Assault Lily: Bouquet Review

Overall Rating 5.7 out of 10 - Flawed waifu show that barely works as intended

I can recommend watching if you have no better anime to watch

Even a talentless studio that has little idea what they are doing can sometimes produce something half-decent. 

Assault Lily is one such example. It is based on a series of anime figurines, featuring cute dress in sexy clothes with overengineered weapons, called charms. This alone carries the show. Figurine designers knew what they were doing and their girl design is indeed sexy and likable: black dresses with white frills, small puffy skirts, stockings - near maid outfits. This design is what carries the show. This show is about staring at cute girls on screen and little more.

The bad parts clearly came from the scriptwriters. Personalities of must girls are rather unlikable, too much jealousy, toughness and wickedness, too little moe. Waifu shows are all about moe, take K-On! for example, girls there so innocent, cute, silly and stupid in a cute way. Kyoani clearly knows how it's done. Here instead most girls exhibit rather unlikable personally traits instead.

They also tried to tap into lesbian dynamic too, but they did it like real lesbians where one girl plays the guy's part in a relationship. That is how yaoi is written for female audiences, lesbians written for male audiences are instead written by making both girls equally sweet and innocent.

The story in theory revolves around fighting huge, but most of the time is dedicated to girls' drama instead. It's the kind of girl's drama that is nor entertaining in any way.

The only thing that carries the show is uniform design. This barely pushes this show to above average overall. Because of that I can recommend this show for times when there are few good anime and there is nothing better to watch, like post 2012.

Toji no Miko Review

Overall Rating 6.3 out of 10 - Decent show that begins really well and ends rather lackluster.

I recommend watching.

Cute girls, Japanese culture and aesthetics, pleated skirts, stockings and swordfights. A formula of near guaranteed success. That is why I was very enthusiastic about this show. Finally, something not feminist, subverting working formulas with unworking ones and such. Pure female exploitation for male enjoyment.

Beginning did not disappoint. Several episodes in plot made such an original and creative twist, it definitely looked like a success story that can earn something around 8 out of 10. For the first quarter to 1/3 of the show, Toji no Miko kept delivering more twists and turns of this rather compelling narrative. I deliberately avoid giving details here as experiencing this as its progress is the best this show has to offer. 

Then came the big reveal that explained all that happened and why it happened. It was not only too long, as they talked several episodes straight, but also rather disappointing. It's not that core plot idea was bad it was rather creative actually. The problem is the role older generations characters played in all that.

Closer to the middle focus shifted from cute young girls to their parents and grandparents. These older people were settling scores with each other, and younger people were merely pawns in their schemes. This older generation teaches younger who is eager to learn never sit well with me and it did not so here as well. Alas, creators of the show like it far too much and spent too much time on that.

The show is officially a one double season, but in practice first 12 episodes get its own conclusion and final battle, followed by full second season that goes from there and offers an interesting boost to the story. Once again core story is solid a be it less dramatic. It's the same old generation problem that got even worse in second season as now old women directly boss young girls to do heavy lifting as they sit in comfy office chairs. 

Older generations are former sword maidens, who screwed up when they were on duty. Now managers they essentially send their kids to fix their mistakes and fight not only aradamas but also rival fraction of sword maidens who disagree on methods and principles, typical boomers. To make matter worse a number of older generation women are really detestable. Younger girls have nicer personalities on average but that too varies. Sayaka is best girl at least according to my taste.

Overall ideological bend of the show also does not sit well with me. It's all about preserving ancient ways and honoring old stuff while opposing modernity.

That said aside from the problems outlined above, it's a decent show. Diverse cast of girls will allow anyone to find one to their liking. Fights are nice with occasional surprise twists. Main antagonists are complex, compelling and interesting. On summary it floats above waterline, even if barely.

Overall, I can recommend watching it. This show has its flaws that are several episodes long at times, but it also has strong points. Middle episodes are worst as well as epilogue.

Arknights: Enshin Shomei

Overall Rating 3.0 out of 10 - Season that betrays and retcons nearly everything from the original

I do not recommend watching.

Me complaining that 2nd and 3rd seasons do not live up to the original is nothing new. Sometimes it's just a minor issues and other times it's a completely deal breaking. 

