Zero Punctuation

I my preview article I mentioned the Zero Punctuation reviews by escapist. They are funny and roast problems with modern woke gaming and society really well. I can agree on many, but not all, things with Yatz. I recommend you watch some. It's not just swear words and such, he has a point to make. 

Anime Preview

I was thinking recently that while I watch only a number of shows, I do get through a lot of synopses on numerous shows that gets released every season. Reading synopsis is enough to deter me from watching these shows as I do not want bad experiences.

However, I enjoy review shows like Zero Punctuation where the dude roasts games he plays. He has a few faves and brutally ridicules the rest. Much like I am myself with anime. I think I might be able to do the same.

Unlike him however I do not want to watch shows I know I would not like. However, I do not have to. Back in the days I used to read a video game mag that in addition to reviews of recently released games also had Previews. In Previews columnists would write a page long article about a game, developers haven't even begun to make, based on nothing more than a few screenshots and a 1-minute announcement video. 

I guess I can also make my own previews based on title, box art and synopsis. That might end up being more interesting than writing a review on how there is not enough bad things about Jashin-chan anime to warrant dropping it.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ

Overall Rating 5.7 out of 10 - Sequel that combines worst qualities of its predecessors.

Somewhat watchable.

Unfortunately, in 4th season Symphogear combined things I did not like in 2nd season with things I did not like in 3rd one. From 2nd it took dubious plot and from 3rd unlikable characters. 

We again have three girls as antagonists. Saint Germain is stern, hard and dislikable Maria 2.0. She is paired with voluptuous in a bad way Caliostro and more creepy than cute Prelati. Alas no one as cute as Shirabe and Kirika from 2nd season. Female design as weird as in 3rd season.

Story is again a confused trio doing bidding of the real bad guy. It leads to predictable plot twists where the three girls' defect to SONG. Alas nothing as interesting as Carol's plan from 3rd season.

Overall quality also falls. Animators fail to draw their heroines sexy with proper curves and body shape. In early seasons they used to be better, as far as I remember. Alas Gode Geass level perfect bodies are further and further away.

Real main antagonist Adam and his Autoscorer fangirl, Tiki, somewhat redeem this season but not too much. Final battle of couple of last episodes (11 and 12 mostly) is also surprisingly interesting here.

Overall, this is a poor season with only few redeeming qualities. The only reason to watch it is to keep up with the overall story.

Reiwa no Di Gi Charat Review

Overall Rating 7.0 out of 10 - Witty and insightful deconstruction of anime industry.

I recommend watching.

I consider myself an expert on anime, not just hardcore fan but also an expert on how it all works. This anime deconstructs anime industry and satirizes many typical tropes. Unlike say Lucky Star that is mostly for veteran fans, Di Gi Charat is for reviewers and anime creators themselves. I rated original Di Gi Charat only 3, but that is because it looks more like pilot than a fleshed-out show. Besides there is no need to watch the original when there is this.

We have several characters who are all combination of several stereotypes, catgirl maid Dejiko, catgirl schoolgirl Puchiko, bunny girl Usada, weird mascot Gema and now also angelic Broccoli and warrior like Bushiro (something). You see stuff like that in every other show out there. The only difference is that there they take themselves seriously and well written script makes you care about them. Here they all cynically exploit appeal of their tropes to fans for popularity and money, much like anime industry itself.

The show keeps up with many recent trends like isekai, with their Reincarnated as Moldy Manju (Slime) or silly endless demon lords defeatable with cards. They also expose all time cliches like improbable beam attack or doctor villains, in this case dentist and veterinary. They also take jab at otakus. There is of course more than I have listed here.

Overall, it's a nice and insightful show with 4 minute long but jampacked episodes. Watching it will make you smarter.

Jormungand: Perfect Order Review

Overall Rating 5.6 out of 10 - Sequel that makes bad worse as it attempts to give overreaching narrative to the show.

It's OK if you have nothing better to watch.

Why best girl Chinatsu did not get her own flashback. Yes, I know she was killed by the Koko's crew at the end of episode 4, but Jonah and Kaspar got half episode recap, why can't Chinatsu.

I do often complain that sequels are worse than originals and this one is unfortunately no exception. Original had a fair share of Black Lagoon style shootouts to make it worthwhile. This one has less of that. Instead, it focuses on things I did not like in the original Koko herself and her crew. Watching how Koko and her clique of crazy women wrap the world around their finger is not enjoyable at all. Best characters from the original do not return and new ones introduced in sequel are unlikable.

Unlike the original that was a series of 2 or more episodes arks, centered around one or another villain this one makes Koko's crew and her 'secret' plan the centerpiece of the story. That was an attempt at more serious storytelling. Unfortunately, it failed because her plan was trivial: end all wars by destroying all aircraft with some satellites somehow. Seriously. (Some might argue that Lelouch wanted the same, but he did not. Code Geass is much more nuanced show.)

I wrote many times why idea of stopping killing by banning weapons are stupid, but I guess I will use this opportunity to do it again. After all we humanity evolved from beasts when we learned to use rocks, sticks and pits to kill. 

We are not the only animals who kill their own either. Great Apes such as Chimpanzees do that too. Reasons for the killing are always the same, competition for the finite resources. War is simply extrapolation of this basic principle to a larger scale where instead of two individuals, two groups or two tribes it is two multimillion armies that fight it out. 

However, no matter if it's between two individuals or two armies, conflict remains. It cannot be eliminated even if one big empire would unite society under itself, eventually internal conflicts between top generals and armies loyal to each would tear such empire apart. See my articles on collapse of Roman empire as example of that. 

If anything, sophisticated weapons make conflict less likely or accessible as they divide people into those who have access to better weapons and those who do not.

The only way to eliminate conflict is either create infinite resources so that everyone has everything they want or reduce number of people to the level of resources available and keep it at that number.

However back to the show. In addition to what I said before it also has worse intro song. 

Overall, compare to its predecessor it, drifted into borderlands of the drop zone. A few more unlikable scenes or characters and I would have dropped it.