a frame is well targeted to create a nice cinematic effect – unsurprisingly these moments don't have any characters in the shot. Also I would be remiss if I did not mention that the ridiculous amount of phone messages in this show resulted in some consistently boring and tedious screenplay. Seriously, when phone screencaps are a central focus of the ED sequence, you can't deny something has seriously gone wrong with this so-called 'romance' anime (and that's not even mentioning the unfunny 'comedy' skits they add after the ED).

The commercial success of this anime is a total mystery to me, but clearly the return on investment must have been great since the animation budget was planned in Zimbabwean dollars (perhaps the elephants really were running the show, with autocratic rule too).

As I already alluded, the voice acting for the two leads is totally catatonic, and because they dominate the screentime and script, the rest of the cast is largely irrelevant. Regardless, none of the supporting cast VAs impressed me. As for music, I remember there being at least one okay insert vocal song, but otherwise the OST seemed fairly unremarkable.

>>3848
Storywise, the sources of conflict are quite cliche. It was a pretty generic school romance in this regard too. There was nothing in the writing that I found praiseworthy, and the story overall feels formulaic.

Later in the series, competing potential love interests are introduced for both the male and female MC. Ordinarily, I would not enjoy this, but the two leads have such awful chemistry that I actually enjoyed (relatively) the presence of these other potential suitors. Seriously, both the alternative love interests had better chemistry with their respective targets. I think in both cases this was largely due to the pairing of an outgoing extroverted character with a shy soft-spoken romantic target. This is in stark contrast to the original couple, who are both quite introverted and reserved (and boring!). On a similar train of thought, I gotta say that I liked the amusement park episode way more than the others, perhaps mainly for the reasons just outlined. Or maybe because everyone in that episode communicates in-person instead of relying on those awful tedious text messages. In any case, episode 7 when they go to the amusement park, that was probably my favourite episode of the entire series (which isn't saying much).

It's worth noting there is little comedy in this, which is certainly not something I can say about other romance shows. Regardless of all my criticisms, I will always praise the absence of inappropriate comedic relief, particularly here because it's so common in romance shows like this. Similarly, I appreciated how wholesome and pure this show was. There was pretty much zero sexualization at all or so-called 'fanservice'. This anime was consistently innocent and sweet, regardless of all its flaws; it consistently had a 'puppy love' feeling to it. I think this is one of the main reasons it was so well received, but that also illustrates the scale of unmet demand for this kind of thing – I'm sure a show with the same premise as Tsuki ga Kirei but competently executed could be very successful.


My overall rating: 3/10
Tsuki ga Kirei is one of the worst romance shows I have ever seen. I'm mystified by what people see in this show. From my perspective, it brings nothing to the table; I see nothing of artistic worth here. There are some brief romantic moments but they're not nearly enough to compensate for the time invested. The two leads are unbelievably weak characters, and more importantly, they have zero romantic chemistry whatsoever. Additionally, both the screenplay and dialogue are incredibly dull, and the character animation is jarringly dreadful.

What words would I use to describe my Tsuki ga Kirei viewing experience? Exasperating, frustrating, BORING, irritating, unemotional, tedious…

I feel like most of the people praising this anime are just projecting their own memories onto it. Since the show and its characters have zero personality whatsoever, it is certainly a good projection medium (perhaps this is a positive feature for some viewers). I also imagine that this show would be potent self-insert material for some people. Maybe I am the wrong audience for this kind of thing.


Just warning anyone reading: expect a lot of negative reviews over the next few months. I have a lot of garbage in my pipeline and, with some exceptions, I am mainly scraping the bottom of the barrel of 2017 right now. I'll probably be more positive once I wrap up my evaluation of 2017.


>>3787
I loved NNB (rated it 9/10). You reminded me that I still haven't seen the vacation movie or the third season. I should definitely do that. Might even write a review for it.

>>3848
>>3849
>I feel like most of the people praising this anime are just projecting their own memories onto it.
Yeah, that's me. I liked Tsuki ga Kirei because it tapped into that middle school nostalgia. The plot isn't memorable but the tedious, boring awkwardness you hate is what makes it beautiful for me. Tsuki ga Kirei is a more realistic depiction of middle school romance than most anime but understandably not the most capitvating.

>>3701
Episode 1 of Hanairo made me want to commit suicide like nothing else I’ve ever watched. It’s been a year and I still feel sick when thinking about it.
None of the reviews I’ve read mention how depressing the story is, or how much of a punching bag Ohana is, or how the underlying message is that she deserves it and that abusing your family and employees is great.
…I’m probably weird for thinking it’s a fucked up anime, or for complaining about it after just one episode. Or maybe I’m misinterpreting the point. I don’t know. Just wanted to get this out.

