Hi, kids, and welcome to another anime review. Let’s walk over and open up the Special Magical Chest and see what we have awaiting us. Well, who would have guessed that is another in a long series of isekai that litter the landscape like Starbucks cups. Is there anything more enjoyable than seeing another one of these shows, for the third time, this week, alone? Well despite some degree of misgivings, we do find ourselves in ancient-ish times with this offering, “Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World” (“Isekai Meikyū de Haremu o”, or “Building a Harem in Alternate World Dungeon”).(more…)
So, what have we here? Really? Another isekai? Really? How many is that just this month? Really? And it’s the first of the month as well! And since this one is really similar to another one just like it, it gets hard to separate them. This particular one is (at least I think it is. I have to write better notes) is “Black Summoner” (“Kuro no Shōkanshi”). (more…)
So, we have run into another isekai. They are everywhere, like flies and cockroaches. And they seem to be just as difficult to get rid of. I’m not against them per se, but it feels like every other anime series release IS an isekai. Can’t we have something else? No? I have to wait for the craze to die out, like with food shows? OK, I guess. So, the latest offering is the oddly worded “Parallel World Pharmacy” (“Isekai Yakkyoku”, or “Alternate World Pharmacy”).(more…)
Normally, I wouldn’t touch a vampire anime with a ten-foot wooden stake. I feel it is a badly overworked genre, as there is seemingly little more you can bring to it, unless you want to see tons of impalements and neck biting and spurting fountains of blood and other unpleasantness. However, when you are confronted with the title of “The Vampire Dies in No Time” (“Kyūketsuki Sugu Shinu”), it deserves at least a few minutes of time from your busy day, especially as you want to see how they are going to make a full series of it. (more…)
Cosplay is as ingrained into Japanese culture as is sake and pork cutlet bowls. Perhaps they feel they actually invented it, but they have certainly gone to great lengths to perfect it. It’s just that I do not personally recall a show that looks at cosplay in a mature manner; the people who do it are wholly, solely committed to it, especially in trying to pull off just the right look (which can be really hard if you take on someone like, say, Alphonse Elric) without mocking them. Thus, we have “My Dress-Up Darling” (“Sono Bisuku Dōru wa Koi o Suru”, or “That Bisque Doll Falls in Love”).(more…)
I often wonder why you would want to reboot a series, especially one that still has life in it. Perhaps you want to offer it to a new generation, who doesn’t have the time to see the original (kind of a weak argument). Perhaps you want to take it in another direction and free yourself from the past that YOU created (another weak argument). Perhaps you just want to make a profit from all this (another weak argument, but this one makes better sense). And so, we have “RBWY: Ice Queendom”.(more…)
Romantic comedies are hard to pull off effectively, in that the combatants (for wont of a better term) need to be smart enough to understand why they do what they do, but just clueless enough to allow the events to unfold as they need to for the story to be told. It doesn’t always work, as when other parts are brought into the mix that may or may not complicate things, and that is how we get to “My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex” (“Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta, or “My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex-Girlfriend”).(more…)
I caught this at AX 22 and was intrigued by it, despite the over-the-top fan service and all that goes with it. It’s another offering in the Magical School genre and this follows the misadventures of a would-be magician and all that goes with it, so we have the short title, “Vermeil in Gold” and its full title, “Vermeil in Gold: The Failing Student and the Strongest Scourge Plunge Into the World of Magic” (“Kinsō no Verumeiyu: Gakeppuchi Majutsushi wa Saikyō no Yakusai to Mahō Sekai o Tsukisusumu”), and all that goes with it. (more…)
There are some absolutely brutal animes out there: “Berserk”, “Elfin Lied”, “Gantz”, “Deadman Wonderland” and “Redo of Healer”, to name a few. But the artwork supported the notion that it was going to be a bumpy ride. But what if you have an anime that is equally as brutal, but the artwork lulls you into a false notion as to what is lurking out there? Such is the case with “Made in Abyss” (“Meido in Abisu”). And after the first season and the three-movie arc, we now have the second season, with the multi-worded title “The Golden City of the Scorching Sun” (“Retsujitsu no Ougonkyou”). (more…)
Romantic comedy covers a huge amount of territory, but it usually is the same thought process: a guy really, really likes a girl, but doesn’t know how to say it or express it or convey it without looking like a fool doing so and, thus, tarnishing his image in her eyes (OK, I will be speaking from a guy-to-gal approach; I know it can happen in the opposite direction as well). Meanwhile, the object of their affection is (usually) well aware of their feelings, but they do not want to make it easy for them and saying it for them. YOU have to convey it, OK, as it commits you to the relationship. But what if death is part of the equation? That brings us to “The Duke of Death and His Maid” (“Shinigami Botchan to Kuro Meido”).
