(Average+) Plus-sized Misadventures in Love!

Series in one sentence:
Narcissistic Misadventures in Love!

Series in more sentences:
A dreary and unsightly young woman is rushed to the hospital and reawakens as a positive-minded and bright-eyed amnesiac. Her changed mindset helps boosts her social status amongst the workplace, though when she learns her suicide attempt might've been inflicted by someone else, her days of ignorant peace take a slight turn.

Despite everything, she continues to live in the moment and hopes to grow her relationship with her company's vice president, who her old self seemed to be obsessively fond of as well.

Like the idea, but not the execution or rather boring mystery plot. I think it would've worked better if it were a slice of life anime, the guy with the failed marriage the love interest, and the main character didn't border so much on being a clinical narcissist. Her constant self-worship was cute at first, but became an annoying character trait. 

I also think the creator cheated by making her reborn self this palpably different-looking girl. I have no idea how anyone recognized her, because she looks nothing like her previous self. 
What's the point of being reborn if you lose all traits that made you you? She kept her talents and inappropriate love for her boss -I would've erased all those creepy photos of him from my phone on day one- but besides that, she woke up an entirely different person, with perfect eyes, brows, and hair, suddenly blonde of colour. It would've taken no effort to show us reborn Koda giving herself a haircut and a few facial scrubs or whatever, because this made no sense.

Yuki the love interest was boring, personality and design-wise, which also affects Koda's story. Like, what in the cookie cutter "5 steps how to draw an anime boy" is this. Nevertheless, the bad writing and inconsistent mood is what really lowered the grade here. The dramatic scenes are quite serious, but the show never wants to linger on them and there's a high likelihood that the background music will turn cheery after 2 minutes and people are back to acting quirky again.

The last episode of season 1 basically asks the question if there'll be a second season, so I guess it's not set in stone. Having that said, what a horrible choice for a last episode, where it introduces a potential rival for Yuki, instead of giving some kind of proper (open) ending.

This was unfocused and bland to me, but I'm sure some will think it's fine. Just "fine".

(Good) Angel Densetsu

Series in one sentence:
What heroin addiction does to your unborn child, I guess.

Series in more sentences:
A kind and soft-spoken teenager with the most unfortunate face becomes notorious amongst his peers, including the area's delinquents, who are in the midst of a power struggle.

Baw. It's not really a series when there're only 2 episodes, but this was fun. It was basically an animated summary of a bigger story, and I hope it can be given a proper screen release one day, because I would've liked seeing Kitano interact with his family and classmates. I was a little child when these episodes first came out, though, so I'm not betting on it and neither should you. 

This is free to watch on Youtube, so have fun.

(Average+) April Showers Bring May Flowers

Series in one sentence:
When you have freckles, you're ugly.

Series in more sentences:
Hana is hesitant to mingle with her classmates, but when she grabs the attention of the most popular boy in class, things seem to slowly change, even if she herself needs time to realize she is appreciated by him and her surroundings.

Not a very exciting watch, though not boring enough to turn off. I don't like the "ugly" girl, who has little going on for herself, except that she's a nervous wreck who has to reiterate how lame and undeserving she is. The show tries to argue it's her goodness that makes her stand out, but I'm unconvinced. I don't even believe Yousuke's personality is her number one concern; he is attractive, and she would've drooled over him regardless. She's like all the other girls chasing him, though even more creepy with her talk about how he's like a deity or whatever she was on about.

So, don't really like her, but I liked Yousuke. He's maybe a bit bland concerning personality and design, but still the most engaging character in the show. His backstory is that girls have never been that nice to him, or at the very least, he perceives it that way, and it's kindness he seeks in a girl. He's never dated and is a bit dense in that department.
But here's the thing: It's not properly explained how Hana matches his preference. The popular girl, Sumire, is nice as well, yet Yousuke has no interest in her. It doesn't matter her supposed real self is a subdued version of Kokomi from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., Yousuke has only ever known her as inexhaustibly kind, so this doesn't make sense.

Anyway..
..yup, that was my review.

(Average) Spaceman

Movie in one sentence:
Nightmare spider gives depressed Adam Sandler free therapy lessons.

Movie in more sentences:
An emotionally distant astronaut suddenly loses contact with his wife back on Earth and finds himself losing the little spirit he already had with it. Not long afterwards, an alien spider with a curious amount of interest in his personal life shows himself, and together with him, Jakub explores the reason for his wife's silence and revisits his feelings for her.