>>3852
I'm not gonna lie, it strikes me as kinda unhealthy for an anime to have affected you that severely. I watched it years ago and don't remember the first episode being anything put of the ordinary. I'd avoid watching anime in general because there's much worse out there in terms of showing upsetting things.

Very excited for the Wataten movie
Loved that anime

>>3853
I see. It might have just hit the right sore spots for me and next to no-one else.
I've watched things that you'd expect would be more upsetting, like Eva and NHK and… Wonder Egg? but those are mostly depressing (or offensive in Wonder Egg's case), not self-harm triggers.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/33218

I watched Kimi no Koe wo Todoketai, also known as I Want To Deliver Your Voice. Here are my thoughts:

This is just a ~90-minute movie, so I'll try to be brief.

It should be noted that I'm a huge sucker for anything relating to DJing, or radio, or talk shows, or just anything that involves sharing audio with others really. For this reason I thought I might like this movie, and was cautiously optimistic about it.

The plot of this feels kind of unfocused, and most of the movie consists of the various teenage girl characters messing around in this radio cafe place. There is some petty drama among the teenage girls. Throughout its runtime this movie alters between SoL-like scenes (that often involve radio), and various kinds of drama. This movie felt pretty 'family friendly', in the sense that I could imagine both a child and adult enjoying it. There was nothing inappropriate in here for a child audience (well, maybe aside from one character being in a preexisting long-term coma, and a friendly ladyy slap in one scene during an argument among the girls).

The main premise of this movie is cool and promising. Much of the story revolves around the existence of 'kotodama', which are basically word spirits. The idea is that spoken word has the power to influence reality via these word spirits. I thought this was a great idea for a story, but unfortunately the execution in this case is very mediocre. I also wish they spent more time in general developing this aspect of the story. Although there are some good ideas, the actual scene-by-scene storyline of this anime is pretty uninteresting.

This movie feels amateurish as well as low budget, which is kinda surprising since it came out of Madhouse. I really do not like the character designs – they are ugly and overly simplistic. Furthermore, the character animation is lackluster and the facial expressions lack detail. The setting sometimes looks decent, but definitely not above average for a modern anime movie. Overall the visuals are lacking.

Ironically (recall title), the voice acting in this is pretty bad, overall. The MC in particular has really amateurish-sounding voice work, which is unfortunate, especially considering the importance of voice in this movie. Most of the music they play is well-known classical that you've likely heard before; it was pretty underwhelming. It felt like they played it overly safe by sticking to classical music. Also, teenage girls knowing and liking Vivaldi definitely required some suspension of disbelief. I think it was a poor decision to use classical music for this. There is a song near the end of the movie that the girls sing together; their singing actually sounds surprisingly good, especially in chorus. Nice lyrics too. I would have enjoyed this movie more if they included more scenes like that. The vocals in the ED song were surprisingly good as well.

It's worth mentioning that, despite the short runtime, this movie is well paced and the ending is neat and tidy. They didn't bite off more than they could chew. I also want to mention that there is zero romance (or any sexualization at all) in this, which I was grateful for. All the main characters in this are female, and males are barely relevant beyond facilitating the plot.


My overall rating: 4/10
Although its premise has a lot of potential, and there are some good ideas in the writing, the execution of this movie is unmistakably mediocre.

As far as anime movies go, this wouldn't be a bad choice to watch with a kid or young teenager; I think that's one aspect of this that could be a selling point. There aren't many anime movies I could say that about, so I think it's noteworthy. In particular, I can imagine a young girl (like, about age 8-12) really enjoying this due to all the early-teens female social dynamics it contains, and this movie overall has kind of a girly Disney-like vibe to it. In fact the more I think about it, the more I'm realizing that this anime was made with a young female audience in mind. This movie seems like something a mother and daughter could enjoy together.

I've seen multiple people liken this movie to Kimi no Na wa and Koe no Katachi – this assertion of similarity is utterly moronic and not based in reality. Aside from being a drama with a similar title, this has very little in common with those two other movies. Anybody saying this is "the Madhouse response to [KnNw/KnK]…" has meme brainworms and isn't analyzing things objectively. I don't know the reasoning behind this movie's title choice, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a marketing gimmick designed to catch attention and spark discussion due to its similarity to the aforementioned well-known titles. Maybe there's a story to be told regarding that.


