zaterdag 29 december 2018

(Average+) Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day

Series in one sentence:
This flat-chested little girl humping this teenage boy's crotch is definitely the same age, definitely.


Series in more sentences:

A group of childhood friends disbands after the death of its most loved and envied member. Couple of years later, the ex-leader of the group gets haunted by the ghost of said girl and becomes convinced that there's a wish that needs to be fulfilled in order to send her to the afterlife.
But first, he needs to convince his old friends that what he says is the truth.



It's a cute short story. And that's all it is. There are people who consider this series a dramatic masterpiece, but besides the background music and the 2 or 3 sentences uttered during an important scene, nothing made my heart tremble.

I'm not feeling most of the characters and their motives, but worse yet, the girl this story revolves around annoys me. She's this typical high-pitched, noisy, cutesy anime girl who loves everything and everyone. This isn't a personality, stop writing these types of characters.
The way this group of friends gushes over their inoffensive friend makes me believe we're dealing with a top example of a Mary Sue. These kids nearly kill each other and themselves over her and it's insane. Stranger yet, she's in every way the ghost of a dead preschooler, despite looking "grown up" to match the age of her aged friends, so I don't understand how the main guy is still charmed by her unchanged behaviour and wants her to stay on Earth. No teenager raging with hormones would have the patience for a person like that or obsess over an insignificant crush drenched in puppy love. I can't imagine 15 year old me going berserk over the ghost of someone I had a crush on when I was 5.

For what reason did this girl's spirit even appear grown up? The anime gives no reason. In combination with her youthful act, it makes her look like she's mentally challenged, for real. If her spirit had shown itself as her normal self... I still wouldn't have liked her, but at least her behaviour would've fit the look.

There's also no chemistry between her and the guy she supposedly has a crush on, while this is an important plot element. His relationship with the redhead had more depth.
The two lovers show off an older brother-younger sister relationship, which makes sense, since the ghost is officially 5 years old. Making the scenes where the boy gets an erection over her very inappropriate.

Hm. That has to be the sole reason she was made to look older; you can't have perverted scenes with a 5 year old.


Anyway, would not watch again. I didn't find the story exciting and didn't care enough about the characters to care for the drama.


(Average+) Switched

Series in one sentence:
Drop Dead Diva, but with Japanese teenagers.


Series in more sentences:

A popular girl is tricked into switching bodies with a troubled outcast and tries to convince her friends of who she is, but naturally isn't believed. It doesn't take long for her boyfriend and best friend to see the truth, though they both have a different way of responding to the discovery. 
 

I enjoy these kind of stories, I used to watch Drop Dead Diva, until that became a tedious watch. This Netflix series also feels a bit awkward to me.
It's the first Japanese live-action series I've ever seen, and I noticed they act and edit their stuff the same way they do their animes. It gives some of these scenes a very unnatural flow and the actors follow a cartoony script.

I liked that the famous pretty girl wasn't written to be this uncaring bitchy teen, but was surprised to see the outcast being the 2-dimensional one in the story. When asked why she switched bodies, she only brings up that she wants the main character's boyfriend. Alright?
What about the fact she lives in a dump, with an uncaring mother, that she has no friends and nobody who pays attention to her? Why does her life revolve around this one boy, when there are better reasons for her jealousy? If her motives are this lame and she smiles like an evil Bond villain every time she sees her victim cry, how are we supposed to care for her?

It's a rare take on a bully victim and I like the idea that being nice will make everyone like you, but it's not something I believe in. Being mean and creepy towards everyone won't get you friends, but being nice is no guarantee either.


The series speeds through the story as well, I was surprised by how fast people realized these girls switched souls. I mean. We're talking about magic here, you need to be a special kind of person to buy into that the moment you see something weird going on.
The plot twist with the boyfriend was rather bullshit too, as for the ending. I think the "villain" was right saying they only cared about her because they needed the other girl's body back, and the series spent no time in convincing me otherwise. But there they were, all suddenly friends.
 

There were good things. I adored the best friend, he had alot of energy and I loved watching him.


(Good) Erased

Series in one sentence:
Put all your time and energy into a girl who obviously adores you for it, then wake up from a coma to see she fucked some other guy.


Series in more sentences:

A man without passion and the power to see ahead of time is one day framed for the murder of his mother. In his moment of panic he manages to rewind time itself, and ends up as a child before a series of child murders occurred. The man concludes it's all connected and he has to stop them from happening in order to save his mother.
 


