Sidonia no Kishi: Daikyuu Wakusei Seneki

Overall Rating 6.4 out of 10 - Good Sequel that has less good but also less bad compared to original.

I recommend watching.

So Mugi from K-On! was an alien after all, I knew it.

Sequel to original Sidonia no Kishi that directly continues the story of the original. You need to watch that first to better understand what is going on here. 

It begins with an interesting plot twist that I will not spoil here. Unfortunately, instead of developing Ochiai's plot, it instead shifts towards relationship/love triangle drama between, Tanikaze, Izana and Tsumugi. Occasionally other personalities like Somori or Ren get on it as well.

Trying to turn Sidonia into harem show was not such a great idea. Its drama is more like real life relationship issues then something enjoyable or entertaining.

Out of harem heroines, none can match gentleness, care and kindness of Hochijiro. They fight over him more than trying to be nice to him to get him like them in the first place. Izana is sometimes nice to Tanikaze but too often complains when she does not get the attention she wants.  Yuhata and Tsumugi spy on them and giggle like schoolgirls. I can pity Tanikaze. Yuhata or Ren completely lack femininity. When surrounded by girls like that it's no wonder Tanikaze keeps thinking of Hachijiro, that never complained and was always warm and helpful towards him. Why can't girls be more like Hachijiro. 

On the other hand, Sidonia crew no longer bullies Tanikaze, that is an improvement over the original.

Ochiai plot has only accidental developments. Authors probably wished to live it to the sequel, but so far, it's not on the cards.

Final battle is rather epic, like in the original, and overall, a great conclusion for the season. That alone can raise the score around half point.

Overall, it is a mostly good show I can recommend.

Maou-sama, Retry! Review

Overall Rating 5.5 out of 10 - Flawed experience with unrealized comedic potential.

Has limited watchability. 

This one is a curious but ultimately half-baked show. I watched it over blonde Rem character (Aku). Aku is cute but hardly gets enough screen time. Most other characters are hardly likable at all. At one point I considered dropping it and give it low review.

Then I noticed something interesting, Demon Lord does occasionally satirize and criticize the flaws in many of the characters he encounters. That sound almost the same as what Shinpachi or Gintoki would say in Gintama when some of their companions doing something stupid. 

Looking at this show from this angle suddenly turns it into a parody or satire show. They even have some of the popular stereotypes in there, such as Chunibyo, spoiled unfeminine women or ultra brave male of shoujo genre stereotypes. All these characters could be heavily grilled by Demon Lord for their stupidity. 

Unfortunately, the show does not fully embrace this path either. Instead of going full Gintama they instead move on to interact with these characters as normal after just few comments on how a fat woman with a fried shrimp for a name does not make sense.

Because of the above, this shows rather slow experience that gives too much screen time to its unlikable characters and not enough to likable ones.

Art is rather plain and boring. It looks like a low budget production.

Overall, there is limited value in watching it. 

Chunibyo Parody - Chapter 1: Chunibyo in Bar

Inspired by Gintama and Maou-sama Retry! in addition to Chunibyo series. In these shows critical common-sense comments by Shinpachi, Gintoki or Kunato helped to expose the absurdity of things that were going on screen. Gintama even had an episode explaining how it works, that covers it partly. Here this role will be played by Observer character.

Chunibyo in Bar

Barmaid goes to a girl with an eyepatch who stands on the table and asks politely:

Barmaid: Excuse me customer, please do not stand on our furniture in such an intimidating posture. You are scaring other customers. If you do not stop, we will be forced...

Chunibyo: You will not stop me, priestess.

Barmaid looks intimidated and confused.

Observer: How is that looks priestess to you, no matter how you look at her 

Chunibyo: I am prepared to fight anyone.

Barmaid stepped back and covered in fear.

Chunibyo: This new attack will not stop me.

Observer: How is that even an attack, can't you see she is scared of you.

Chunibyo hits barmaid with umbrella. Barmaid flees. 

Chunibyo: Forces of Twilight Horizon will not stop me.

Observer: How Twilight series have anything to do with Chunibyo?

Chunibyo: If only Dark Fries Master could see me now.

Observer: What with this title, did he forgot to switch off the frier and burned his fries?

Chunibyo dreamingly recalls the events that led to him adopting this title.

Flashback with Dark Fries Master

Dark Fries Master: No, no, no. I want to forget; this is so painful.

Observer: At least this guy has common sense, unlike his gf.

Dark Fries Master: That started such a big fire that destroyed all my Hatsune Miku figurines. Even ones where she is in fur-suit.

Observer: Never mind what I said earlier. What is wrong with him, who the hell faps to Miku in fur suit.

Flashback with Dark Fries Master ends.

Chunibyo: Ah, Yuut-ward

Observer: What is it, you cannot even decide on his name. At least make your mind if he is Edward or Yuuta

Barmaid returns with the bar security.

Chunibyo: Your familiars cannot defeat me, priestess. My Black Eye sees everything.

Observer: What name for a special ability is that? Does that mean your abusive boyfriends beats you and you have black eye.

Chunibyo gestures towards her eye covered with an eyepatch, touches it but then pulls her hand away in pain.

Chunibyo: Aww.

Observer: I did not even expect to be right on that one.