When I spotted a clip of this movie, showing off the giant CGI spider, I was not expecting it to be about relationship problems. It was incredibly boring.

People who like artsy stuff are probably able to see something deeper in this, but I wasn't interested. This spider was really nosey and I failed to figure out why he'd waste his valuable time helping out some human, unless he's a figment of the astronaut's imagination, despite what the movie said, but then, why is Jakob seeing an alien spider, of all things? One with his own backstory as well?

I would've liked the movie better if it covered, you know, the spider and his life and quirks. Jakub was the least interesting character, and that's par for the course when you share your scenes with a giant talking animal.

(Average) Vampire in the Garden

Series in one sentence:
What garden?

Series in more sentences:
Momo is tired of the confinement and strict rules of her community and wishes freedom, despite hostile vampires roaming the area.
The queen of vampires finds her and the two are quick to feel drawn to each other. They dream of a world of peace and head out to seek a place where humans and vampires can live together.

My siblings were over, we wanted to watch a quick series, and this was it.

The love (?) story moved so ridiculously fast that you couldn't root for the main characters, and that's a flaw that brings down the entire anime, because the story needs their relationship to be a relationship.
I believed it was pretty well hinted at that the vampire brainwashed the girl, because the fact she did not recognize a man who was -so far I know- truly her uncle, was weird. Weirder yet was how the anime never brought this up again. Momo doesn't take the time to sit down and question if she's indeed been compromised. She just met this pale demon and is already fully devoted to her.

The vampire queen was bland in design and had the worst bangs in the universe, I found it distracting. She wasn't particularly strong, either, and I know she hadn't eaten in a while, but you'd think that royalty amongst supernatural creatures have special traits that helped earn them that position in the first place.
I also didn't understand how her fellow vampires either didn't recognize her as their queen, or treated her casually. For example, why did she have to pay the hotel owner for her stay? She's the fucking queen.

The "true forms" of the vampires were incredibly lame as well, these designs did not reflect their supposedly disgusting and cursed nature. Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it better and didn't have to body morph their characters to do it.

I didn't expect the twist at the end, but it wasn't even that interesting. I don't really understand why this otherwise harmonious community saw the need to sacrifice vampire residents for their benefit; why would any of the vampire residents even agree to that?

In any case, very little in this series intrigued me, would not recommend.

(Average+) Mufasa

Movie in one sentence:
Hoes before bros.

Movie in more sentences:
A young Mufasa loses his parents and meets a lonesome prince along the way, who introduces himself as "Taka" and is quick to claim him as his "brother". Though Taka's father wants nothing to do with strangers in general, Taka and his mother are drawn to him and advocate for his stay.

The two grow up together like real brothers and Mufasa is entrusted with Taka's safety after a pride of powerful white lions threatens their existence, but even after the many incidents where Mufasa proves to be better than the royalty, it's the arrival of a wandering princess that tests their relationship.

Better than the first live-action movie, which says little. I was entertained enough, but the plot was nonsense. I already don't trust a mentally insane mandrill for a narrator, but this is not Scar and Mufasa's story, no chance.

It starts with Mufasa's own father dying in a "wildebeest stampede"-like flood, after mere seconds of rainfall in a period of drought. Real smooth transition that was. Where did that water come from?
Scar and his mother's immediate acceptance of him was also odd. It's not explained why the mother is such a bleeding heart, while very little tweaking was needed to make it make sense. The movie could've had her spy on her runaway son as he was talking to Mufasa, establish that Scar told his parents many times he wanted a sibling, and argue that's why she took him in and is so supportive. Have Mufasa basically be her spoiled son's new toy.

The movie is filled to the brim with unnecessary changes and explanations to why certain things are the way they are. Rafiki's stupid stick and the way Pride Rock was formed are good examples.

The choice to make the villains a large pack of white lions was a curious one, since not only are these extremely rare, but they don't stand a chance in the wild. I think they're supposed to be The Outlanders, though they're called "outcasts" here, opposed to the brown lions and sickly grey lionesses you see in The Lion King 2.
What's consistently called "The Pride Lands" in every piece of Lion King media is suddenly called "Milele", because using a different language makes it sound more magical, I suppose, yet at the same time, we have this otherwise nice-sounding villain song with the Sesame Street line "bye bye" in it.
Couldn't they've replaced that travesty with a Swahili term? I refuse to believe "kwaheri" was that impossible to work with. What about "nje ya tume", if that is a term, or just say "kufa". Listen to Bye Bye's melody, the instruments, this is not a bad song in its core.