Unfortunately, 3rd season of Arknights manage to do the worst disservice to the original, changing nearly everything. It's a worse fall that even Kaiji's second season. What makes it worse is the fact that with Kaiji or Gochiusa one could have a benefit of the doubt that new creative team simply misunderstood the original work and fucked up unintentionally. With 3rd season of Arknights its clearly not the case. It was a fully intentional retcon to reframe the entire story as something altogether different.

First season of Arknights was a simple but likable waifu show, much in the mold of Kancolle or Dolls Frontline. 

In addition to a collection of many cute women for every taste out there it had a simple but compelling and relatable plot. An infection called Oripathy infect certain people, giving them special abilities called arts. Common uninfected people fear the infected and discriminate against them. 

Reunion wants revenge for the mistreatment they suffered. Rhodes instead wants to find ways for everyone live in peace somehow. Very on the zeitgeist as boomers and Gen W (early Gen X) ruined economy, betrayed Millennials and stole our future. Because of that one can relate to a Reunion's cause.

In contrast Rhodes, who is a protagonist, offers a number of nice, kind, accepting and forgiving females, something real life women clearly lacking nowadays. Rhodes is clearly a waifu garden for a discerning man. 

Amiya clearly represents (or represented) all these qualities well enough. Her presence made half of the show. Rooting for Reunion to deal with all the uninfected the other.

First season was the truest to the cause, second season had some questionable parts but was on the level. Things really went south in the third one. To begin with most of the season are flashbacks. First, we see a Rhodes past. It was transformed into a fraction that fought for power in Ursus but lost, Theresia was killed and Rhodes went on to fight Reunion instead. That was followed by flashback about Talulah, who was retconned into an altruistic idealist who was helping poor and wanted to transform Ursus until loss of her best friend made her insane. All of it became inside Ursus conspiracy.

Characters and their motivations changed too. Amiya was transformed from kind and accepting girl into an enforcer of some abstract moral; creators try so hard to sell to viewers. Other characters changed too. I already explained Talulah, but doctor, Kalt'sit and Mephisto all have changed too. Patriot got a big role with his weird and contradictory ideals about who has right to speak or fight or whatnot. He is but another vehicle for authors to sell their views to public.

Until last episode I was willing to give it somewhere between 50 and 60 but conclusion was the worst possible. It was almost as if it deliberately tried to cover the bingo card of every single trope, I hate modern fiction for: justifying abuse, suffering and hardship, absurd levels of guilt, self-punishment, self-sacrifice, false justice, illogical arguments, stopping fight instead of resolving issue, avoiding the real problems and more. Causing people suffering is not making them stronger, it's a heinous crime whose perpetrators need to be stopped, by killing them if necessary.

All in all, this is unapologetic propaganda piece that tries hard to sell viewers its views and values. The question is whom these values benefit so much they would be willing to go out of their way to hamfist them into this story. The answer is old, rich and privileged. 

Story deliberately tries to blame the victim by shifting blame from society to infected themselves. Allegedly it's not the world that treats infected unfairly but rather infected themselves who supposed to live to some higher standard none around them even bother to adhere.

Who benefit from this victim blaming message this season pushes so heavily. Obviously, the crooks themselves, people who steal your money and future now telling you to learn forgiveness and acceptance, blame yourself instead of those who wronged you.

Once again, the fiction hit close to the real life. Older generations who stole wealth of the younger ones in a Financial Crisis of 2008. Now they sit in their luxurious retirement homes paid by stolen wealth and fear consequences. Reunion reminds them of these consequences. They fear Millennials will organise like Reunion and pry back that stolen wealth from boomer's cold dead hands. 

That is why older people sponsor this blatant rewriting of the story into propaganda. It is to preserve their stolen wealth and status that wealth allows them. That is why this season is not focused on changed but on preserving status quo. They might call it de-radicalisation but it's just another lie, a hypocrisy designed to protect the stolen wealth from those from whom it was stolen. Justice is not protecting status quo. Justice is taking this wealth back, not in letting the thieves keep it. 

