(Average+) Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy

Series in one sentence:
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, but sped up. So sped up in fact, it came first.

Series in more sentences:
The son of two heroes from another world is whisked away to be the destined hero of that world, but the goddess who's supposed to hand him a blessing is appalled by his "ugliness" and discards him.

With no given purpose, Makoto roams the strange lands alone, but quickly discovers he possesses an unbeatable amount of strength, and with it, wins over many devoted demi-human followers.

An overused genre where the main character sports many easy successes, but I was sort of entertained. I don't think it offers anything that warrants a revisit, though.

Episode 11 tried to do something cool, but Makoto changed his tune so sudden, I couldn't make myself care. These two minor characters that died weren't worth his descent into 2-second madness, and at the end of it, the guy contentedly announces to his followers he's leaving to attend some academy. What kind of story development is that.
Episode 12 also suffered from extreme tonal shifts, and I don't know if the end narration managed to convince me I should check out season 2.

I guess I'll have to see when it comes out.

(Good) Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

Series in one sentence:
If my school bullies in actuality had a crush on me.

Series in more sentences:
An outcast suddenly catches the attention of the type of girl he hates most and is unable to get rid of her.

I care little for sadistic characters in anime, they tend not to have redeemable qualities, but I'd say this show did a fair job at keeping the bully a bully and still being entertaining enough for me to keep on watching.

The one negative I'd give is "senpai's" rather quick vocal announcement to accept Nagatoro as his harasser. That should've been an end conclusion. But other than that, this was a breath of fresh air after sitting through so many boring, bad animes. Why am I doing this with my life.

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21-03-2024 UPDATE:
Watched season 2. I enjoyed it a whole lot less, but it's difficult to explain why. Maybe that revisiting season 1 would help me understand, but I don't have time or motivation to rewatch an entire show every time new episodes come out 2 years later.

I didn't think that many interesting events happened, and if I had to guess my discontentedness, I'd say it's because the characters were the minimum of who they once were. They were recognizable, but at this point you're asking yourself the question: Yes, but what else?

I was pretty bored throughout the first half. Perhaps I was in an impatient mood, but maybe this season is best enjoyed by people who just want to put something on while they're doing something else. There's no reason to sit down and give it all of your attention; skip to any part of the episode, and you'll still get the gist of it.

(Average) The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made

Note: I stopped at episode 6.

Series in one sentence:
"Ugly", yet charming characters become instantly bland the moment they're pretty.

Series in more sentences:
High school students are randomly transported to a different world and told to be needed in an upcoming battle against a demon lord and his army. Meanwhile, the class outcast is separated from everyone and forced to fend for himself in the unknown wilderness.

After eating a bunch of disgusting foreign fruit out of hungry desperation, Seiichi finds himself changing physically ever so slightly, though also discovers to be remarkably strong. A large gorilla monster falls in love with him over his strength and chooses to stay by his side after having obtained the form of a human.

When Seiichi has become the full package deal; handsome and powerful, his real adventure finally makes its start.

The first two episodes should've been the entire show.

The Fruit of Evolution cared nothing about its most original, interesting plot points and immediately switched over to a bland RPG adventure. The gorilla girl had real potential -in the comedic and emotional sense- but the moment she turned human, she was beyond boring and useless.
I sensed no romantic connection between her and Seiichi, the show didn't give enough time to show it, but when they officially settled on their relationship, it only worsened. They're supposedly in love, but they acted like silly siblings. They didn't kiss, hold hands, or talked about anything that would've helped solidify they're lovers.

When episode 3 hit, my interest had fully disappeared. You're flooded with scenes of absolute degeneracy, and none of it is funny, charming, or makes any sense within the story. I hated it and started dreading the rest of the series. I wondered: was this going to be a worse How Not to Summon a Demon Lord?
As expected, the rest of the story and relationships were rushed as well, and so, none of the characters were fleshed out and you don't care about anything that happens. It's like this series doesn't want to exist, but someone threw some money at it and now it's forced to.