All songs were acceptable, but not memorable, except for young Scar's "I've Always Wanted a Brother" and the peculiar villain song I just mentioned. The direction was pretty good during these songs, things looked snappy, at least moreso than in The Lion King reboot. Which again, says little.

Scar's heel turn was sudden, almost random. He hardly interacted with Sarabi, yet was willing to end his long-standing relationship with Mufasa over her. And again, it could've worked. Mufasa was shown all throughout the story to be better than him, Scar had a reason to grow bitter, but he seemed fine playing second fiddle, that's how close they supposedly were.
Scar presented himself as pretty likeable, making his sudden character change very out of place. He acted cartoonishly suspicious at the end, like the original Scar from the 2D animated movie, it was ridiculous.

Also.. and I know humans are dumb.. but are we really going to sit here and claim Nala became pregnant and gave birth to a new cub mere months after Kiara? Not only won't lionesses conceive again until their current litter has grown up, but they take about 4 months to cook up a cub, and Kiara looks way younger than 4 months. I've always believed Kion to be a useless addition to the Lion King universe, why did they even try. He was nowhere to be seen in The Lion King 2, he did not exist, why shoehorn him in.

They seemingly tried to cram in a trait from every Lion King property in this; because the constant interruptions from Timon and Pumbaa was reminiscent of The Lion King 11/2, and I hated it in that movie too. And that says alot from a Timon lover who was the target audience when that movie came out, opposed to a hateful adult who wastes time writing reviews no one will ever see.

That Kiara never acts like herself in every Lion King property outside of The Lion King 2 annoys me as well. I haven't seen The Lion Guard in its entirety, but there she acts like a brat who cares about becoming queen all of the sudden, and in this movie, she's a whiny coward.
The real Kiara was dangerously adventurous, a troublemaker who didn't want to be queen, she was bored by the mere idea of it, why does Disney keep forgetting this?

The acceptance of Scar's supposed real name, "Taka", baffles me even more. I don't recall the creator of that name having actual ties to the team that made the original Lion King movie, but even if they did, are we really going to adapt the name that means "trash" in Swahili, in a story that argues Scar is the true and valued heir to the throne? Did the makers of Mufasa even think to double-check what the name meant, especially since they're expanding on a universe where pretty much every character name has a meaning?

P.S. The image above is a photograph of two random, real lions, because nothing matters.

(Bad) Parasite

Movie in one sentence:
Comedy-thriller movie with no comedy and no thrills.

Movie in more sentences:
A family living in poverty manages to slowly infiltrate a gullible, rich family by getting rid of their staff and offering themselves as "ideal" replacements. All seems to be going well for them, until one day, the old cleaning lady shows up at the door.

This is a comedy and a thriller, how? Did not laugh or wince in fear once, because I perceived not a single joke or fearsome scene in this.

The concept of a clueless rich family being cleverly tricked is interesting, but it's evidentially not enough to fill a movie. Eventually, there's this twist reveal where the previous cleaning lady's husband is found living in the rich folk's basement since forever -she too abused her employers' cluelessness- but I feel cursed having learned of that man's existence. What a pathetic loser. Were his scenes supposed to be comedic?
The introduction of this guy worsened the whole movie experience for me.

I also disliked how the father lost his mind at the party over literally nothing, yet the movie presents his eventual reunion with his son as something to cheer about. I'd be pissed if I were the son; he, his mother, and his father could've continued to work for the family had he not killed their employer.
The father put no effort in assisting his own daughter as she was dying, either, I'd never want to see that fool again.

(Average+) Trap

Movie in one sentence:
Looney murderer lucks his way past half of America's security force.

Movie in more sentences:
A father takes his daughter to a big concert, but notices law enforcement crawling all over the place. When he asks one of the staff members what's going on, he's told they're looking for "The Butcher"; a crazed murderer expected to show up at the concert.

Upon hearing this news, the father tries to find him and his blissfully clueless daughter a way out, but every male attendee is treated like a suspect and no one may casually leave.

Average+, but really, touches the "good" rating for me. I could easily watch this again with family and friends.