>>3852
The character dynamics in Hanasaku Iroha were dark and twisted in many ways.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/33337

I watched ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka. Also known as ACCA: 13th Territory Inspection Department. Here are my thoughts:

I'd describe the world this takes place in as a fascist monarchy. Culturally, it felt like a mix of France and Germany but not overtly Nazi-inspired (aside from the uniforms). It also felt like a mid-20th-century time period but with some modern technology added like cell phones and desktop computers. It was peculiar. Sometimes a random piece of technology would appear in a scene and it would seem very unusual and break my immersion for a moment.

This anime is about a political conspiracy that unfolds painfully slowly over the course of the show. Most of the characters are government officials in the ACCA department and/or belong to the ruling monarchy in some way. There is inadequate exposition, particularly during the early episodes. This anime tries to be 'show don't tell', but this is not the right setup for a subtle conspiratorial political plotline. This is definitely a show that requires world building and background information, and its deficiency in this regard is a major issue. I often felt like I was watching a promo trailer or something because it frequently seemed like I was just randomly dropped into a scene with zero context or ability to comprehend the significance of the dialogue. I wasn't given a reason to care about anything or anyone in this show. Literally, putting a 1-minute exposition blurb by a narrator with visual aids in every few episodes would enhance this show tremendously. There is no broader context to what is happening in the show and it almost just feels like a nonsensical fever dream, particularly during the earlier episodes. The story feels totally aimless for much of the runtime.

Pretty much the entire cast is unlikeable or at least lacking personality. The little sister character is annoying and airheaded. The MC (Jean) is a memorably awful character. He has zero personality at all and resembles a chainsmoking beached fish. He is such an incredibly dull character, and what's even weirder is how he's adored everywhere he goes. There's also Niino, who is chairman of the Jean fan club and is his stalker BF (not quite literally). Other characters include a large number of ACCA organization members, nearly all of whom are underdeveloped. Many of the ACCA members could have been removed from the cast and the story would have worked fine without them; it seems the author needed some extras to use up the remaining silly hairstyles they had sitting around.

The scriptwriting in this is shockingly awful. Mundane comments about smoking tobacco are relentlessly included in the script for seemingly no reason at all (literally the MC's entire personality, aside from being borderline narcoleptic, is that he's a smoker). Also, whoever wrote this show clearly loved sweets and baked goods, because they are constantly inserted into the script AD NAUSEAM. The dialogue in general is incredibly dull and mindnumbing. Everything in the script is so banal and pointless. I really can't stress enough how unbelievably dull and monotonous the dialogue in this show is. It's almost hard to believe it was even meant to be entertainment. It's astonishing this anime even got greenlit, especially with such a seemingly high budget. This script is so torturously monotonous they should have broadcasted it on repeat at Waco (perhaps they will relate to the fascist themes in the story!); even if the Branch Davidians are burning alive, the real torment will come from having to hear another goddamn conversation about smoking.

Throughout the show the MC visits different districts of the kingdom, each of which have different cultures, climate, and are subject to their own unique set of regulations. In theory this sounds very interesting, but the actual product is so lackluster. Usually little of each district is shown during the visits, and not much detail in general is provided. It doesn't take long for the conversations during these travels to devolve into "dude cigarettes lmao." These trips were great opportunities for exposition and world building, but their potential was not capitalized upon at all. It's just shocking because people are constantly talking during these trips, yet the conversations contain so little information! The level of wasted potential is truly staggering. The world building in general for this anime is done very poorly.

>>3915
Despite this supposedly being a mystery show, it seems like there was zero effort whatsoever put into creating suspense.
Midway through the season, there is a hugely important reveal (I won't spoil it, or specify which episode), but the way it is dropped is so nonchalant and flat. This could have been a dramatic moment but instead it was just randomly inserted into the script as casually as the MC talks about goddamn pastries. It was unbelievably strange. I was so bewildered I had to rewind the scene because I thought I misinterpreted the dialogue.

There are eventually some major plot developments during the final few episodes, some of which were inadequately foreshadowed IMO. Despite the seriousness of these developments, I was still left with a feeling of inadequate payoff in terms of that being the climax. It was dissatisfying and underwhelming, especially after enduring the long dull journey to get there. Much of this is in the execution of these scenes and the overall poor direction of the show. There is zero suspense whatsoever, and there is no feeling of catharthis at all when things are resolved, despite the ridiculously drawn-out build up. The climax of the story, including the final episode, is incredibly underwhelming and you definitely should not get your hopes up for it. Please don't justify to yourself continuing to watch this show because you're expecting some big reveal at the end – trust me it's not worth it.