Episode 6 was the last straw for me. I don't believe in the genuineness of polyamorous relationships, I'm sorry to admit. It's not a romantic watch for me and I find the words "I can't choose between them" an insulting confession.
Like, what do you mean? One girl you supposedly knew for months, the other only a few days, is that equal love? There were no signs Seiichi even loved his trainer, he only accepted her because the gorilla girl urged him to. Which is messed up by itself.

(Average) Ganbare Douki-chan

NOTE: I stopped at episode 7.

Series in one sentence:
He has such a handsome absent face.

Series in more sentences:
A woman is madly in love with her timid co-worker, but luck is never on her side and she seemingly can't get through to him. Or can she?

A bland love story littered with conflicts, but none that push you to the edge of your seat. There's no humor, originality, or much that makes his anime stand out in any meaningful way. The episodes are short, but I have better stuff to do with my time, I won't be watching the end.

(Average) Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san

Series in one sentence:
So many lesbians, but no one to keep.

Series in more sentences:
A dog-like girl with a fitting name who happens to like cats meets up with a cat-like girl who happens to like dogs. They seem like a match made in Heaven, though Inugami's carefree and social butterfly-behaviour often leaves Nekoyama standing in the distance with jealous stares.
But every girl they meet becomes a friend, and in the end, Nekoyama can't say with certainty what it is she expects from Inugami.

Damn, I really gave this a heavy description, the anime isn't this deep.

A short series with a fun set-up, but little to no payoff. There was hardly any focus on the romance between Inugami and Nekoyama, nor could I take it seriously, as Inugami basically likes all and any girl.
I also would've liked to see more dog and cat comparisons throughout the series, as this character detail felt like an afterthought.

I hoped the comedy would be good enough to carry this show, but it isn't. It's basic and sometimes just disgusting, like the scenes that involved licking. They were mercifully short, though, and when they end, you'll forget it ever happened. A blessing.

Anyway, I can't say this is worth anyone's time. There is no story to enjoy, but the episodes are short, so you might as well see this and decide for yourself.

(Average+) 3D Kanojo: Real Girl

Series in one sentence:
Two kids who rarely hang out or speak to each other are supposedly in love.

Series in more sentences:
An introverted, socially inept anime fan suddenly gains the attention of the most beautiful girl in school and agrees to date her for the 6 months she's still in the neighbourhood.
While the two are very different and have little to bond over, they enjoy each others company, even though Tsutsui's social skills makes maintaining a relationship hard and misunderstandings are unavoidable.

What a great story on paper, but as I kept on watching, my tolerance for the direction and characters got tested.

3D Kanojo's major flaw is that the episodes are usually centered around conflict. It's always about characters fighting or getting disappointed with each other, seldom you saw them hang out in pleasant, leisurely settings. If they did, something negative had to transpire prior or afterwards.

Tsutsui was unbearable at times. He kept making the same mistakes and would always refrain from telling his girlfriend/friends what was on his mind, and instead, gave them curt demands not to associate with him anymore without any context.

There was this consistent emotional distance between him and his girlfriend, and the few times they kissed I don't consider a fix. Very often one of them would lament about how long ago it was they last visited each other, so where does this affection they supposedly have for each other come from? When and how did they bond if they hardly hang out?
Only in the girl's last month does Tsutsui put in the effort, which is beyond insulting. He wasted her time every other day by doing nothing, except chase her away because of whatever overdramatic reason was haunting him that week.

Tsutsui's passiveness wouldn't even be bad, if, for example, the story didn't take this "emo otaku" route, but just argued he was autistic. Him being an otaku was a pointless addition to his character and every scene where he talked about wanting to see an anime or buy a video game could've easily been left out or replaced by something else.

 

 

(Average) Wise Man's Grandchild

Series in one sentence:
A boy is constantly yelled at to hide away his enviable magic abilities for truly no reason.

Series in more sentences:
An overworked businessman gets hit in traffic, then reborn in a different world, inhabited by magic and monsters. His parents are killed by a demon, whereafter the baby is found and raised by a celebrated magician, Merlin.