Good, but could've been a lot better. It's like two stories in one that don't fit together, but are awesome separately.

The first half is basically about this adult man going back in time to save the life of a classmate he used to ignore. A very obvious romance blooms between the two of them as he does this, but the moment that story arch is "over" and the girl moves to a different home, she's out of his heart and mind and the guy moves on to the next child he has to protect. Who is taken care of in way less episodes, as if the creators didn't care anymore and just wanted the show to end. Both instances were a bit insulting.
So much time was spent on him and the girl, but then she's never heard of again, until the end where she shows off her newborn baby that she had with a character she never even had any chemistry with.

The anime closes off with the main character meeting up with his old colleague from the first timeline, as if she's been his one true love all this time and fate brought them together, but.. no, not really? It was weird.



(Average+) Chio's School Road

Series in one sentence:
Saiki K, but where the main character's motive for keeping distance is hardly upheld.


Series in more sentences:

An eccentric girl wants to survive her days of high school by being less than average, though this proves challenging, since something crazy happens every day.


This could've been another Disasterous Life of Saiki K, but it lacks the humor, speed and decency.

The anime was funny at times and I was entertained enough to keep on watching, but I don't remember laughing out loud over its jokes, and the perversion was really distracting.
Why I'm shown a high school girl's crotch while she's talking to herself I'll never know. Why there's a female rapist, homeless pedophile, and little girl ramming her fingers up in people's asses I'll never know.

I wish some of the storylines had more screen time; the one with the criminal could've been its own anime, but for what it was, it was fine. There isn't much of an ending to this, though.



vrijdag 28 december 2018

(Average) Holmes of Kyoto

Series in one sentence:  
An asexual boy sitting on the autism spectrum and a bland high school girl fight against a great evil they could've easily sent the cops after.

Series in more sentences: 
After a harsh break-up, a young girl plans to sell one of her grandfather's vintage possessions so she can buy a train ticket home to scold her ex, but the clerk in the antique store can't be fooled and seems to know everything by just looking at her.

As he feels empathetic, he offers her a job in the store to help her get the money legitimately. While working alongside him, she's often dragged along for all kinds of assignments that seldom have something to do with appraising art. The clerk seems to be a real Sherlock Holmes and is a wanted "detective" by many people in the neighbourhood. 
 

The series is so lame, it's a shame. The ending alone doesn't make it worth watching it.

The clerk detective-guy, called Holmes, is disappointingly boring. The main character will often comment on his mannerisms as if that actually gives him a personality, but it didn't convince me. Holmes is boring, she is boring, the romance is boring, some of the episodes are quite idiotic, and the main villain is the saddest little shit I've ever seen in fiction. Like damn, what a loser. The people that see this guy as a genuine threat are even worse.

The way Holmes gets upset over fake clay pots is a character trait I care nothing about, I couldn't take him or the main story seriously.
There are glimpses of an interesting script here and there; scenes that make the characters seem like actual human beings, but for the most part they're just smiling faces.


(Average+) How Not to Summon a Demon Lord

Series in one sentence:
YES YES, BEST FRIEND DADDY, FILL ME WITH YOUR MAGIC, AHUEEEEE!


Series in more sentences:

An anti-social boy suddenly finds himself reincarnated as his in-game character in a world similar to the online RPG he played just the day before. Summoned by two girls from that world with the intention to enslave him, the enslavement spell ends up reflecting back at them, making him their master instead. Even so, the world residents quickly learn that this overpowered demon lord of mysterious origin is not that bad, despite him roleplaying as a villain.



I've watched alot of video game animes now, and I'd say this is the best one so far. Then, why the low rating?

I liked the story and the characters, but both were defiled by the random perverted, sexual moments and costumes. I don't understand why this happens so often in animes. This would've been a FANTASTIC series for all ages if they just left that shit out, but who would show their 12-year-old an otherwise cool series that takes every opportunity to show erect nipples and inflated breasts?
Why do we have these semi-sex scenes and weird romances between the three main characters if the anime argues they're just tight friends? Why is the main character fingering his friends?! Why does Japan keep doing this?

I'm honestly sad by how the show managed to decrease its own value. Having that said, check it out if you can ignore the weird scenes. Or are into that. There is real porn you can find on the internet, though.



(Average+) Angels of Death

Series in one sentence:
I love y.. I mean.. kill me, you promised.