Security guard rises his ice-cream scoop and hits Chunibyo on her head.

Observer: Why security guard has ice-cream scoop? Is he a part-times as gelato vender. Why there is even a gelato vender in a bar. What kind of bar is it?

Chunibyo: Your Funnel of Jericho will not break my Grau Schuld

Ice-cream scoop hits Chunibyo on her head and breaks.

Chunibyo: ha ha ha

Observer: How dense she can be that even objects made of iron break when they hit her head.

Security Guard takes meat tenderizer and hits Chunibyo again. 

Observer: Why security guard has meat tenderizer is he a chief here as well?

Meat tenderizer hits Chunibyo head and breaks.

Observer: is your head made of rocks? Is that being why you are so stupid?

Security Guard takes crowbar and hits Chunibyo again. Crobar breaks.

Observer: is her head denser than even Nokia 3310. Is it made of Nokias?

Chunibyo: Twilight Watch will not prevent me from becoming vampires together with Yuut-ward.

Observer: I knew that she reads Twilight too much.

Suddenly a Nokia 3310 falls down from under the Chunibyo's hat. It lands on the table, breaks it and the floor underneath it. Chunibyo and the security guard fall into the resulting abyss.

Chunibyo: Nooo, my Grau Schuld.

Observer: Noookia, it was Nokia. Why did you put Nokias all around your head. Are you stupid?

Chunibyo: My plan has worked. Nokias indeed made me invincible. However now that Grau Schuld is destroyed I have to retreat.

Chunibyo jumps down the falling table and runs away into horizon. 

Observer: Ok, it makes sense now. ... Like hell it does, why you even need invincibility. Are you suffering from Chunibyo syndrome? Are you? Are you.

Coming up next: Dark Fries Master Drinks Chunibyo's Blood

Frame Arms Girl Review

Overall Rating 8.2 out of 10 - Explementary waifu show and simply great anime.

This is the best new anime I have seen since Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji back in 2016. I recommend watching.

Back in 2020 I saw an hour and a half movie version that horribly butchered 12 episodes to the point that you had to guess the plot. Even then the potential was visible enough for me to rate it above 60.

I am very glad that I finally got my hands on the TV version. This one really shines. Now you can get the plot and its actually very nice warm and cozy, even if simple.

Girls are cute, adorable and sexy, both personality and appearance wise. These little skirts and panties are awesome, they are better than Strike Witches. The overall concept however closer to KanColle, but they represent not ships but tanks or jets instead. Girls are self-moving miniature figurines, that are covered with armaments. 

Their outfits, both armed and unarmed are one of the sexiest in anime. Zettai Ryoiki works magic here just as everywhere. Its creatively integrated with the rest of the design. Base has Playboy bunny girl feel and Materia and Jinrai have thongs. 

Pretty much every character here is likable in their own way. Somehow, they made even sadistic Materia sisters pitiful and endearing. It's actually hard to pick the best girl here. Goirai, Sty-ko and even Base and Hres have their own charm. Maybe Architect is my favorite though, I like her analytical seriousness. 

Music is great too: it fits the theme of this show and further enhances the experience. Tiny Tiny because these girls are tiny and lovable. Puzzle Heart because too many fails to figure it out, I guess, or because these girls are assembled from pieces of armaments like puzzle.

Art is simple but cute. It uses similar technology to .hack//G.U. Trilogy and Sidonia.

Final little detail is that its episodes are fully self-contained, only penultimate episode ends on a cliff hanger. Because of that it is better to stretch the experience instead of binge watching it like with shows like Code Geass. I stretched it long to offset the experience from leftovers subpar shows on my chopping block.

Overall, this is one of the best anime out there. I watched most of the anime I rated 80 to 100 way before I watched Kaiji. This is somewhat better than Girls und Panzer and Bofuri that I watched after 2016.

So, I can fully recommend it.

Frame Arms Girl: Kyakkya Ufufu na Wonderland

Finally, a few words for movie version. Unfortunately, it's not a good one. It's structured as a recollection of the events so it's hard to understand anything without watching TV series first. Aside from that they added a few new shots and scenes, but they take this show in the wrong direction. 

I originally gave movie only 6.3 which I later could only revise to 6.6 mostly to place it more appropriately compared to other shows. TV series are that much better compared to the movie.

Rewatching Anime

 

Considering that tastes and fashion of the 2010s are total shit it's no surprise that I do rewatch anime from the 2000s and 1990s. Now that my to-watch list has dwindled again, I am picking more and more of the titles from my past. I recently rewatched Infinite Ryvius, sometime before I partly rewatched Claymore and Gunslinger Girl. I am trying to download Busou Shinki, please seed. 

They hold surprisingly well compared to the 2010s creations. I remember how much fun we used to make about Naruto's anime gimmicks, Sakura's uselessness and so on. Almost 20 years later it looks almost a masterpiece compare AoT or MHA. It's still only 7.5 out of 10 as 2000s era does have many more anime that are better than Naruto. For example .hack franchise I picked recently and Code Geass that I watched back when it was released.

I almost pity Zoomers for having to watch shit like MHA or Boruto, poor kids nowadays are forced to watch shit while we had access to awesome stuff, we used to take for granted. Sakura is hardly that bad compared to average modern anime heroine. I almost think that Kishimoto ninja-ed anime industry and sabotaging it from within to make Naruto shine in comparison to what came later.