As expected, he teaches his foster grandchild all he knows about magic, but soon finds out Shin is way stronger than is considered normal.

Had a good start, but it completely wasted its own premise. It was so painfully boring at times, I could not watch this in one sitting.

The fact the main character originates from a different world doesn't matter and only comes in the form of maybe 3 throwaway lines.
He used to work for a science textbook publisher, and it's implied this is what makes him understand certain magic spells and perform them better, but he's not a scientist himself, he was just.. what the Hell did he even do. Desktop design?

In any case, Shin is supposed to be an adult man, which the show does not keep in mind. He acted like a regular child during his childhood and is surprisingly stupid for someone who's gone through two childhoods now. It's also a bit odd to have this theoretically very old man getting love-struck by a big-boobed 15-year-old.
I think they should've kept the romance out, it was standard stuff anyway. I never saw him and the girl spend any casual time with each other, they were already in love and their interactions primarily consisted out of heavy blushing.

Throughout the series, characters kept bringing up that Shin should keep his powers a secret and he can't be used for military purposes, but both requests are completely ignored and there are no real consequences for it.
You could say that the lazy demonic villain coming back at the end is the consequence, but why does this guy even care? He already met with Shin's strength, whereafter he retreated and destroyed an entire kingdom without anyone stopping him or even thinking about Shin. He proclaimed his goal had been met and he's got nothing to do now, yet he suddenly decides to mess around with Shin again? Talking about kicking the bees nest.

I didn't like or care for Shin's role as a magic teacher, either. I wanted a more exciting endeavour for this character. Why not have him be discovered and chased around the world by power-hungry maniacs, like the show tried to warn him would happen?
He shouldn't even be able to be a teacher; the other characters always moan not to understand any of his explanations, so how did he manage to teach them at all? The anime doesn't show, his class is just suddenly good.

Speaking of the other characters, there are way too damn many in this thing. I can't stand it when shows do this. You can't have this many characters on screen and make them all interesting, and big surprise, none of them are.

The ending is left open, making this series even less appealing to give a try. It's been 4 years, its Wiki page isn't all that text-heavy, insinuating there's a lack of interest; there'll never be a season 2.

(Good) So I'm a Spider, So What?

Series in one sentence:
That Time I Reincarnated as Another Weak Creature Yet Somehow Became Overpowered.

Series in more sentences:
An entire classroom suddenly falls victim to a freak explosion and are reincarnated inside a different, magical world.

While most of them take on a human form, the class outcast hatches from an egg as a baby spider. Though weak and vulnerable, her determination, love for video games, and curious nature help her strategize a way out of the mazy cave she's born in, and level up in unheard ways.

It was alright. Good enough to earn that good rating, anyway. The first episodes were focussed on the spider's journey to becoming stronger, which was very video gamey; and thus might only interest people who are into RPG's. Like me, I suppose.
But it was nice to see a character work hard at getting better and not instantly succeed every time by default. She had a real struggle to go through.. until the story decided she should get an immortality perk, but alright.

I did get a bit bored whenever it switched over to the human side of the story. It was interesting at parts, but not consistently so. It was also confusing to learn that these scenes were supposedly a huge time skip into the future, while the spider scenes are the past. It took the anime a bit too long to convey that, but perhaps the intention was to give the audience a twist.
It's pretty depressing to imagine the spider has been fighting for her life inside a scary cave for so many years, without losing her sanity. That would normally traumatize and demotivate any normal human being, or rather, I imagine a mousy girl like her would've been. She didn't look like the adventurous stoic type when she was still a human.

The 3D models in this series are distractingly bad and the story could've sped up at times, but I mostly enjoyed it. The spider has more personality than the main character from that other overpowered critter show, even if I'd likely choose to watch that over this again.

Also, if nobody can actually see those kawaii eyeballs on her face, I would've preferred they left them out of her design. She looks better without. But alright, hardly an issue.

(Bad) Saezuru Tori wa Habatakanai: The Clouds Gather

Movie in one sentence:
Sexual abuse is par for the course.