Series in more sentences:

Rachel ends up in a strange underground location after her parents were murdered and she lost her mind. She finds out that the place is far from safe and houses a small amount of serial killers, each given their own floor to rule over.
When the girl regains her lost memories, though, she comes to the conclusion not to deserve life anymore and manages to strike a deal with one of the murderers, Zack: She'll help the simple-minded criminal escape to the outside world, if he promises to kill her afterwards.

 


What to think of this one.

It was like I was watching an alternate reality, one where people are unrealistically evil and insane murderers are considered "pure angels". Where wanting to die and someone willing to answer to that is an act of true love.. But then the last episode kicks in, and it becomes clear we're dealing with the real world. So then, how come some of these characters have superhuman strength? How is it possible for characters to keep cheating death? How does it explain all the magic elements we've witnessed episodes prior? It's never explained.

Nevertheless, it's an interesting anime, I enjoyed the two main characters for the most part. It was cool seeing these two opposites joining forces getting through the puzzles set for them, but every time I allowed myself to believe that their relationship was growing into something charming, they say some dumb bullshit that tells me I'm wrong. 

I love how they interact, but on the other hand, the way they express their "like" for each other is messed up. Not once have they expressed themselves in a normal human way and they always seemed to be dancing around the subject.
Whenever a character in the show asked either one of them about the other, they always replied with something like "Well, I want to die and he promised to kill me, that's why I want to save him!" or "I never lie and I promised this girl to kill her, that's why I want to save her!".

What the fuck kind of script is that?

Why can't either one of them say "I've grown fond of you, we complete each other, I'm no longer lonely, bla bla"? Why is their tight bond always referred back to this moronic promise of death? It makes their otherwise cool friendship totally pointless. Fake, even.
Also, for a girl who wants to die so badly, Rachel sure resists alot. Even when Zack is seemingly about to kill her, she resists. Because of reasons. Messy character arc in this one. If the story doesn't actually want her dead, then why does everything revolve around her wanting to die?

I think Zack and Rachel aren't people we, the viewers, can understand. Maybe that's the point, they're insane, not meant to be understood by normal folks. But why then have us emotionally invested in their relationship? This is obviously what the anime tried to have us do.
You can write two fictional characters to be mentally insane, but still able of showing signs of humanity, thanks to having each other. But having Zack doesn't "cure" Rachel from her wish of wanting to die, and Rachel doesn't "cure" Zack from wanting to kill her/people. So again, what is the point of their relationship?

The anime could've also gone without this God, angels and death nonsense. I didn't think it had a place in the story.
A story about an eccentric rich dude who collects famous murderers as a weird hobby would've been better, opposed to some priest locking himself up with serial killers because whatever the reason even was..


But alright. I think it's worth the watch, but be ready to sit through shit excuses from the characters and a lacklustre ending.


(Average+) Onee-chan ga Kita

Series in one sentences: 
This shit gonna be illegal in a year, if it isn't already.


Series in more sentences: 
A 13 year old boy gets a stepsister who is openly infatuated with him, despite being 17 herself. While he's visibly bothered by her, he learns it could've been worse.



Some anime descriptions sound like a train wreck and when I read about a 17 year old girl lusting after her 13 year old stepbrother, I expected/hoped this show was going to be horribly disgusting. It would've given me something to rant about, but I actually couldn't find anything too objectionable.

The series' saving grace is probably the fact the sister acts like a small child herself and there really weren't any dubious scenes. For example, animes love crotch shots and perverted humor, but the show was pretty tame. The sister's love for her brother was similar to how someone would adore a puppy. She didn't show sexual desire for this small child, thank heavens.


So, what does the anime offer? Little, as the episodes are very short and there's not much time for a conflict to grow or get solved. But the pacing was excellent and the episodes kept me entertained enough to keep on watching. I guess you could describe the whole deal as "cute", but not life changing by any means.


zaterdag 22 september 2018

(Average) Flavors of Youth: International Version

Movie in one sentences: 
Not one, but three boring life stories.

Movie in more sentences: 
Follow three different life stories. I don't know what else to say.


I don't understand why this exists. The last chapter was decent and fairly touching, but the first was an absolute bore and the second one not exciting, either.
I think there's some kind of life lesson to be found in them, but it's not brought forward in an entertaining way.

The first story is more or less some guy's rant about how much he likes noodles. Alright.

The second story is about a famous model who worries her career is over when she's getting replaced by a younger face. Alright. Better.