I made reviews of some of the better anime I watched back then, including Naruto and its sequel Shippuden. Check them out. Some others are still to go.

I am not committing to rewatching it all, I will see how I feel. After all I already watched many of these many times and know all too well what is going to happen. However, anime of the 2000s are better than what one can find in 2010s.

Busou Shinki: Moon Angel Review

Overall Rating 7.7 out of 10 - Great, almost perfectly entertaining show with very few flaws.

I certainly recommend watching.

This is one of the better shows that I stumbled upon nearly accidently. This is like a proto–Frame Arms Girl. It's a little simple and basic but it somewhat compensates for that with niceness of its main heroine.

Main heroine, Kaguya, is very likable, gentle and caring person, real gf material. The was she cares for her master is an example for all girls to follow. There is some good anime where authors do know what they are doing. This one is one of them.

The show does have some flaws, but they are mostly due to its being somewhat of a pilot OVA for this series. Animation is somewhat dated. Design of final antagonist is somewhat lacking. 

Kaguya's outfit somewhat lacking compared to Frame Arms Girl designs, but she compensates for that by having awesome personality and being very caring and supportive of her master.

Thus is an excellent pilot OVA that surely encourages me to watch the series. I can recommend it for everyone, see for yourself what is a good girl, and a good anime is like.

Renai Flops Review

Overall Raing 4.2 out of 10 - Aoi is not enough to redeem this show.

I do not recommend watching.

I dropped this show after episode 7, partly skipping the ones in the middle. 

The Aoi is the only likable girl in this show, but she alone is not enough to go through all this chaos of girls' whims on steroids. It was supposed to be a waifu show with a selection of likable girls for male enjoyment. However, most girls here are more trouble than enjoyment.

Aoi is the best girl, but she sometimes has issues as well. In general, the number of problems male MC has to go through is unreasonable.

I thought of only watching episodes with mostly Aoi in them but there is too little information on this online to cherry pick just these.

Overall, it a poor excuse for a waifu show. I do not recommend watching. 

Dark Gathering Review

Overall Rating 2.5 out of 10 - Male MC torture and waste of time.

I do recommend keeping a cordon around it, like around Eva. Do not watch under any circumstances.

Dark and eerie art around it, that reminiscent of awesome Jigoku Shoujo is misleading. Most show is set in your daily world and has next to nothing mysterious about it. It however has a lot of ugly.

It's about male MC who does not want to deal with supernatural but gets dragged into it by orange head and her little relative who actually kills monsters here. 

If in first episode they at least pretended to have some story or idea, then by second, they just went straight torture and spooking.

This show is horrible and absolutely nothing going for it. Stay away.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive Review

Overall Rating 5.0 out of 10 - Does not have enough beyond Kokoro.

Watch only if absolutely nothing better. I dropped after episode 5.

The only redeeming thing about this anime is Kokoro, but she alone is not enough to salvage this show.

I do wonder if "Re:" in title suggests that it was made by creators of Re:Zero. The show has a rather dormant male MC who hardly talks and sometimes suffers some misfortunes, even at the hands of heroines' negligence, yet occasionally wakes up to save them from some danger.

As for 3 main heroines we have the most unlikable of catgirls tsundere who complains all the time, somewhat energetic but negligent orange haired girl and finally Kokoro who sometimes cares for male MC and makes sure he would not die.

They occasionally got supplemented by even more unlikable women, some of whom this show tried hard to sell us, like that girl from episode 5. She is the reason I ultimately dropped it.

Overall, it combines colorful art with rather unsavory world where people will not hesitate to just fuck up your life on a whim. Not a wish fulfilling place, which is an issue for a waifu harem show. I do not want shows to normalize this kind of things.

The show has not particular story to tell either, which is possibly for the best as I would not trust a story from Re:Zero creators to be a compelling one.

Overall, this is not worth your time.

How Subtle Differences between Seasons Can Ruin Anime

I often criticize sequels and second seasons of anime. Often changes that are OK with most viewers completely ruin the title for me. Sometimes these changes are very visible and other times not so much.

However, the most subtle changes were between first and second seasons of Gochiusa. I rated first season as 8.0 and dropped second one with rating of 5.0. 

However, what did change in this CGDCT title between these seasons?

I will explain it in this article.

First of all, Gochimon is a waifu show. Such shows succeed or fail based on how likable the girls are. The original cast and their relationships with each other were all carefully crafted to appeal to male audience. 

Its adorable how Chino is so shy and timid, Syaro is afraid of rabbits and insecure about poverty and admiration of Rize, Cocoa is so airheaded, but warm loving and caring. These traits are what make these girls so likable. Small things like that are what make the magic of waifu shows appeal. Take them away and whole magic of this show falls apart. In the second season you see just that.

In second season all girls suddenly more confident and assertive. Likable traits are gone. Without softness and vulnerabilities, the girls are not as likable anymore. 

After all girls are meant to be weaker than men. That way she can respect his strength and superiority. He can feel protective of her and confident in his primacy. That is why good waifu shows make girls weak and vulnerable. Shoujo shows also all filled with strong and confident men to ponder to female sexual preferences.