Movie in more sentences:
An ex-cop in need of money after being released from jail becomes the bodyguard of a sex-obsessed, homosexual mob boss who seems all too eager to get with him on his first day.

Despite his boss having a routine of leisurely giving himself away to other men, and he himself was left impotent ever since he witnessed his sister's sexual assault, he feels romantically drawn to him and holds a great amount of respect for the character that no one else respects.

Absolute shit. I tried giving it a chance; there were people claiming there was a story worth sitting through, but it was horrid.

Whores make for unrelatable characters and there was not a speck of romance to be found in this. Why did this stale-faced bodyguard like his grumpy slutbag of a boss, even. He's only remarked how "beautiful" he is -no further clarification how so- and other compliments that don't even slightly apply to this character.
There was no chemistry. The last few seconds tried to evoke some kind of emotion and it was laughable.

The mob storylines were boring, didn't even care a little bit, the topic of sexual abuse at the hands of a family member was used twice as cheap character flavour, and everything else in the anime consisted out of cringy, half-hearted sex scenes, so no thanks, never again.
Don't bother giving it a hate watch, it is a true and honest waste of time.

(Average +) To Your Eternity

Series in one sentence:
Ball boy is God's USB drive.

Series in more sentences:
A mysterious being drops down a magical orb onto Earth, capable of taking the appearance of those it touches, and eventually, those that die after establishing an emotional connection to them.

While Fushi's one and only purpose seems to be recording the planet in its entirety, he develops human intelligence and curiosity thanks to the human body he required early in time, but a supernatural enemy is hunting him down and a peaceful life looks to be an impossible dream.

Intriguing anime, very good. The one flaw it has is that it doesn't really spend all that much time showing Fushi bond with the people he meets along the way, which is important, as the story and his character development hinges on these relationships.
The prison island plot was the worst offender. The "allies" there were extremely uninteresting, I didn't even slightly care when they died.

But I understood the show's intention, and for what it was, still a great story. I'll be watching season 2 when it's out.

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30-01-2023 UPDATE:
Horrible start of a new season, shit me. It just throws you right in, dumps a whole lot of "this happened" at you, then introduces the descendant of the crazed villain that tried to molest Fushi, now part of an organization wishing to protect him. Right out of nowhere.

And instead of Fushi explaining to the girl that the one who gave her this job is a sick bitch (or putting real effort into running away from these self-righteous stalkers, which he should be able to do), he lets this group shadow him for generations long.

More years pass -cause why let the audience learn about any of these characters and show Fushi dealing with Hayase's horny descendants- until the season finally slows down and settles on developing a story. That's when it becomes interesting again, and thankfully, these new faces are good. For a while. Very welcomed after those boring children from the prison island in season 1. 

They're not great, perhaps, but important to Fushi's development as a person, something that's remained suspiciously stagnant for the many years he's been alive. Really, he's only now trying to understand the concept of affection? Hard to believe, but if there's ever a time to explore this, I guess season 2 is the right time. Yet, in hindsight, little attention was given to this plotpoint throughout the entirety of the season.

I found it rather hurtful when Fushi threw up after Hayase's one male descendant expressed his love for him. The man held him in an embrace, but the anime acts like Fushi got raped or something. The explanation that followed was basically "sins of the father, sins of the son". Really unfair. So many years have passed, this boy only knows what is written or said, and surely, Hayase is a complete mystery person to him. Sharing her blood -which is water at this point, regardless of his identical facial features- does not make him guilty of her crimes, but they convince the poor fool otherwise and he takes it, because he loves Fushi that much. What in the absolute tragic Hell.
It would've been more than acceptable to say "I can't marry you, I don't know what love is, I need to discover this for myself.". Which would've been the truth.
Throughout the rest of the season, this man is given little to do and is just ordered around.

I struggled to motivate myself to check out new episode releases. The things I liked were relatively short-lived and Fushi acts rather unpleasant in this season. How to describe his personality.. Overly caring, yet emotionally distant at the same time? Arrogant? Very arrogant and often rude for no reason.
I began wondering why this immortal being cared so much about the living. I understood in season 1, but for some reason, I could no longer see it in 2. Like I said, hard to describe. Maybe the reason I can't is because of all the giant time skips in the series and pauses between me watching an episode. 