The third is about a boy who's gone through the trouble of studying for the girl he liked, but this girl failed her tests on purpose, resulting in the two not going to university together after all. Because the boy has been mercilessly distant with her for years, the ending is bittersweet. This is the best story of the bunch.

Still, is it worth checking out? No.



zondag 12 augustus 2018

(Average+) Magical Girl Ore

Series in one sentence:
Everyone's bisexual for each other.


Series in more sentences:

Saki wants it all; the boy of her dreams and breaking through as a cute pop idol duo with her best friend, who is also the sister of her crush.

After having a dream about being a "magical girl superhero" involving her crush, a dubious man shows up at her door and informs her it's a real thing. Her mother is revealed to be one, even, but her duties greatly weakened her over the years and a replacement is needed now that demons are attacking the city.
Saki loves the concept and accepts, though the transformation is far from conventional. She turns into a muscular man wearing a cute dress.



Total madness, but the show managed to make sense out of it. I loved the first few episodes, the humor was on point and cute, but near the end things became less exciting. If you can believe this.


Saki's best friend, who's also blessed with powers at one point, also worried me a little at one point. I'm never charmed by lovestruck characters who turn into  very real rapists, but after one or two episodes, she calms down a bit.
Still not sure why Saki was fine sitting next to her after that scene where she tried to wrestle her down like nothing happened, but alright.

It's sad that the show lost its comedic touch, there were way less (good) jokes as it progressed. Maybe they wanted to focus more on the story? There was one episode that didn't progress the story at all; it was some major complaint about having to reach an episode's deadline or how the animation business worked? It was incredibly boring, I couldn't watch it for long.


It's a short series, I guess it wouldn't be a waste of time to check it out for yourself.


(Good) Kuroko's Basketball

Series in one sentence:
A boy with neon-blue hair somehow manages to be invisible.


Series in more sentences:

A young team of high school basketball players dream about becoming the best team in Japan, but their opponents consists out of legendary players known to never lose a match.
Luckily for them, an American-Japanese boy with the stamina of 5 people signs up to their team, as for one of the lesser known legendary players, who's talents are unlike anything they've seen.

 

It was an exciting ride, though slightly overdramatic when you allow yourself to think about what it is these kids are getting themselves worked up about.
No matter how cool and serious things got, we're still talking about a bunch of high school babbus throwing a ball around. So. Why're some of these people acting like Dragonball Z supervillains? It's just a game -not even a professional or international one- damn boys, relax.

But yes, I can't deny it made for good entertainment. The talents of the players are portrayed and described as superpower moves, which is a fun way of making basketball interesting for those who generally don't care for it. I contentedly binge-watched this and would recommend the show to anyone, but still, it did lack something for me.

The story gets to the point and pretty much has no filler episodes, but I think it would've benefited from it. There were very little everyday moments; everything these kids do and have done in their lives revolves around basketball, even when they meet up outside of the gym or school building they're drooling on about it. It's a bit pathetic. Again, when you allow yourself to think about it.
I would've liked to see more scenes of them visiting each other at home, because they're friends, not with the intention to talk game strategy. I wanted them to prove to me they're actual people, not these sports obsessed kids stuck in a fantasy world. What else do they even do at school? What do they do at home? There were 2 hardly explored romances going on and it was noticeable how pointless they were.
The series doesn't care for building up relationships that have nothing to do with the love for basketball. The "cute" puppy they found is a testament to this; he was a pointless addition. I still don't even know who his owner is, he's always in the arms or bag of another character

When the anime started, I thought the bluehaired Kuroko and redheaded Kagami were going to be the main characters, but they really weren't. In some episodes you hardly see either characters in action at all, and the show thinks to fix this by having another character mention them.
Now, this anime didn't fail at making the other characters interesting, it did a good job actually, but it still feels a bit like false advertising. I wanted to see Kuroko and Kagami and know what they were doing every time the camera wasn't giving them screen time. They didn't talk or hung out as often as I wanted and they don't seem to be more friends than with the other team members, while the show tried to claim this at some points.

Kuroko's Basketball also had the tendency to "insert convenience". It keeps inventing basketball skills at the spot, just so a character can win a game he was majorly failing minutes before. These players always have a "2nd" or "3rd gear", and when their last gear fails, a "4th gear" is suddenly claimed to be a thing. Convenient plot points define the show and strategies are always explained at the last second, it's very lazy.
But alright, our heroes still meet with hardships and there's a fair distribution of strength, so we're not dealing with Gary Stus, by any means.