Our lives and our futures were stolen by boomers and Gen W (early Gen X), it's time we pry that back from their cold dead hands. They did not earn any of it, its paid for by the ever-increasing rents and ever decreasing salaries. Justice demands boomers pay for their theft, lies and other crimes.

Arknights: Enshin Shomei is a sequel that betrays the original cause of the show and twists it into toxic and unlikable tale. I do not recommend watching.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai Review

Overall Rating - 7.2 out of 10 - Smarter than average, even if dragged out show

I recommend watching.

Higurashi is what Ryukish07 was writing before he created Umineko. You may call it the Umineko prototype of sorts. However, Umineko went all out to the very bottom of Nietzschean abyss, pulling all the stops along the way and showing just how far you can take the "train of thoughts". Umineko is one of a kind "black tea" for fellow "monsters", I rate it only below Code Geass. However, you need a far above the average intelligence to fully understand it. Many fail to understand Umineko at all and thus Higurashi remains fans favorite as it is more accessible for an average intelligence. Either that or they all obsess over Keiichi, just like female heroines of this show.

Compared to Umineko, Higurashi is a much simpler show, but it still has a few clever tricks to offer. This review is of the second season. I watched the first one a while back (8 years ago) but did not review it. In the first season, girls all took turns getting jealous of Keiichi for preferring someone other than them and went on a killing spree, killing all their rivals and sometimes Keiichi as well. I might miss some details here and there.

Second season is the so called "answer" ark, where it all explained or covered up if you understand what is going on. Events of the first season are re-interpreted as caused by Hinamizawa syndrome and is said to be triggered by Miyo Takano's revenge for the treatment of her adoptive grandpa. They also show alive older Rena as a hint to the answers for the first season.

Takano as well as her backstory is rather well written. She is an interesting and realistic villain who knows how to jest, lie, pretend and use feminine charms to get something. In contrast the protagonists certainly overdo the "power of friendship" routine. At times it's worse than shonen anime. It certainly makes the anime feel drag out. Ryukishi07 was never the laconic type, but if length of Umineko was due to sheer complexity of the ideas he wanted to explain, in Higurashi it feels unjustified. 

Of course, that could also be because I just do not find the setting or characters very likable or relatable, so excessive cheering for them does not fill me with good emotions. Characters do fit the story well, but hardly likable in their own right. If I had to name a favorite it will be Rena, because she is all cute and sweet half of the time at least. That is rather unusual for anime or Japanese media, where some shows hardly even have plots and entirely carried by the cast. Compare to that this show is story driven.

Overall, however I can recommend it simply because it was written by someone much more smart than average screenwriter. It's a show that can actually give you things to think about and keep your brain entertained. A tad rare thing in our anti-intellectual era where dumbness and room temp IQ is standard, because everything should be understood even by a 5-year-old toddler to maximise profits. Though to really help your intellectual solitude I recommend Umineko and my other 10, 9 and some 8.5 shows. 

I wrote a review for Umineko, but even a review for Umineko cannot be understood with room temp IQ, much less show itself.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Review

Overall Rating 7.0 out of 10 - Rather unusual but interesting and fun anime.

I recommend watching.

In a world where too many creators cannot replicate the usual moe formula right because of their feminist views or opposition to female sexual exploitation. we occasionally get shows that, while not trying to be moe, end up being more moe that those who try to be moe. This show is one such show.

The show is, as paradoxical as it sounds, a colourful horror. It is one of the interpretations of traditional Japanese 7 school ghosts, called wonders here. Each ghost is associated with certain area of school and will show up at certain times, like midnight of if contacted in certain way. In this case the main protagonist is one such ghosts, but you get to see others too.

Most of the time these ghosts are deadly, and this show is no exception. Some students end up dying offscreen and main protagonists try to stop that. Though it's not like a typical ghost anime where students decided to contact one of the ghosts in a attempt to show their bravery only to find out the ghost really does exist and now wants to kill then.

The protagonist ghost, Hanako aka Amane, can be contacted by knocking on one of the toilet stall doors in a female toilet on the third floor, yes, that specific. He ostensively could make someone's relationship work out or help people find love. The protagonist girl, Yashiro, who tried contacting him, ended up turned into half fish and was instead bound to him as his new assistant and toilet cleaner.