You know what Fushi wants and there's a why attached, but, why really? He's able to sense pain and he doesn't like pain, he argues, so then, he cares about total strangers because of selfish reasons? Regular people care about others because they have a relationship with them, or are able to put themselves in their shoes. Fushi is directly exposed to the nerve endings of livings creatures, he feels their physicial hurt, and the show seemingly argues that's the only reason he puts this much effort into protecting them. Eventually.
Fushi already showed a tremendous level of care prior, but here's the thing: He chose to remain blind for the Nokker attacks and live in the ocean for many years. That doesn't add up.

The last episode offered a good cliffhanger, I'll be back for season 3, but that's probably the only reason I will.

(Average+) Bagel Girl

Series in one sentence:
Fat makes your voice low and dopey.

Series in more sentences:
A mistreated, grubby introvert, down on his luck ever since he suffered a violent high school incident, wakes up one day with a body that's not his.
Now a beautiful young woman, he befriends a girl from the internet who thinks he's transgender and underwent recent surgery, thus to be in need of some female guidance.

Meanwhile, strange possessions show up at his house and vivid nightmares urge him to find out if there's a deeper meaning to them and his transformation.

I expected a comedy with non-stop perversion, like animes like to do, but this ended up being something completely different.
The easiest route it could've taken was to have the main character go back to his abusive workplace, now looking like a bombshell, and become the star of the joint, but instead, there was a whole murder mystery plot.

I liked it, but the villain was an idiot who turned totally oblivious people into witnesses by barking his guilt at them for no reason, then gave them way too many opportunities to get out of their hostage predicament.
I also didn't think his reason for killing a person was warranted, but well, some people are that petty.

The romance plot with the doctor was something to get excited about, but I'm not seeing how the main character managed to swoon him after all the antics he pulled. He visibly charmed him once or twice over very trivial matters, and every other time the guy looked confused or nervous. Their one date was an absolute shit show, it would've turned off any normal person.
It was also a bit weird this doctor chose to wait around for the real girl to wake up in the hospital. She doesn't know who you are, fool, you established all you know about her through another person.

The whole soul-swapping and haunted ghost element I didn't understand, the series did not explain how it happened or who cast this "spell", and doesn't introduce any other supernatural elements in the story. The characters live in an otherwise normal world, so an explanation would've been nice.

(Average) Backflip!!

Series in one sentence:
Backflip!!! On Ice! Except not fun.

Series in more sentences:
A young man with no strong desires or hobbies one day witnesses a gym performance and becomes enthralled. He eagerly joins the gym club, maintained by the performers he saw that day, and tries his best to keep up with the professionals whilst they prepare for the upcoming competition.

What a basic, boring ride.

The main character is bland, his motives rushed, and he wasn't on screen all that often. The show claimed early on he's able to learn moves by just watching, and so I expected this guy to be a backflip sponge and develop into a frighteningly talented rival within mere days and take over the industry like he were a character from Kuroko's Basketball, but.. no. He's just instantly part of the team, able to keep up with boys who've had years of practise, whilst nothing about him stands out while he's doing his thing.
In fact, nothing about any of the characters stands out. They all jump around the same way, roll around the same way, sway their arms the same way.

In one episode, the main character's blandness is brought up, but instead of fixing that, the camera cuts away to the overload of other characters who already have a distinguished personality. It was hilariously sad.
The next episode focusses on the boy's inability to do a steady handstand, making you think he's still an incompetent member they rushed into things out of desperation, but during the competition, you see him jumping around like he's been a gymnast for years.

There's no real conflict in this anime, every problem is more or less solved immediately, or was never a problem to begin with.

The performances, when shown in full, were really boring to sit through. I started skipping them at one point. Yuri!!! On Ice was clever enough to cut away or dump voice-overs over it, but Backflip's camera lingers on a bunch of semi-3D animated kids flailing around on music that's getting drowned out by the sound of limbs dropping on gym mats.
For people who are not already interested in the sport, I don't think this'll keep their attention.