The integration stopped being based on girls' insecurities but became more about younger girls learning from older ones. In the first season age differences are possibly mentioned but not emphasized. It's easy to think that Chino and Rize are nearly identical age, just Chino happened to be much shorter and weaker. The second season will never let you forget the age difference.

First season got it right. Second failed. That is something people can learn from, too bad most choose to ignore these facts and peddle the feminism drivel. Men would never like a feminist no matter how much fathers of daughters wished for that.

Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! Review

Overall rating 3.6 out of 10 - All the issues of the original Konosuba plus some new ones.

I do not recommend watching. I dropped after 2 episodes.

This is a good example of how not to make a spin off. 

In the original Konosuba Megumin was the most popular character of the quartet. Making a spin off centered on her was a sure path to success. Unfortunately, the creators ruined this surefire win into almost surprising fail.

The reasons for that than Megumin of spin off has none of the qualities that made her original self-likable. In the original Megumin was the most timid and vulnerable of the girls. Aqua was shameless and rude talking. Darkness was too pushy and enthusiastic. Compare to them Megumin was small, weak and quiet. Her getting unconscious after using her explosion magic just added to the charm.

Megumin of the spin off has none of these qualities. Here she is the most confident and shrewd girl of the cast.

Setting does not help. There is no longer a party of four but a poor family with gimmicky father, strong in a bad way mother and Megumin's little sister that admires her. Then there are also school of mages that Megumin attends, where girls constantly bicker with each other. Bingo book of all things I do not like.

There is some humor that is occasionally funny, but that is not enough to redeem this show.

Overall, a poor show that manages to be worse than original despite starring the best character from the latter. 

It's like authors deliberately trying to fuck up.

Anime I Drop

When I watch anime I often priorities things I like over the rest. At one point I even had nearly 50 currently watching titles: I kept less interesting titles on 1–2-episode mark as I tried more and more titles. While some of the postponed did manage to improve in later episodes, the rest could not. 

Now that currently watching and on hold are in single digits many of those that remain are basically unlikable drop candidates.

However, in a way these titles too need conclusion. A review that outlines the reasons for dropping them. Otherwise, there is no clarity between what is good and what is not. 

Because of that many (but not all) of my next reviews would likely be very negative. I only have 3 episodes of very likable Frame Arms Girl as well as somewhat good Sidonia left to offset that.

So, time of slaying titles have come.

Hundred Review

Overall Rating 4.0 out of 10 - Like a bingo book of things I dislike.

I do not recommend watching. I dropped after 3 episodes.

This is like Infinite Stratos, but worse in every way. Infinite Stratos at least had a somewhat appealing harem whose better qualities are overshadowed by their violence towards Ichika. Hundred only has one main heroine, and she is very unlikable proud and full of self-importance. They are even unironically call her queen of the campus something and she has two underlings.

Then there is also a girl who pretends to be guy, an unreasonably popular trope I see all too often recently.

The nicer characters in this show, like Mei Mei or these girls Hayato tried to save from expulsion in episode 1, only exist on the sidelines.

Battles are rather trivial: they fight some giant bugs, whose only redeeming quality are their black and yellow colors.

Art is rather good but that is not enough to redeem this show.

Overall, it's a bad show that embraces all the worst trends of the 2010s. When fashion is bad, following it makes one an idiot.

Shoukoku no Altair Review

Overall Rating 6.2 out of 10 - Has occasional bright moments but flawed on fundamental level.

I can still recommend for those who interested is somewhat smart shows.

Sometimes there are shows that do seem to have potential to be something great but drawn in their own echo chamber cycle jerk bubble. One example of that is Mawaru Penguindrum, it does have its moments of occasional brilliance and illustration of deep and profound ideas. It does share a creator with highly rated and acclaimed not only by me, Revolutionary Girl Utena. Sometimes you can see it was made by the same person. However more often than not it just drawns in Ikuhara's love for dominaties and male abuse. The core story and main characters of Mawaru Penguindrum are shit, but occasionally you see interesting things on the sidelines of this mess.

Shoukoku no Altair is somewhat the same in that regard. Occasionally it has interesting ideas and clever plots and military maneuvers, but most of the time is just a conservative pondering to status quo and elderly. Our protagonist is ostensively smart guy who can pull out a witty solution to tricky problems, like Yagami Light. At the same time, he is a loyal to his masters as Suzaku or Tanjiro. Lelouch would have scoffed at him. 

Lelouch had conviction that world is not fair and eventually developed a vision to change the system and make world better for himself and most of the people. Mahmud just serves his country to stop war, a useful tool for the leadership as he himself described himself in the episode 12 or 13.

Mahmud Pasha Bey Pasha travels the world, meets various people, occasionally saves them and participate in events that happening there. All to save Turque, screw that, Turkey from the vaguely defined Balt-Rhein Empire, that is something between Austria and Russia. Half of the people he meets are as gimmicky as One Piece characters and as one dimensional as well. Sometimes there is someone more interesting, but no one really likable. Creators have bad taste when it comes to people. That includes women too.

