OK, as you know, sports anime are my second least-liked genre (Giant Fighting Robots still have a commanding lead). It’s just the arc traveled in these shows is always the same: a person either a) loved the game and left it for a variety of reasons or b) want to make a name for themseves IN the sport. Through a series of events and happenstance, they are able to c) forge a comeback or d) establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with. And unless it is an unusual sport not normally covered in anime (tank battles, sumo wrestling, cornholing, whatever), I’ll take a pass. The object of our scrutiny for this one is sometimes not even considered a sport, golf, but I ended up on the green with “Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story.” (more…)

Is this another anime trend I see before me? Now, gender change comedies have been with us since the Greeks took ink to paper (or whatever they wrote on). We can discuss “Some Like it Hot”, “Victor/Victoria”, “The Hot Chick” (OK, NOT ‘The Hot Chick”; that one was terrible!) and into the mix we fling another montrapatiously-titled show “She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man (“Kenja no Deshi o Nanoru Kenja”), which also doubles as part of the video game genre for anime. (more…)

Hey! It another gender-blender show. I hope that this isn’t the latest anime craze, especially since the focus of these shows is what once was a guy is now a gal. And it’s an isekai as well, so, all bets are off. We find ourselves in the reshaped world of…(take a deep breath; it’s a long title)… “Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout”  (“Fantajī Bishōjo Juniku Ojisan to”, or “With a Fogie Reincarnated as a Pretty Fantasy Girl”, which has been abbreviated as “Fabiniku”). And since we have thrown everything into it, including the kitchen sink, well, it certainly has a lot to take in, so here we go. (more…)

What is it about con men and great heist epics that enthrall us? Is it the intricacies of the plot in order to make this succeed? Is it the panic of potential discovery? It is that the person who is the mark is far and well deserving of them being taken to the cleaners? Is it a battle of one set of amoralistic forces against another set of amoralistic forces? Well, it’s all of that and a bag of chips. Now, if you or I get taken, it’s a travesty. But to those high rollers, that’s a different story. And that different story is “Great Pretender” (not to be confused with the Platters hit, which is called “THE Great Pretender”). (more…)

It’s hard enough to tell an anime story. You may have a manga to act as a guide, but then comes the hard decisions as to what stays and what goes. I mean, I can take as many pages as I want to tell my story, but 24 minutes is 24 minutes and that CAN’T be argued with. It gets even harder when you try to tell two anime stories at the same time, but that is what you get with “Plunderer” (“Purandara”). (more…)

Another magic show. I know that I really shouldn’t be sniping too hard about them, but it’s just that it runs in cycles and everyone seems to be cranking out a magic show. At least this one puts a rather odd take on things, to the point that it might be a bigger fantasy than that there are people can do magic. This is “The Wise Man’s Grandchild.” (“Kenja no Mago”). (more…)

At least this anime lets you know that it is taking place in another world, although about 20 seconds into the first episode, you would have been made well aware of this. It starts out telling the story, and then jumps into a massive flashback, so you learn how we came to be here in “Isekai Cheat Magician” (“Isekai Chīto Majutsushi”, “Fantasy World Cheat Magician”). (more…)

The first season of this show was fraught with peril and genuine danger. I mean, you could really lose an eye (as evidenced by our maiden up there) or even your life. For the second season, not only are the stakes even higher and more challenging, the rewards are equally advantageous. This is “Kakegurui xx” (“Compulsive Gambler”). (more…)

Now that I know and understand isekai animes (well, kind of understand), I am seeing them everywhere and they take all shapes and sizes and rather bizarre methods to get from where they are to where they are going to be. At least no one had to be murdered for this one (see “Slime”), but that was a reincarnation, not merely a time-and-place transfer. And so we are at the doorstep of another monstrapatiously titled show, “High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World” (“Chōjin-Kokoseitachi wa Isekai demo Yoyu de Ikinuku Yōdesu!”) Yeah, try putting THAT on a t-shirt. (more…)

So, how DO you like your perversions? I mean, this caliber of conversation does not come up at the dinner table and it would be difficult to try and explain things as we are ladling out the mashed potatoes and gravy, or perhaps a plate of curry, but you have to have a conversation of some ilk, and since politics is off the menu, well, here we are. It just that this show, “Nobunaga Teacher’s Young Bride” (“Nobunaga Sensei no Osanazuma”) serves up a lot of actions, as we realize social mores and morals have changed over the years to where what was OK then is explicitly illegal now. (more…)