All in all, Kuroko's Basketball presented a creative way of making basketball appealing. While the normal social/human interaction was lacking, the games themselves were really cool to watch.


(Good) The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.

Series in one sentence:
Yare yare.


Series in more sentences:

A straight-faced teenager with immense psychic powers wishes to lead a peaceful, average life where nobody will bother him, but finds himself in all kinds of situations with his ever-growing group of unwanted friends.
While Saiki prefers not to get involved with other people's problems, he often helps out under the guise of "doing it to benefit himself".

 

Damn hilarious with addicting characters, I've watched it in Japanese and English.

Despite this, the series can be difficult to follow for certain people. As a foreigner with a short attention span, I need to focus especially hard in order not to miss reading or hearing a funny line, as the show is extremely fast-paced. The English version was easier to follow, but only slightly.
Often 2 or more people are heard talking at the same time, and when you're watching the Japanese version, that means reading multiple subtitles in 2 seconds before the scene switches over. The show can be quite overwhelming and it doesn't help that the main character speaks telepathically to people -not moving his mouth- and just as often thinks to himself. It's not always clear when he's doing what. Saiki is basically Garfield the cat.

Episodes consist out of shorter episodes and the change of story is what functions as a pause between the madness. In that sense, they applied a clever way of making the fast pacing work.
While it's all short stories, most plots and characters make a return, so you're not at all dealing with a show that presses the reset button every time.

I loved its self-awareness and the cheap excuses made for its cheapness, this must've been a blast to produce.


donderdag 7 juni 2018

(Average) Vampire Knight

Series in one sentence:
Getting your neck ripped open and sucked dry isn't weird, that's just what friends do.


Series in more sentences:

After getting saved from a vampire attack, the orphaned Yuki grows up enamoured by her saviour, even though she knows he's a vampire himself. Her saviour and her new foster father dream of a future where vampires and humans can coexist and set up a school where both groups can attend. Yuki and her foster brother are assigned to be the school's peacekeepers and have the heavy duty of making sure everyone obeys the rules, but Yuki's softened view on vampires makes her an easy target for the ill-intended.

When a powerful vampire is confirmed to reawaken, it becomes clear that Yuki is of greater importance than anyone could've guessed.

 


Not including the second season; this would've been a cool and simple romance story. If the main character wasn't such a crusty dish cloth of a person.


I greatly disliked Yuki. There are 2 men in this series willing to stop a bullet for her, while this girl is incompetent, spineless and a moron. She has such a goldfish mentality, she can comfortably visit and greet a character who intimidated her the day before. She always justifies being attacked by them or urges others to glance over it.

-"I'm sorry my friend scared you and tried to eat your finger, that was rude."
-"NO, NO, it's no big deal, hee hee!"


A defining feature of a dish cloth.

And it never ends with this girl. When a new vampiric student shows up and claims she wants to be friends with Yuki, she closes off her ass-kissing with a totally not suspicious sentence like "girls like you have sweet blood" and Yuki apparently doesn't hear that shit and acts surprised when someone else informs her the girl can't be trusted. What in the retardation?

Her foster brother is pretty much the only person who gets things done, so does the love interest, who has the benefit of being literal royalty within the vampire community and offers an easy fix when vampires start douching around by just staring at them.
But Yuki doesn't have the nerves to speak up against them and doesn't mind grovelling in front of these pompous teenagers, which is very unfortunate for the humans she's supposed to protect.
Never once did she tell these vampires to chill their shit or successfully fought them off. What's the point of her being a peacekeeper if she can't keep the peace? Her interaction with the vampire Aido is a good example of how little she cares for her own safety or her job.

Speaking of the guy, his inconsistent act bothered me. One scene he's playing this dangerous troublemaker, the next a jolly animu cliché, and whoever shares the scene with him always plays along with it. Even the background music does. Am I supposed to forget this asshole attacked the main character multiple times, because they're now pulling lulzy faces at each other as if they're friends? These people aren't friends, why're they acting cute with each other?

Every "quirky" scene in this anime feels out of place. It's not the type of story that needs comedy to begin with.