Most themes include preservation of countries, status quo, sacrifices and so on. Creators are so encased in their bubble they could not muster even one character who is cohesively acting in self-interest. Sultans Balaban and Uzun were the closest. In the world of Shokoku no Altair almost everyone is eusocial as bees and not self-absorbed as humans. If not, then they are instead driven by emotions and some past glory. That is a vary narrowminded look on the world to say the least.

On the positive side Turkish aesthetics are good. A rarely used theme in anime, outside of hentai. Alas we did not get hordes of cute harem girls fawning over characters, creators wasted such an opportunity, such a disappointment.

Art is for the most part good, colorful and diverse. Each country does look noticeably different and distinct from each other.

Overall, I can somewhat recommend it.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX Review

Overall Rating 6.2 out of 10 - A futile effort to improve the show.

Watchable when there is nothing better.

Some people like to praise this season as the best in series. You can clearly see that authors did put more effort into this compared to its two predecessors. However, their aims were misdirected and missed the target.

First of all, as a waifu show cuteness of the characters is very important factors. Carol and Autoscorers maybe original and elaborately designed, but they are not cute. If previous season added more cute girls in gear, two of whom were cute and likable, then here out of 6 new girls hardly anyone is likable. To top this up, artists too often neglect drawing these girls in a proper curvy girly shape.

Story too ramped up its moralizing drivel. Sometimes it feels less of a story and more of a propaganda piece, aimed to "teach" viewers about value of whatever author values. Its preaching and not wish fulfilment.

Action and art somewhat went up. Beauty of art always was the most redeeming quality of this series that drags it over the score of 5 and drop zone. 

When it comes to action it sometimes hard to tell what is going on, but at least it looks beautiful.

Overall, it's OK-ish and watchable. I recommend it only because there are worse things out there and it's better to watch this than some Darling in the Franxx, Engage Kiss, Dungeon no Deal or Hundred.

.hack//The Movie: Sekai no Mukou ni Review

Overall Rating 6.8 out of 10 - This show is mostly carried by its franchise, rather than by its own merits.

I still recommend watching.

This movie is perhaps a good entry point for those unfamiliar with .hack// franchise. For veterans it's a not so perfect experience. 

They tried to combine notable features of every .hack franchise series into a single movie, then mixed it with some of the trends set by Disney and Pixar and ended up with this.

It has a rather generic everyone unites and fights some amorph darkness thing plot. Reminds me of Sword of Shannara. A times it feels like a generic family movie.

There is also two guys one girl love triangle, that is not that interesting aside from the fact that she confuses their in-game characters and thinks the glasses guy have confessed to her while it actually was the orange hair one.

Despite being released way past //G.U. Trilogy, it somehow has lest gloving effects and cool battles. In fact, IRL world looks noticeably pale and drab. I am not sure if it's a stylistic representation of the idea that IRL is suxx, and games are cute and fancy or just artists being too lazy or something.

On the somewhat positive side, it's a return to The World of .hack franchise. Unfortunately, only Aura, Kite, Balmung and Orka make cameo appearances and even then, its only because some new characters using these models in game. Not even Silver Knight, that had cameos in almost every installment of the franchise made it here. No Tsukasa, Shino, Atoli, Subaru, Haseo or anyone else either.

I guess only because its a. hack franchise and about video games I gave it slightly marked up score of 6.8. Without these things it would be around 5 to 6.

I however would still recommend watching it to those who are new to the .hack franchise and even to some who wants more from the series. .hack franchise is few of the good ones that still continue to these days from the 2000s. Watch .hack and see what a good anime is like. Fashion and tastes of 2010s are hideous and everything that defies them in some way is good.

.hack//Thanatos Report Review

Overall Rating 7.0 out of 10 - Somewhat creative epilogue for the movie.

I can recommend watching after the movie.

Rating of 7 for this show is not because it's that good, but rather because it has little bad in it. It's just a small episode about confrontation between special forces and the underground organization. 

Its relatively interesting epilogue and can tell you more backstory behind the conspiracy of the original movie. The story gets more complex than the movie, but not to a level of //Sign or //Roots. 

Its set entirely offline, much like //Liminality, but it has more action.

There is not much more to say about it, but watch it if you only watched the movie, maybe it will set you to exlpore the abyss of the .hack// franchise.

Sidonia no Kishi Review

Overall Rating 6.4 out of 10 - Good show overall, despite some issues, especially in early episodes.

I recommend watching.

Interesting take on future in stylishly futuristic sharp black and white colors. I do actually like these colors, but somehow creators overdid it: it's hard to tell characters apart sometimes. They should have been more fancy with hairstyles, why no girl has Hatsune's style twin tails for example. Yes, they have to be black. 

However, scratches and marks do take away from brand new futuristic feel of this color scheme. They sure do not keep the ship in the most pristine conditions, some areas are dilapidated and drab, all too often futurism gives way to simple brutalism of grey concrete walls and rusty metal rails.

There are some gimmick characters like that bear woman, but they actually make it worse somehow.

It's somewhat of a scientific futurism. They float many interesting hypothetical ideas such as human photosynthesis. For those of you who do not know what it means: photosynthesis is getting energy from sun directly like plants instead of getting it from food like humans currently do. However other of their ideas are weird and uncomfortable. 