I watched this in a period I really wanted to visit the theaters again, but like always, there was little to pick from. I decided to give Trap a try, since the other unknown movie I had my eyes on had an even worse online score.
Having that said, those 1 star reviews really tricked me into believing this was going to be a boring, overly pretentious, badly acted shit show, yet this was the best movie I've seen in too long. This was not a "5 out of 10" experience, I've seen popular blockbusters with 8 or 9 ratings that were way more boring, pretentious, and badly acted. These Trap reviews are undeserved and I can't figure out why this movie's flaws got so hammered on. Is it because it was made by a living meme?

I didn't spoil the story for myself before seeing it and thus was presented a cool early twist. Maybe that made the difference. Since it was written by Shyamalan, I expected an otherworldly, supernatural reveal, like the concert being a cult that planned to brainwash its audience into worshipping some unknown Hellish spirit or whatever, so to see the story was mostly grounded helped keeping my spirits high as well.
Of course, it's fair to criticize the "moments of convenience"; where somehow no one at this busy event notices the criminal (thinking of) tinkering with stuff, or the police that allowed for things the real cops would never, but I was still intrigued by the criminal's quick-thinking. Or luck, really.

The cast was fairly good. The daughter character and concert attendees played the part of awestruck fans well, it requires talent to convincingly appear happy or entranced. I didn't have my eyes on the background at all times, but whenever I did see a minor character's face, I believed I was watching real concert footage.

The role of the singing celebrity was given to Shyamalan's own daughter, and his love for her/the nepotism is palpable, because the song performances in this movie -songs actually written by her- drag on. There were too many instances where I started feeling antsy and just wanted the story to move the fuck on. This is supposed to be a movie, not an actual concert, but Shyamalan truly seemed to struggle at not giving his child her place in the spotlight. Her music isn't worse than what you hear on the radio all the time and I didn't dislike her as an actor, she was given an interesting role to play at the end, but those extra seconds spent on watching everyone sing and dance to her songs should've been given to the scheming criminal.

I really liked seeing him roam around the place, figuring out ways to escape. I thought the actor was good, and maybe not every line fed to him was, but he did his best, in my opinion.
He started off so harmless and goofy, as intended, and as the story progressed, I did not doubt he was a two-faced mental patient.

(Average) Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish

Movie in one sentence:
A bunch of fairy tale creatures risk their lives to find a wishing star, even though each one of their desires are objectively stupid to waste such a power on.

Movie in more sentences:
After a lethal accident, the once confident Puss learns he's spent 8 of his 9 lives and becomes haunted by the personification of Death, seeking to kill him. When he learns of the existence of a wishing star, he sets out to find it and wish back the lives he's lost so he may resume his career as a charming, celebrated hero.

I feel so disconnected with the rest of the world. Movies and series people praise are extremely mediocre to me, and this time was no different. I felt the same way about the first Puss in Boots movie. Don't even remember what it was about.
I've heard so many Youtubers praise every inch of this movie, it's why I checked it out, but after watching, agreed with none of their points. This sequel had the plot of a TV-show episode, it was a bit embarrassing.

The choppy "Across the Spider-Verse" animation during the fight scenes was hideous and distracting in a movie franchise that never used this technique before. What exactly was the direction's reasoning for doing this, besides being cheap? Puss in Boots is not a comic book-inspired movie. People, stop celebrating 2 frame per second animation, it never looked good and this isn't anime. You get the same effect when trying to watch a video on an old laptop with low processing power, and I don't recall anyone ever saying to enjoy that experience.

The villains weren't particularly interesting, either. Not that I hated them, they just weren't characters I'd care to make fanart for. Jack Horner could've been fun if the cricket had more scenes and stuck around throughout the movie, but he doesn't.
Goldilocks would've been better if she wasn't such a commanding bitch to her bear accomplices, they are her family after all. Why are these bears putting up with someone who's literal food to them? And why are they a criminal gang in addition to that? Just make them a normal family who already learned of Goldilocks' desire to have human parents. What other reason do you need to help your loved, but lonely and adopted child? Even so, the movie does not explain why this young adult needs to reacquaint herself with random people the star will deem her new family. A bit too late for that, isn't it? Why not wish back her real parents instead? It's not said why she was an orphan; maybe they died, opposed to having abandoned her.