I feel nothing for these characters and their journey, the things that do grab your attention are not explored, and the relationships are surface level, would not recommend this to anyone. Unless, again, you are really into the sport.

(Average+) Oddtaxi

Series in one sentence:
You know something doesn't add up when they tell you the parents of a walrus drowned.

Series in more sentences:
A listless taxi chauffeur does his business driving all kinds of animals around the city, but as anyone can make use of his services, it doesn't take long for him to find himself involved with a series of crime mysteries.

Most people who've watched this might think my score is rather low. Don't get me wrong, the story ended up captivating me and there was a fantastic twist, but the beginning bored me.
Originally, I planned to skip Oddtaxi after the first 2 or 3 episodes, I simply had way more exciting anime waiting for me to finish and start on.

There are actually two twists at the end, and one warrants a second season, yet the other pretty much cancels out the possibility, as it revealed the show's gimmick. I wonder what the plan is going to be here.

If a new season comes, I'll definitely watch it, and if you're in the mood for a detective mystery, go watch this.

(Good) High-Rise Invasion

Series in one sentence:
"The masks won't kill you, they just want you to commit suicide, but if you don't, they will kill you".

Series in more sentences:
A high school girl wakes up in a strange city, patrolled by mask-wearing killers, and comes to learn it's some kind of special dimension that tries to breed the next god.
Determined to reunite with her brother and bring an end to this ruthless system, she meets many allies and enemies along the way.

The anime jumps right into it and sometimes throws explanations at you that really aren't that well explained, but I liked what I saw. Good, simple entertainment. The main female lead could ruin the serious tone a bit with her overly quirky responses, but she grew on me.

What did bother me were the abundance of panty shots and the inconsistent rules. The series starts off with the statement that masked people will never kill you, as they want you to become desperate and commit suicide, except then it follows up with "but they will kill you when you don't commit suicide". So, an entirely pointless bit of info.
I also recall hearing that the people that take off their mask or get it damaged will get targeted by other killers and feel urged to kill themselves in addition, but this rarely happened. In fact, a masked character strolls along with the main cast and is allowed to retain his memories without his mask even attempting to punish him for it, something that did happen to someone else prior.

I didn't get it, maybe I missed a bit of info, maybe the anime just isn't that logical, but it was still worth the watch.

(Average) Junjou Romantica

Note: Only watched season 1

Series in one sentence:
Boys who have been ploughed in the rear multiple times still question whether they're homosexual or not.

Series in more sentences:
Follow the growing romance of three couples, all intertwined with each other in some way. Don't know what else to add, that's the anime.

All "pitchers" are dark-voiced and long-faced sexual harassers with skyscraper legs, all "catchers" are aggressively loud and big-eyed; and many of the characters in this show looked so much like each other, it was hard to distinguish them. It was Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi all over again.

There was also this theme going on where every couple had an age gap and some form of hyperfocus was put on it. For example, two of the featured couples starred an adult man with a high school boy, while one pairing had an age difference of merely 4 years, yet the show still felt the need to make one of the guys go "I'M 4 YEARS OLDER THAN HIM, I'M AT A WHOLE DIFFERENT STAGE IN MY LIFE".
Like, alright, calm down. The 35-year-old considering the inappropriate advances of the 17-year-old wins the awkward award here, you're fine. I like how that particular story went absolutely nowhere, as well. Should've been left out.

The romance between the actually odd couples felt off. Legally speaking, it's fine for an 18-year-old to date someone who's 10 years older, but all the teenage boys in this show act like unruly preteens, which makes the interactions with their way older love interest not feel to be on equal footing.
And then of course there's the repetitive sexual coercing that always involves the bigger guy grabbing the other one's wrist and just doing what he wants while the other yells "no, stop, etc.".

Many of the side-plots didn't go anywhere, either. What happened to the main kid's one friend at high school, who was trying to get with him? And why is this one guy, who we last saw trying to kiss his male colleague professor, suddenly claimed to had been crazy in love with his female teacher and unable to settle for anyone else since then?