Just like with Unbreakable Machine Doll, first few episodes are rather unlikable and mostly consist of various people abusing Tanikaze for various reasons. This show uses brutality in an unappealing way.

The show is mean enough to just take the best girl (Hachijiro) away from us in episode 5. They just do not want us to be happy. If Tanikaze and Hochijiro would have ended up happily together I might have given it higher score.

They do other mean and nasty things from time to time, but it gets better closer to the finale.

On the plus side its 60% stylish and scientifically curious. On the negative side its meanspirited and ugly 40% of the time. Some episodes are better than others. I guess it sums it up to 6.5 on the balance.

Overall, I can recommend watching it.

.hack//G.U.Trilogy Review

Overall Rating 7.4 out of 10 - Beautiful show with some issues, that concludes the story of //Roots.

I recommend watching.

This movie has interesting and beautiful art style. There is many 3D CGI, some like Blame! are really well crafted. However, they are not as great from artistic direction as this one. Those alone warrants watching it. It showcases CGI at its best.

Great art makes battles very enjoyable to watch. This is the most action packed of the .hack// franchise.

Story wise it concludes the story of the //Roots series. I somewhat glad that I watched //Roots before this one as that allowed me to interpret certain events and characters in a different way. For example, Yata and Pi are more of a villains in //Roots, but //G.U. Trilogy instead recast them as mostly good guys. 

In general story here is much more simplified compared to //Roots. Its an intersting as a conclusion, but it could have been much more than it was.

Another issue is that there is much more of Haseo suffering compared to //Roots, which is upsetting. Story begins with Haseo buy ends up with Ovan stealing the show by the end and Haseo playing the role of Jesus for Ovan.

Characters wise it introduces Aioli Atoli who is much like Shino personality, mannersand looks wise. Anime and video games make it so easy for find a replacement something as everything is categorized by types. I wish it was the same IRL as finding TrueHellDei type woman is hard.

Overall, I recommend watching it.

Drifters and World of Warcraft

In my drifters review I mentioned that it's about what happens when 3 WoW raiding guild members would be isekaied to the world where they can conquer stuff. What I mean that Nobunaga, Shimazu and Minamoto trio as depicted in this show are good examples of typical raiding guild members. Shimazu is a typical DPS, completely obsessed with taking enemy's heads, looting and winning. Nobunaga is a typical leader: knowledgeable, savvy and able to organize things; at the same time, he is no less greedy and obsesses with loot and winning. Minamoto is more complex type that keeps a little bit away from the rest.

Most issues with Modern WoW are that started to appeal less to these kinds of players. Bloodthirsty noble warriors did not get chance to take enemy castle, cut enemy general's head and loot his treasures for themselves. That is why they are so angsty all over the forums, decrying Modern WoW, much like trio of this show was angry with Octobrists for dragging their feet.

I do hope modern WoW developers would watch this show to better understand their audience.

Drifters and Drifters OVA Review

Overall Rating 6.8 out of 10 - A rather unique take on isekai that works in its own way.

I recommend watching.

This is a show about what will happen if three WoW Raiding guild members would be isekaied into the world where they can conquer stuff.

Technically they are renown historical figures of our world, that were transported to another one to help them fight a war over their own issues. The pick of historical personalities could not have been better, one of them is Oda Nobunaga and two others are less known personalities of Sengoku Jidai and Minamoto Taira conflict. Later you also get to meet Hannibal Barka, Jean d'Ark, Rasputin and even Jesus himself as an antagonist.

All of these personalities are twisted in their own way, yet at the same time they somewhat reflect their historical inspirations. Oda is lecherous towards women, but also smart to figure out how to manufacture gunpowder. Shimazu is brutal and single-mindedly focused on conquest and killing.

Story revolves around conflict between two sides of the world, one is called Drifters and the other Ends. They have different vision for the future of their world, and each takes famous historical personalities from our history to fight for their cause. Drifters are protagonists and Ends are antagonists.

Art is rather unconventional for anime, but well done with attention to details. You can clearly see the creators laved this show. Whether you will love it or not will depend on your own tastes.

Overall, I do recommend watching it. It's clearly better than average and it's worth it to at least try. No feminism here.

Drifters OVA

Drifters OVA is more of a partial season 2 rather than a standalone story. The three episodes released so far only build up to the future conflict. You can see that it can develop into something awesome but so far there is too little to write about.

.hack//G.U. Returner Review

Overall Rating 7.5 out of 10 - Nice little epilogue, that lets you meet the characters again.

I recommend watching for those who saw previous shows such as //Roots.

This is a nice epilogue for .hack//Roots anime and possibly .hack// games as well. You get to meet all the characters again in a relaxed Traditional Japanese Festival Settings. The show has pleasant, gentle and welcoming feel to it. It allows to reminictent of the past and enjoy more of Shino and Atoli again.

It does not offer much of the new ideas and probably not a good starting point for those who are new to .hack// franchise.

Instead, it's something veterans who watched other shows can enjoy and reminiscent of things they love .hack// franchise over. Characters on screen reminiscent together with you, a very interesting idea that no other Special episodes tried. The only other analogue I can think of are Tea Parties of Umineko no Naku Koro ni, some of them. It's a well-done epilogue.

It's just a single episode long and I recommend it for those who watched the mainline series or played the game.