Unlike what fans claim, the subject of mortality wasn't discussed with any originality; and Death itself was just a generic grey wolf with spoooooooooooooooky red eyes in an overdone black hooded coat. He had a completely different art style from the only other wolf the Shrek series introduced to us; the Red Riding Hood version, and was designed to look more cartoonish and "cool", which I have zero respect for. Consistency I respect.
Couldn't they have given him a wolf's skull for a head, at the very least? Or make Death look like Puss himself, but skeletal, or demonically warped, just anything opposed to this bore? I'm tired of wolves, man, the animal kingdom has so much to offer, but everything is always friggen canines and felines.
Even funnier is that this guy has been discussed online so often, yet he hardly makes an appearance in the movie, nor says anything interesting. Why on Earth does he exist. I would've written him out of the movie.

Puss in Boots 2 was a let-down, but I'm more let down by the people who audibly liked it. Are people so used to dreck that a simple tale like this is considered peak cinema? I envy them, though, I don't enjoy being in the minority.

(Average+) The Wild Robot

Movie in one sentence:
The same robot you've seen in every other kids movie learns how to love, just like the robots in every other kids movie

Movie in more sentences:
A robot wakes up in the wilderness, and wanting an assignment, teaches itself the language of the animals surrounding it in the hopes they can give it one.

When the animals make clear not to appreciate its presence, Roz figures on signalling its makers to come pick it up, but when it accidentally kills a mother goose inside her nest, sparing one egg, the orphaned chick changes all plans.

This would've been a better movie if nothing and nobody talked.

The idea these murderous wild animals possess even a speck of human intelligence that allows them to string together actual sentences using their barks and growls is just as laughable as the idea they can ignore their instincts and befriend each other. This kind of thing really shows we're dealing with a children's movie, while it didn't need to be. Some scenes in this were so comically harsh, maybe it's more accurate to say I hoped it wasn't going to be.

Rushed relationships are everywhere in this movie. A skeptical fox is instantly drawn to Roz, just because it pulled some porcupine needles out of its snout, and the movie doesn't even care to show how the goose chick was raised and how the robot changed alongside it. This thing is a baby in one scene, then an adult and ready to leave the nest in the next, with only a few comments to help us know what the three main characters feel for each other. This goose's life and relationship with the robot is pretty much the main plot of the story, so then, why is it so glanced over?
Then there's this elderly goose character who shows up out of nowhere and pretends to have known the robot since forever. Literally never seen this guy. Why couldn't he have been the one guiding Roz on how to raise the chick, instead of the fox? It would've made his interest in Brightbill and his eventual death more impactful. Spoilers, but whatever, this involves a character you've hardly seen on screen and won't be emotionally invested in, anyway.

I like the idea of this movie, wouldn't mind watching it again just for the first few minutes, but it's not as good people say it is.

(Average) The Substance

Movie in one sentence:
Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hide.

Movie in more sentences:
A once famous movie star sees her fame fading, and when she gets fired from her job as a TV workout instructor for being too old, decides to call the curious phone number given to her by a young man.

A mysterious package is left behind, with drugs and tools that promise rejuvenation, but not by any conventional means. A new girl is born from Elisabeth's body, claimed to be her, yet someone she can't control. The younger Sue keeps eating away at her, causing her to grow ugly and even older, yet she's unable to quit the drug.

..How did Elisabeth know what needed to be done? The package came with instructions, but they were so minimalistic, I would've never understood.

Anyway, this movie ended up being soft porn, very unfortunate. If the times a woman's crotch was shoved in my face was spent on exploring the inner struggles of the main character(s), this would've been a decent commentary video. I think that's what it wanted to be, but then there's the comically weird ending, and I'm left wondering.

It's also a bit confusing how these two women share one life. At first, it seems like they have each other's memories. They know where to find their house, workplace, and how "the substance" works after all, but then you have these moments where Elisabeth watches a TV interview starring Sue with curiosity about what she'll say, while Sue keeps waking up to trash lying around the house -evidentially not knowing she herself did this. So, then, they are not each other..?

Perhaps Sue only knows what Elisabeth knew at the point she first emerged, whereafter their minds became disconnected? The movie doesn't explain.

Wasted potential.

(Average+) Viral Hit

Series in one sentence:
Scrawny child manages to beat up testosterone-riddled maniacs 3 times his size. Like and subscribe.

Series in more sentences:
Hobin -targeted by bullies obsessed with the age of Youtube content creation- happens to get recorded fighting one of them during a live stream, but instead of public humiliation, viewers see a champion worthy of encouragement, motivating Hobin to start his own channel and earn much needed money for his hospitalized mother.