I would describe the art style as being like retro anime but with a modern polish while also retaining its organic feeling. It was crisp and refined but also somewhat dull and lacking creativity. Although the character designs are unique, I think I disliked more of them than I liked. The droopy fish-like eyes of the MC being one ever-present example. Also having most of the cast wear similar bland government uniforms made for a dull visual experience; they could have had way more fun with the outfits and put more creativity and variety into them. Instead, nearly everyone in the cast wears the exact same uniform most of the time, which just reinforces the relentlessly monotonous feeling of this anime. However, the setting did look decent overall. It appeared fairly realistic but, similarly to the outfits, with not much personality or variety. It would have been nice to have something more interesting and with more artistic flair to look at while listening to the droning dialogue of this show. It is still crisp and polished though, don't get me wrong. There is not a single blemish to be found really. However, even though the production quality is solid, this anime still feels half-baked (and I don't mean the goddamn pastries) due to how poorly executed the story is.

I would say the cinematography was above average overall, although inconsistent. Shot composition often did a good job of featuring the setting. Variable focus effects are sometimes used to give the visuals more depth. That said, the animation in this is not dynamic at all. Stills appear very frequently and it felt like the bare minimum of character movement was used.

The voice for Niino (the MC's stalker BF) is unique and suits his role well. Conversely, I found the voice acting of the MC (Jean) as underwhelming as his personality. Everyone else had unremarkable voice work. As for music, I personally don't like jazz, and there is a lot of it in the OST. It seems well produced but it just isn't my cup of tea. There are a few alright piano tracks though.

Lastly, I want to mention that the consistently low-key calm atmosphere of this show made it suitable for when I was tired or just didn't want to watch anything too high energy – this anime was reliably chill and nobody ever yelled in my ear. I suppose this is a positive aspect – it is the main reason I was even able to watch this show to completion.

>>3916
My overall rating: 2/10
This anime is literally just videogame-NPC dialogue played over a low-tempo jazz soundtrack. I'm not exaggerating, that's literally what this show is. The dialogue is so dull it's bewildering. Despite this apparently being a mystery show, it fails to induce any feeling of suspense or tension whatsoever, and is overall incredibly boring to watch. The lack of exposition is also crippling, particularly during the first half of the show where there is zero context at all for the events (or lack thereof) taking place. Throughout all this the MC has the personality of a beached fish and pretty much the entire cast is unlikable. Furthermore, although the production quality is high, both the art style and screenplay leave much to be desired. The visuals being quite polished doesn't change the fact that they are boring and dull. This anime doesn't even feel like entertainment.

Regardless of all this, it was reliably chill. There is basically zero high-tempo music and nobody ever yells. So, if you're looking for a show to fall asleep to, this would be an excellent choice for that. Plus, you won't miss anything if you pass out halfway through, I promise!

There is a 47-min sequel OVA which I masochistically hatewatched.
The setting looked nice and the visuals in general were a notch above the TV anime. However, all of the flaws I addressed above persisted. This OVA was just as astonishingly dull as the TV series.

I did not watch the special shorts but I bet they're awful. I did watch the Blurays though for the record.

>>3915
>>3916
>>3917
Sorry you didn't like it sushi roll! It's funny to read your review though because that one ended up on my watch list because someone described it as "a calm slice of life with a backdrop of intelligence officers". I watched the first episode now and I think it might not be doing enough comfy slice of life to be a slice of life nor enough spy action or drama, so it's kinda in this weird in between place… which might be really appealing to some people. I think I may watch more of it sometime.

>>3920
It doesn't do much of anything, and as a consequence it is indeed calm. I'd recommend it to someone trying to overcome benzodiazepine withdrawal or something lol.

I just watched "Are you Lost?". I liked it. Mild spoilers: the four gals are shipwrecked stranded on a deserted island, but one of them was trained by her dad since she was young to be a survival expert, so she takes care of and teaches the others, while they are in shock trying to adjust to the new way of life. Many cute flashbacks of her dad teaching her these skills.
The friendships and survival skills both feel comfy to me somehow. There is some fetish content to it, mostly piss. It is justified by the survival context, but may turn you off depending on how you feel about body fluids.