I kind of like Yashiro. The amount of air in her head is so vast, it is refreshing and spacious. You just want to fill this space with your own ideas. Much better that girls whose brains are cluttered with feminist nonsense or gold-digging and manhating ideas their parents and society taught them. Yashiro is dreamy, naive and dumb in a cute way airhead. She also has a Stockholm syndrome, a likable trait for a girl. World would be a better place if more girls were like Yashiro. 

Hanako is somewhat relatable actually. He seems like carefree at first, but actually rather sharp and capable if he puts his mind to it. He also has dark past that makes him go all groom, dark and brooding sometimes. A character with personality depth. As a ghost, he avoids his brother whom he killed when he was alive and who now also a ghost who looks just like Hanako himself. I can see some of my own traits in Hanako, particularly the alteration between, carefree mood, sharp intelligence and the dark brooding. I did not kill anyone though... however there are number of people I wish were dead, hopefully by a fortunate accident or COVID-19 infection because I do not want to bother killing them myself.

Art is nice too. Its colourful, but tasteful, without oozing ugliness that some other "colourful" shows have.

Not all is sunshine though. Side characters leave to be desired. No likable girls aside from Yashiro and no likable guys either.

On the summary however it is a solid show, not a breakthrough or a masterpiece but a fun and enjoyable experience that you might even want to rewatch one day. Solid 7.

World of Warcraft Zones and Why I like or not like them

In the end of my previous article about World of Warcraft I mentioned 5 most and least favorite zones. Many of these were opposite of what other players call their favorites. Here I decided to write a little bit about each zone and why I liked or disliked them.

Ashenvale (also Teldrassil and Darnassus as they use the same palette and art) This one is rather unsurprising for me personally. I already mentioned that I like Night Elves in WoW as well as their zone. I ever wrote why. While I can vaguely tell why say few players call Eastern Plaguelands their favorite zone, it is rather surprising why hardly anyone names Ashenvale among their favorites.

Ashenvale is Night Elves and Night Elves are Ashenvale. This zone and all that is within them define this race and its civilization. Constant night, gloving shrubs on the side of paved roads. Magical trees, driads, ancient ruins, wisps. There are mystery and magic in every corner. This is a zone you just cannot imagine existing in real life and that is what is good about it. It is unmistakenly otherworldly. It also reflects well on Night Elves as people; they are ancient mysterious. They were great once and mighty once and ruins scattered around them is testament to that. Just looking at what was left of them allows you to imagine just how great this civilization was in its prime. It was much greater, timeless, eternal even than anything else this world has. Night Elves who leave among the remnants of that ancient civilization reflect its glory a lot better than Blood Elves with their rather shoddy constructs. You can also learn more of Night Elves former glory by visiting Dire Maul dungeon in Feralas.

Ashenvale is definitive outlandish zone of magical mystery of night and a definitive fantasy. 

Azshara is one of the most underrated zones in WoW. There are few quests there and no real questing hubs, so few people ever visit there. High cliffs make navigation challenging and annoying. Yes, practical reasons do not favor this zone, but I like it not because of that but because of how it looks and feels.

Azshara is Night Elf biome meets autumn beauty. Autumn is a peculiar season, sang and acclaimed by poets such as Pushkin in some of their most famous poems. I may be biased as I was born in the middle of this season, but I find autumn beautiful, not as much as tropical beach paradise such as Maldives and Teneriffe, but beautiful, nonetheless. Speaking of tropical paradises, Azshara has lots of coastline with beautiful beaches inhabitant by Nagas. Sea there is large and bountiful, many small rocks and islands, one is even a home to a mysterious hermit, Loramus, surrounded by several felhounds. More inland areas have Night Elven Hyppogryphs and mountain giants. All of them manage to coexist in peace and serenity. Serenity is one of the defining feels of this zone, everything is so magically peaceful, minds its own business and does not bother you. Beaches and the sea have a hint of sunset tinge to them, just at the perfect moment of evening twilight. Finally, there are even more Highborne ruins than in other Elven zones. 