Junjou Romantica loves drama and to prolong it, as is made clear by how the main kid gets stuffed all the time, yet every new episode he argues not to be in love with his assaulter. And I'll have to say "assaulter" here, because that's the only accurate title you can give a man who is constantly told "no".
The story is a mess. There were some alright ideas, just nothing that excited me.

Focus on one romance, don't turn the younger characters into emotional children -or just increase their age- remove the sexual harassment scenes, and let the series itself be about self-discovery and the journey towards the romance.
With all these characters forcing themselves onto everyone, I'm surprised there wasn't a storyline that involved calling the police. But after getting fondled against their will, things always turn back to normal for these boys, and that's an anime trope that needs to die.

(Good) Yasuke

Series in one sentence:
Look out for that evil pries-never mind, new villain.

Series in more sentences:
An African servant catches the attention of the well-known Japanese lord, Nobunaga, and earns himself the honourable role of samurai.
After a long run of successes and being his favourite, an enemy raid urges his master to choose death, and Yasuke abandons the samurai life to take on a more humble, but fruitless existence.

20 years later, he gets himself involved with an upcoming war revolving a young girl and the great powers she possesses.

There are only 6 episodes, so the main events are rushed, but the show managed to use its time well. I would've enjoyed it more if the season was longer and allowed for more relationship building, though.

This is like a very detailed concept series for a bigger anime series. Having that said, I hope they'll consider making more, mainly about the past of Yasuke.

(Average+) Sakamoto Desu Ga?

Series in one sentence:
A 15-year-old who looks like a 20+ man does childishly lame things with style.

Series in more sentences:
A seemingly perfect high school student catches the attention of everyone he meets, but while he has many fans, jealous male students constantly try to challenge or sabotage him as well.

Good premise and charming at times, but the anime could've benefited from Saiki K.'s speedy delivery. It wants to be a zany show, but it moves a tad too slowly for that. With some minor tweaking, it would've been a drama.

The jokes are alright, though none made me laugh out loud, and Sakamoto is described to be this awesomely cool guy, while many of his "solutions" made no sense or were generally pretty lame. But I guess that's part of the comedy.

I was more interested in the serious storylines, but these were just as often clumsy in their direction and not that much time was spent on them. The school delinquents got alot of screen time, while their storylines were the least interesting parts.

Comedy or drama, it's hard to say what genre I'd prefer if both need work. I'll likely not watch this series again, but if there ever comes a season 2, I will check it out. There's an interesting theory floating about on what Sakamoto's departure at the end entails, and it definitely makes his goodbye (more) saddening.
To me, the theory excuses Sakamoto's odd problem solving skills as well and makes it look like he was just trying to have fun.

But well, a theory is just a theory, and a show needs to be graded on what it actually is.

(Bad) This Boy is a Professional Wizard

Series in one sentence:
Anime on a budget of exactly a quarter.

Series in more sentences:
An insecure "government-employed wizard" one day meets a friendly and confident stranger, and manages to keep his attention when he shares with him the details of his job.
But since he has no other talents besides being a magic user, his insecurities get the better of him and he starts to believe the only reason anyone could show interest in him at all is because of his wizard status.

Horrible artwork that looks even worse when it moves, basic story, pointless insertion of magic, this was a boring mess of a series. It's mercifully short, which is the only positive I can give it.

And that's it, good night.

(Bad) Diabolik Lovers

Series in one sentence:
Diabodick Losers.

Series in more sentences:
A young girl is instructed to live in a giant mansion for reasons unknown, and upon entering, gets surrounded by a large group of hostile vampiric brothers.
Unable to to leave and intimidated by the characters, all she can do is let herself get pushed around and abused by the predatory men.

I love vampires and a good romance is never bad to have, but this was shit.

The main character was an absolute wet blanket, she never fought back in any meaningful way whenever one of those losers insulted or approached her. These debatably "attractive" men were unnecessarily rude and wouldn't stop jumping her neck. How much blood does this woman have in her that she can shrug off multiple daily attacks?