>>3393
I read the manga recently… the end is totally open ended, ok! Umm… but yeah, I think they actually gave more explanation about the past in the anime than in the manga. It seems like not knowing was one of the themes though. If they explained how the world got how it is, it would undercut the feeling of the girls touring it.

https://myanimelist.net/anime/35413

I watched Imouto sae Ireba Ii, also known as A Sister is All You Need. Here are my thoughts:

Wow this is complete trash. It was a mistake to feel the slightest flicker of optimism for anything created by the same guy who wrote Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai. Despite being about the manga/LN industry and having characters who are slightly older and 'more adult' than your average anime, this show is surprisingly juvenile. The author really channeled their inner 14-year-old boy into this.

There is a ton of sexual humour in this and most of it is utterly moronic, even by anime standards. Furthermore, the amount of time that gets spent on it is ridiculous; it's not just a line or two here and there – they spend entire scenes just for some idiotic gradeschool-tier sexual joke that makes me feel like I'm being lobotomized. The comedy is unfunny in general, but all the sexual jokes are especially atrocious and just so excessive and ever-present. This show often feels like a 14-year-old boy with an awful sense of humour wrote it with his dick in his hand. I'm not even prude or anything, it's just the constant sexual humour was absolutely eyeroll-inducing and none of it was clever at all. Literally it feels like most of this show's script was written by a dumb hormonal teenage boy. The 'siscon' schtick (recall the title of the anime) also wore out its welcome very fast, and the ways it was used were surprisingly uncreative, especially considering how frequently it was invoked.

The MC was such an annoying little pervy worm; I wanted to beat him up, steal his lunch money, and hang his sneakers from the power lines. He was an insufferable little dweeb with zero redeeming qualities. What an awful MC – probably made to resemble the mouthbreather mental-teenager author himself. In fact I disliked the entire cast; all of the primary characters were annoying in some way. For a show clearly made to appeal to young men, the two female leads both had surprisingly off-putting personalities.

Later in the series there is some character drama involving the main members of the cast in some kind of convoluted love-polygon situation, with a cup of jealousy and inferiority complex thrown in. This drama felt even more juvenile than all the sexual humour. It was really stupid and just unpleasant and groan-inducing to watch.

I must admit, the skits with the accountant were actually funny. Same goes for the tabletop RPG episode – that one was sorta funny and relatable too (although still plagued by excessive unfunny sexual humour).

As far as the publishing industry theme of this show goes, they did make some effort to demonstrate the emotional experiences of authors. However, although the concept is promising, I was still disappointed by this aspect of the show – I thought it could have been handled better but also that it deserved greater focus. The screentime of this anime is dominated by all the sexual comedy, and this promising aspect of the show is neglected as a result. Also, the childishness of the writing and characters themselves neutered a lot of the potential this dimension of the show had. It's hard to relate to this awful cast of characters, even if some of their experiences resemble those that real-life writers commonly encounter.

I thought the OST was bad. If I have to hear one more generic saxophone-heavy 'lewd atmosphere' track I am going to flip a table. Of course this kind of music plays frequently due to the prominence of sexual comedy in this show, and it does not enhance the humour at all. Even outside these scenes, the OST never once enhanced my enjoyment of the show. The voice acting for the entire cast was mediocre as well, with the exception of Nayuta – her VA did a good job and sounded cute, although I disliked her character.

As for visuals, they were adequate but mediocre. I didn't like the bolt-on-torpedo-tits character designs of the females, and all the males looked dweebish and unattractive. There is no discernable art style and the visuals were never a source of enjoyment for me. Also they could have had way more fun with the character outfits, considering they're all adults in an informal creative industry, but instead the outfits are boring, uncreative, and rarely change.

I appreciated the craft beer 'food fanservice' in the show. Delicious craft beer doesn't get nearly enough culinary attention in anime, haha.

>>4012
My overall rating: 3/10
This anime in one sentence: a bunch of unlikable characters (mostly LN authors) hang out together and there is a lot of excessive unfunny sexual humour, and then during the later episodes there's some eyeroll-inducing crummy immature character drama about people you don't care about. The end.

This show is quite juvenile and a teenage boy would likely enjoy it far more than I did. Anybody who wants to enjoy this needs to put themselves in a juvenile state of mind and get in touch with their inner teenage boy. If you, like me, tend to dislike sexual humour (especially in excess) then I would suggest avoiding this anime. Were it not for the (underexplored) publishing industry theme, I would have dropped this very quickly.

>>4013
Has there ever been a good siscon anime?

Behold: The Yuyucontroller

>>4041
Heh, that's pretty cute

>>4041
Two beans to play with…

>>4025
Not that I'm aware of.

>>4025
Depends on what you mean by good
Eromanga sensei has good fanservice
Is it a good show? Depends on your tolerance/preference for extremely stupid romcom fanservice shows. (also it's NBR if that's something you care about?)