All in all, Azshara is the definitive zone of twilight of the Highborne civilization. I was almost inclined to rate it higher than Ashenvale, but eternal night and mystery edges it by a bit.

Desolace is often named as one of the least popular zones by other players. Some sure will be surprised to see it among my favorites. Nonetheless it is not a typo or mistake, I like Desolace and I will explain why.

Desolace is a place of large spaces, even larger kodo bones. Middle is a gray desert, but it is a very spacious desert that make you feel free and unencumbered. There is something eternal about all these bones and long wide roads that cut across this endless space. It feels you can go anywhere and keep going there for as long as you want. Horizon has a sunset feel to it. There are occasional statues and other monumental structures here and there, that gives you a hint it's not completely empty or barren.

However, far western and far eastern sides of Desolace have even more to offer. Far western areas have sparce vegetation, growing on the rocky cliffs, a biome peculiar to Greece and Greek islands. It has a unique rare beauty, that few manage to notice over the noise around them. Deep inland areas in contrast have satyrs and demons, together with the darkness they bring with them.  As a warlock player, I do not find demonic darkness unpleasant, I would not be playing as warlock otherwise. In contrast I find it curious and stimulating, something to indulge myself into.

All in all, Desolace has a lot more to offer than what initially meets the eye. And that is without even touching Maraudon, that has some very interesting areas inside.

Westfall is probably the most normal zone of my favorites. Something others can possibly relate to.

Westfall is another more prosaic face of autumn: golden fields, ready to for harvest. Harvest is a very pleasant time for a farmer. Westfall combines some of the elements from Azshara and Desolace. From Azshara is takes autumn and from Desolace the space. It is a zone for those who like colour yellow, and I do like it. It is the colour of gold, sun, beer, butter and bread as well as the warm light inside a hospitable home. Westfall is ultimate livable zone, even more so than say Elvyn Forest. Its peaceful, its spacious and it even has some variety, a town, a tower, a mine, a coast a lighthouse and even a river. You can see far and wide there and that gives me certain comfort. 

Westfall is warm, dry, cozy and very livable, what not to like.

Eastern Plaguelands is probably the hardest to understand. Toxic mist, ruins, decay, corruption and scourge monsters everywhere. Why would anyone like it?

The reason Plaguelands are here is because it is also an ultimate fantasy zone, a be it in this case it is a dark fantasy. Plaguelands is an example of how far a Scourge can go to twist and pervert everything in their image. Western Plagueland are half finished product while Eastern Ones are the complete work. It's all dead there, only undead roam the ruins. 

However, seeing this monstrarium roaming the plains and even being one of them is one of the reasons people play fantasy games to begin with. In a game you can be a monster too, unaffected by the plague, you roam around, killing the innocent helpless humans and animals that dare to venture there.

Plaguelands also make a good backdrop for a tragic story of heroism where brave heroes took their last stand against the Scourge, fell and now roam these lands as undead. Stories like these drive fantasy forward. Lack of lands as desolated as Plaguelands in later expansion makes their storytelling cheap in comparison, whatever egg problem these dragons of Dragonflight are having, it's hardly more important and tragic that this.

Desolation of Plaguelands is what drives the story of World of Warcraft forward and gives meaning to many efforts, players put in the game.

Least favorite zones

Un'Goro is often mentioned as favorite zone by many players out there. Dinosaurs roam there and titans left something behind too. Why I hate it instead?

Un'Goro it just to green to my taste. It's completely unfiltered wilderness with nothing but wilderness. It's all green, green and nothing but green; you can't see the sky or more than 25 meters ahead. There is not a single building or something from a civilization. Despite being rather flat, it's hard to navigate and easy to get lost there. Everyone trying to eat you and most of them are hard to notice as they are as green as everything else here. There is even a green haze to make even non-green things greener. It's as digestible as eating lemons or sugar cubes raw without even drinking water along the way.

Redridge Mountains are also single colour like Un'Goro but too red instead. Mountains are reddish, roofs are red and there is hardly anything else aside from red in that zone. For an early level zone, it can be surprisingly hard to navigate, these mountains are very tall. Not as hard as Azshara but Azshara is endgame zone, by the time you reach Azshara you have mounts and other tools. In Redridge its all on foot and it can take forever. 