The blood sucking scenes were annoying to sit through and the repetitiveness of it all made it equally boring. Why does she keep approaching these vicious perverts with renewed tolerance? They keep calling her conceited as well, which is rich coming from these assholes.

Those who find vampires biting people sexy are a very particular group of fetishists, but for the rest of us, it makes for an unbearable watch. I'm sad there wasn't a single genuine guy in this; they all just preyed on her blood, while the background music tries to convince you it's an alluring moment every time.

Because none of the characters are likeable, it's hard to care for their past and their plight at the end. Why did they even bother trying to save the girl's life? They could've just ripped her head off and that way prevented their "evil" mother from possessing her, but there they are, surrounding her as she wakes up, as if they were her friends all this time. What the actual Hell.

The general plot isn't even that bad. This could've worked out if they either didn't take the "sadistic harem"-route and just made these boys the undeniable villains, or actually made them show off normal affection towards this girl. Not this constant biting and weird talk about how inflicting pain and committing murder are acts of love.

This harem sucked, literally.

(Average+) The Promised Neverland

NOTE: I watched the first half of season one in English, the rest in Japanese.

Series in one sentence:
I'll have the kids menu.

Series in more sentences:
A trio of orphaned friends come to realize their caretaker has ties with ominous creatures, and the many children who were claimed to have been adopted prior were in actuality sold as food. They become determined to plan an escape.

Way too many fake-outs in season 1, it was ridiculous. There's more to the mystery genre than not informing the audience at all.
Every time you think to have figured something out, the series goes like: "BUT ACTUALLY, the character was doing/thinking THIS!". It could be pretty annoying, but I liked the overall story.

Of course, watching this series requires some suspension of disbelieve; as it features a boy who remembers everything since he was sitting in his mother's womb and an understanding 4-year-old with good vocabulary. The little children in this show were unrealistically helpful.

I didn't think the friendships portrayed were impressive, either. The characters talk to each other like they're friends and jump in each other's arms smiling all the time, but I just wasn't feeling it. Whenever something happened to a character, some random small child I've never seen before would be like "OH NO, <INSERT NAME HERE> IS <WHATEVER HAPPENED HERE>?!? WAAAAAAH!".

Like, who are you? I've never seen you interact with this character, get outta here.

I also don't understand the peace deal these demons made with the humans from the past. It only seems to benefit the demons, who get to enjoy a human snack every so often. The only thing humans receive is that they get to sacrifice more of their kind.
Why even care about a species that apparently needs human flesh to maintain their humanity and stay peaceful among each other? You're a flawed species then, time for evolution to deal with you, goodbye. None of this is humanity's concern.

If I understood the history lesson correctly, humans were doing a fair job at battling and killing the demons, so why not continue fighting the good fight for the sake of your freedom? And why are only small children farmed and given away? They have small bodies, it won't fill many stomachs, and a child's brain will never be better developed than that of an educated adult.
Isn't an intelligent brain what the monsters want most of all? I don't care how smart these children supposedly are, they're elementary schoolers.
Build a big college to ship them to, where they can enjoy a high level education and more life experiences, then sell their clueless asses when they're 20. Tell them they're going on an internship or a job interview.

But sure, I get it, if the victims are small children, the viewer will feel more sorry for them. I'm just saying it doesn't make sense in any other context.

In season 2, we get a one year time skip at the oddest moment, right after the caretaker of the escaped children gives a determined promise she'll find them. Looks like she wasn't doing so well.
This season was alright, but it dipped in quality here and there. In fact, it felt extremely rushed; the last episode being the worst offender. A journey that looked like it should've been its own season was compressed into a lazy clip show of 3 minutes long. I honestly couldn't believe what I was looking at. Shameful, it was.
It would've been better to end the episode early, right after the gates closed, and leave it open to interpretation. Won't work on the people who've already read the manga, but it still would've been better.

All in all, the hero characters were bland goody two-shoes, the villain characters given cheap reasons to why they're evil and/or suddenly aren't anymore, the conflictless ending was unsatisfactory, I'll likely never watch this again.