Themes of Unrequited Love in .hack//Roots

There is surprisingly few anime that deal with issue of unrequited love. Most of those who include it, typically do it for comedic effect or to spice up the plot. Such butt of the joke meme characters who are clearly out of their league, for example, that guy from //Legend of the Twilight who says Tres Bien all the time, hardly represents how unrequited love really is. There is also that meme: "You vs the guy, she tells you not to worry about", that do not do justice to this issue.

Hardly anyone ever tried to depict unrequited love seriously: as an individual tragedy of wishing for that special person to reciprocate the feelings but unable to achieve that. .hack//Roots did manage just that. I touched this issue in my review of the show, but I felt that it needs its own article to fully explain it. 

Here we have plenty of non-meme no-joke characters who all suffer from unrequited love for no particular fault of their own. All of them often delude themselves as they keep trying their luck in getting object of their interest to care for them.

Shino deeply cares for Ovan even if she knows that he does not care for her. 

Haseo tries to bring back Shino by finding Tri-Edge, despite not having enough power to defeat Tri-Edge or even guarantee that defeating him can bring Shino back. Phyllo tried to talk Haseo out of it, but to no avail. Haseo ended up become a half-monster in process of looking to Tri-Edge.

Finally Tabby thinks that one day Haseo will care for her instead of Shino and keep stalking him for more than half of the show as well as talk to Phyllo about that. She even rejects love of Seisaku because she wishes to be with Haseo.

All three kept clinging to their feelings and deluding themselves of their chances to succeed in that. There was no sure way to bring Shino back, yet Haseo kept trying and trying. Haseo made it clear that he finds Tabby annoying, but she kept stalking him, hoping in vain that one day she can be with him. Finally, Shino just managed the Twilight Brigade Guild for Ovan to find that Key of the Twilight for a slim chance to be useful to him in some way.

That just shows us many things about unrequited love.

One is that that people can sometimes do illogical things and cling to hair brain ideas for the sake of their love. They delude themselves that one day their love would come to fruition by some magic.

Second is: not just losers and incels are single. Both Haseo and Tabby could have relationship if they wanted so, but choose not to because they preferred someone else, even if that someone else was not available to them. 

All had their reasons to do prefer that someone unavailable or rejecting someone who was available to them. Haseo thought that Shino was better than Tabby and would not settle for lesser girl. Tabby thought that Haseo was better than Seisaki and would not settle for lesser guy.

All that shows us that human feelings are complicated matters that sometimes make people act in such strange and irrational way because of love.

Fundamentally show gave us no answer to the problem of unrequited love. However, that would be too much to expect. A solution to such problem is as complex as cure for cancer if not more so.

There is just no girl as sweet, cute and intelligent as True was. 

Engage Kiss Review

Overall Rating 4.9 out of 10 - Has many good points, but the bad here outweighs the good.

I do not recommend watching. I dropped after 4 episodes.

Most of the good about the show is depicted in picture below. The rest is waste of time.

Now this show has reasonably good plot, great art and even nice characters design. It's so unfortunate that the way directors use it is bad. Their horrible personal tastes ruin it.

This show does have the scenes and moments where it's really enjoyable to watch. The creators are not completely stupid and capable of occasionally making a nice fighting scene or even dialogues. A shame they are few in between.

What ruins this show is that is some sort of feminist wet dream. Women are depicted as smart and capable. A lot of them are in power, enjoying fine things in life and so on. Men in contrast are depicted as stupid and many relegated to menial roles.

Main protagonist has one nice demon girl Kisara, but instead of enjoying her, he simps over stupid snarky blue haired tsundere who love-hates him. Watching male MC doing so many self-sacrificial things is unpleasant.

One character that somewhat redeems the show is Kisara. She stays with Ogata and takes care of him even if he cares over some other bitch instead. However, Kisara alone is not enough to make it worthwhile to watch.

Overall, the show had all the ingredients for success, but feminism ruined it. Yet another victim of feminism that shows that feminism is cancer that ruins out world and must be stopped.

Music of Darker than Black

Darker than Black had diverse but compelling soundtrack. It helps to set stage for this rather unconventional anime that has all sorts of characters in an action-packed show.

The opening sequence, both music and the clip, helps to showcase all about this show.

However, action is not all there is to this show, it has many ideas to ponder about in calm, peaceful situation.

 The rest of the soundtrack is available below.

Subaru, The Unwilling Leader of Crimson Knights

 

When I was writing review for .hack//Roots, I mentioned that Subaru is a nuanced character that has an interesting story of her own. So here is what I meant by that.

In .hack//Sign Subaru, leads Crimson Knights, a group of players dedicated to enforcing rules of "fair play as they understand it" on other players. The group clearly goes much further than what actual rules allow and more often than not harass all sorts of players who stand out in one way or another. A recurring theme of .hack franchise. Similar group, called Cerulean Knights also exist //Legend of the Twilight and in //Roots TaN Secret Service (Naobi/Yata, Ender/Pi) is a clandestine version of the above. //Sign's Crimson Knights ended up making the show's protagonist. Tsukasa, their number one enemy due to his unusual powers. 