Yuki's incompetence is distracting, as it doesn't add up when you look at her roots. She was -I assume- trained by a talented vampire hunter and given the task to play the school's guard for a reason, but I can't figure out what reason that would be.
The series should've made her a regular student, one with no responsibilities or expectations. She keeps being tricked by the creatures she's supposed to control, and shows them a ridiculous amount of respect, because really, she's afraid of them. Who thought it was a good idea to hand someone like that a weapon? A weapon she continuously fails to use, until the very last episode. Whereafter she fails again.


Nevertheless, I kept watching and can't say I didn't enjoy myself fine enough. Things were fine in the beginning, after all, but the big reveal and "grand villain" plot is what made me remove
the initial + from my average score.
This story didn't end the way I thought it would and I was not impressed by the villain. He was overhyped as fuck, but in the end it only took 2 shots to kill him. It was so ridiculous, I expected his death to be a fake-out, but no, he was gone. I've never seen such an anti-climatic end to a villain.
If that wasn't enough, the big reveal made things awkward and disgusting, and the ending basically accepted it and also made sure to wreck the relationship between Yuki and her foster brother in the most idiotic and rushed way. No idea why they couldn't have stayed friends.


Horrible ending, would not watch again.

By the way. Those flashback scenes with the twin brothers.
These children were unmistakably gay with each other and it was distracting as Hell. Why is everything in this series incest, damn.

Also,
if these neurotic vampires become restless the moment someone cuts their finger 1000 feet away, what are they going to do with themselves when a female student gets her period?

Alright, I'm done now.


vrijdag 16 maart 2018

(Average) Ojisan and Marshmallow

Series in one sentence:
Nothing's more attractive than an asexual sugar addict.


Series in more sentences:

A young woman with social issues is madly in love with her colleague, who can only be persuaded by his favourite brand of marshmallows.
 

This was fairly boring, because the episodes are really short and don't establish much.
It would've been better if this was a full-fledged anime that properly explored this unlikely romance, instead of putting so much focus on the joke that this grown, clearly mature man is obsessed with marshmallows.

Also, the last episode was a nightmare, what a shit ending to give any show.



donderdag 15 maart 2018

(???) Pop Team Epic

Series in one sentence:
Beef or chicken?


Series in more sentences:

Two young friends enter the world of popular media and have all kinds of adventures together.
 

I didn't think I'd come across something that would surpass the strange money investments that were Gakuen Handsome and Aho-Girl.

The first episode was quite the introduction. It consisted out of an abundance of random clips and there were even 2 versions of the same episode for some reason. Soon I noticed that every episode had 2 versions; one where the main characters are voiced by men, the other by women. Every time different men and women as well, so far I could tell. An odd decision, but both versions are equally interesting, so why not.

This show is more or less the Japanese version of Tim & Eric, though faster paced and more confusing. It was quick to grow on me, though, I liked the way it doesn't care.
It parodies quite alot of things as well, and luckily for Western audiences, globally known things. Movies, TV series, songs, video games; I was amazed Undertale made an appearance twice.

I'm going to keep on watching this mess.


Oh.

And this series has better lesbians than Citrus and a better stepsibling love story.



(Bad) Citrus

NOTE: Watched the first 2 episodes

Series in one sentence:

A girl immediately falls and feels for her rapist.


Series in more sentences:

A typical teenage girl moves into a new and different environment after her mother remarries. On top of that, she has to deal with her stepsister's drama, though finds herself more romantically attached to her every day.

I'm guessing this is the plot, I've only watched 2 episodes, after all.

 

I JUST finished a series about a rapist getting a free pass. I can't. No more of this shit, please, no.

I couldn't go through with this. In these 2 episodes alone the blonde girl kept getting sexually assaulted by her bland-ass stepsister, and the rest was as boring as this girl's personality.
The speed in which our easily swooned victim became emotionally invested in her stepsister's troubles was ridiculous. Where did her care for her come from? These two had known each other for merely 2 days. In the few scenes they shared, the stepsister acted like a curt bitch or forced herself on her. What is the deep and emotional connection here, exactly?

I planned to watch more than 2 episodes, since I'm always wondering if I can make a fair judgement when I pull the plug this early, but I can't imagine the stepsister giving an excuse for her inappropriate behaviour that I'd agree with.
I don't want these fake romance-rape stories, damn me. Good for you if you accept this kind of horror as a proper basis for a love relationship, though.

It's a typical thing to say; but if the dark-haired girl was a man, I wonder if the common watcher would've surpassed my 2 episode limit.
What kind of people are giving this anime such high ratings?