Overall, there is just not enough in this zone to make it interesting. Its redness keeps you alert rather than calm and happy.

Dun Morogh is dwarf starting zone. This is a snow zone, and I am no big fan of snow. Compared to a rival winter zone, Winterspring, Dun Morogh loses because its more mixed bag than Winterspring. Parts of Winterspring looks like a picturesque winter fairytale from books and stories. That is what puts Winterspting ahead of Dun Morogh. Winter in Dun Morogh is too ordinary and boring, just everyone keeps going on despite the cold and shit. Not my cup of coffee.

Wetlands are another mostly dwarven zone, there is human settlement, but progression leads you there from dwarven Loch Modan. Wetlands is a dark swampy zone with not much interesting going on. It's kind of lost in the middle of nowhere, there are some orks, dark iron dwarfs, murlocs, gnolls and even ghosts of Kul'Tiran humans. It has no cohesive theme and overall, rather bleak. Yes, Dustwallow Marsh is even bleaker, darker and swampier, but it has white and shiny Theramore island, dragon areas and a Goblin outpost and a crashed zeppeling full of strange tech.

Finally, Feralas and north Strangelthorn Vale are much like Un'Goro, but Feralas has Dire Maul and Strangthorn has overall warmer shade of green that appeal to me more than one from Un'Goro. Stranglethorn Vale has many nicer areas mostly in the south around Booty Bay, but north is just too much wilderness.

I can mention a few more areas, but I will leave it at that instead. I think that gives good idea just what I like and why.

Release the Spyce Review

Overall Rating 3.3 out of 10 - Bad show with unlikable characters and annoying drama

I do not recommend watching

In anime industry there are sometimes shows that do not really understand what they are doing. Shows like these sometimes try really hard at doing something that just does not resonate with public.

However, there are also shows, or more precise certain creators, who know how it's done but decide to screw it over anyway. It is hard to tell if they do so to troll the viewers, because they are too bored or have certain determination to make a show that public will not like for their personal reasons. Release the Spyce is of this category.

Release the Spyce has appealing art of cute girls in cute ninja-like outfits with pleated skirts, crescent moon logo and what not, perfect for waifu show. If Futoku no Guild will do their show with these characters instead of their own, it will be 7.5 That followed by rather fun first episode that shows what this show is theoretically capable of to further entice viewers to stay and watch.

From there however it goes to shit decisively fast and then equally decisively stays so for the next three episodes. I dropped after that, but I do not think it will recover from there. 

After cool battle action of first episode, we go towards internal drama in the spy agency. Couple of early episodes give you certain benefit of a doubt that it just an introductory part and we will get to action once they finally accept the pink haired protagonist as regular member. However, even afterwards drama continues. 

There are 6 girls in the agency, but they are divided into 3 apprentices and 3 mentors. Dynamics between apprentice and mentor is the worst thing possible. Apprentice works hard to be approved and do reckless things, putting themselves and everyone else in danger, just to get acknowledged. All that followed by lengthy scolding, blaming, apologising and another annoying drama. Plenty of guilt, self-blame and other emotions I do not want to see. Watching this is painfully unpleasant like eating raw cactus mixed with clay and dirt.

It was supposed to be a waifu shows: where are all the scenes of cute ninja girls, tied up in compromising poses? Even the problem children, I reviewed not so long ago, figured that out by the time of OVA.

None of the girls have likable enough personality, which is rather hard to pull off with 6 characters in the show. One eyed girl's behavior reminds me of my dad, whom I hate a lot. She treats pink hair harsh and cruel (whole crew sick of her rule and want to mutiny and invite the pirates on board to disperse justice), then apologises for to the other members of agency to make pink hair feel even worse.

Antagonists are not that much better; they are weirder that menacing or interesting. Finally, battles are rather sketchy. Sometimes they skip important scenes so it's hard to follow what is going on. Clearly the creators wasted all their effort on that annoying drama.

Overall, it is an anime's equivalent of a clickbait. It's not a cute fighting waifus show but rather a guild and cruel treatment girl drama mess.