Subaru herself however is a poor fit to lead such a group. Unlike a female leader of the Cerulean Knights in //Legend of the Twilight, who clearly enjoys punishing people, Subaru does not have any passion for punishing anyone. In general, she is very mild and gentle person. In the group she often acts as a voice of moderation and restraint, refusing to authorize many actions despite arguments from Silver Knight and the rest of the members.

It's pretty clear that Subaru struggles to fit the role the Knights have chosen for her. It was not the role she chose for herself but rather something Silver Knight and the rest choose for her. She alters between simply agreeing to their wishes and acting a rubber-stamping figurehead and arguing with them over whether the Knights should take action in this or that case. 

That dilemma she constantly facing only got worse when she met Tsukasa. She grows to like him, but her obligations to the Knights prevent her from being with him. Eventually, unable to put up with all that pressure, she simply dissolves the organization.

Without the Knights protection many of the players, who were once harassed by the Knights, take out their frustration with their actions by abusing Subaru. However, she persevered because she wanted to be with Tsukasa rather than with the Knights. Eventually she got to him, and they shared a moment together.

I think this is an interesting subplot in the show. Sure, it helps to develop Subaru as agreeable, self-sacrificing, person who is willing to follow wishes of those around her and fit the role the chose for her. However, there is more.

That also shows that no matter what role you are stuck in, you can play it differently. Some would zealously follow the prescribed functions, while others would either minimize the effort or even sabotage the role and organization from within. In fact, a disenchanted manager, who keeps making excuses for inaction, can slow down organization from within a lot more efficient than if he was outside instead. That can be a useful tool of struggle against unfair management and unfair regimes.

That also shows that not all people are suitable for every role out there.

.hack//Roots Review

Overall Rating 7.6 out of 10 - A true successor of .hack//Sign and mostly a great show on its own.

I recommend watching.

Out of many anime that are part of .hack franchise, this one can be considered a true successor to the .hack//Sign. 

Compare to its predecessor its darker and somewhat meaner. I do not mean that because Haseo. Sure, Haseo is indeed dark and maybe even mean character, but that is not because he is a bad person. In fact, characters around him are in many ways are to blame, particularly Naobi and Ender. 

Naobi and Ender of the TaN core (later Yata and Pi of Raven) with their meddling with players out of desire to "protect the game" actually caused many of the problems. They are like a clandestine version of Crimson Knights form .hack//Sign. They kidnapped Ovan, that caused mental breakdown of Shino and later Haseo.

In .hack//Sign most of the characters were on Tsukasa's side. They wanted to help him and protected him from Crimson Knights as well as Macha and the game AI. Even Subaru was on his side despite leading abovementioned Crimson Knights. Together they made show somewhat warmer and friendlier. 

Art too was brighter; it had both eerie and magical, but also cozy and idyllic feel to it. Most of the time World in //Sign felt like the place you wanted to live in.

In contrast in //Roots, a lot of characters plot things behind the scenes and groom Haseo and few other select characters to their undisclosed aims. Naobi/Yata and Ender/Pi constantly monitor every Haseo move, like creepy stalkers they are. Even Tarawaya/Tohta eventually got disillusioned with his bosses from TaN. 

Art too got darker and much more dilapidated, but it managed to retain some of the magical feel of the //Sign era.

Both //Sign and //Roots dealt with more complex existential and psychological issues, that is one of the reasons I give these show such high marks. Topics they cover are different. //Sign was about nihilism and self-preservation (fear of being hurt). In contrast //Roots is about loss and drive for revenge. That is if you take main characters only. As many of the support cast have story of their own, too long to mention them all here.

Since this review is about //Roots I will cover these here. I wrote a few separate articles about //Sign to cover such topics for that show. A lot of characters in //Roots suffer from unrequited love. There is an unrequited love chain: Shino loves Ovan, Haseo loves Shino, Tabby loves Haseo and that other guy loves Tabby. Struggles of all these characters with their feelings occupy significant time of the show.

Haseo got obsessed with defeating Tri-edge after he witnessed him killing Shino and turning her in to Lost One, someone who is unconscious IRL. Such feelings are relatable for me, as is Haseo's characters in general (most of the time). Tabby wished to help him, but she actually wished he cared for her instead of Shino. Neither of them wanted to give up on object of their interest, but neither could progress anywhere with their love. Such a tragedy. Done in best tradition of the Ancient Greeks.

Then there is issue of plots around Haseo. Ovan wanted to set him up to his own ends. Naobi/Yata too had some ulterior motives on him. The difference was that Ovan wanted Haseo to develop some qualities and Yata to prevent him from developing these. Haseo got caught in showdown between these two and arguably suffered from both. In general, these two treated Haseo like guinea pig for their experiments. Sad that they were not defeated in the end.

Then there is Shino who is nice and my type waifu material. Her preference for Ovan somewhat complicates things as I do not want to be stuck in unrequited love. Other than that, she is nicer than say Subaru from //Sign, though Subaru deserves a separate article to explain her nuanced role in //Sign.

Tabby is clearly nicer than Mimiru, but somewhat lacking compared to Shino. At times you can sympathize with her dedication, but other times she just complains and gets distracted.

Overall, despite some flaws, it's a very solid experience. It somewhat less pleasant that //Sign, but no less deep and profound. I clearly recommend watching it.