Fun premise, but the bullies are laughable and most characters unlovable. Hobin and his friendship with his rather annoying ex-bully I struggled to care about, and at many parts in the series, it didn't feel like he was doing this Youtube business for his mother anymore.
The glimpses of the Youtube parody site and few explanations on how it and its audience operate are pretty accurate to the real Youtube, but, Viral Hit doesn't know how to portray real life and people. I don't think it wanted to, but that's what made it hard for me to truly like this show.

Imagine a likeable bully victim, a normal person down on his luck, working hard to become someone he isn't, just so his mother may live. Instead, we have this undeniable loser, making warped faces at the camera.

I don't know if there'll be a season 2 to improve on matters. The ending of season 1 was pretty anticlimactic, but otherwise conveyed the story isn't over. Then again, I've seen plenty of anime that ended like this and.. well, actually ended.
This stuff costs money and if no one watches, then it's over. It's not like American entertainment today, where failing or disliked projects keep getting pushed onto people.

Regardless, I don't think I'll watch more of this. It's a series that needs real relationships to thrive, and just nothing in it feels real, no matter how many tears the characters shed for each other.

(Average+) The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen

Series in one sentence:
Um. That's a busty 11-year-old..

Series in more sentences:
A teenage girl is hit by a truck and awakens inside the body of the cruel and psychopathic villain from her favourite video game, destined to die. Feeling invested in the game and the characters, she tries her best not to retrace the villain's steps and be kind to her struggling surroundings.

Another anime about a faceless girl dying and getting soul-swapped with an unfortunate fictional character from her favourite piece of media, which helps her to predict every little thing that's going to happen. The main difference is that she isn't changing the story with the end goal to survive, which was interesting, but it didn't necessarily make the story itself interesting.

"Pride", or really, the girl that inhabits her body, seems to be genuinely disgusted by her character and will tell every other main character that they may kill her if they think she's becoming a danger to the land, which is a selfish thing to request, since killing a monarch doesn't lead to a good future for the perpetrator. Unless they're globally hated like the original Pride was, I suppose, but that's irrelevant now. Evil Pride never existed in this reality.

The emotional scenes were decent. The girl shows a good level of care for those around her, but honestly, I think it would've made more sense if this was a time reversion story instead of an isekai, because why cry heavy tears for what's just a game world, as far as you're concerned. I don't think I could. Every day of my life, I'd wonder if I'm stuck in some kind of dream or simulation, theoretically able to awaken at any moment. I'd doubt that what I'm seeing is real.

Why not have the story be about the real Pride, living through her despicable life, having enjoyed moments of kindness from those she discarded, betrayed, or worse, and when she's assassinated with no friends around to shed a tear for her, that's when the realization hits she's gone off the deep end. Time suddenly goes back to when she was 8 years old and she decides to properly explore all those given chances over the years, resulting to a better life than the one she had as a spoiled and feared monarch.

Anyway, lol at episode 3, where Pride doesn't think of sending over her kidnapped (???) fake brother with the transportation powers to move the boulder off of the army captain's foot, and the room doesn't think of cutting off the video call so his son doesn't have to watch him get slaughtered by dozens of enemy men. And what kind of world is this where you have swordsmen and normal, present-day guns. "Never bring a knife to a gun fight" is a saying for a reason.

The fake brother is also given glasses further on the episode, and I don't know why anyone would do that or accept such a gift. He was never claimed to have bad eye sight, so these are obviously props. He looks stupid, a pointless addition.

(Average+) Sasaki and Peeps

Series in one sentence:
When you can't think what plot to settle for, so you do all of them.

Series in more sentences:
An average salaryman with little to spend decides to cut the knot and look for a cute pet to share his solitary life with, but the bird immediately starts speaking to him and reveals to be a reincarnated magical being from another world.

Through him, Sasaki obtains magical powers as well and is introduced to the bird's true place of residence. He makes a fair living selling them products the more simple folk have never seen before, meanwhile, people from his own world take notice of his supernatural abilities and a secret organization of psychics wish to recruit him.

It started alright, but why does it involve a talking, reincarnated, magic bird and getting isekai'd and getting recruited as a "psychic policeman" back home and the existence of "magical girls" and lizardmen?
The series lost more focus with every episode that passed and at the very end, just started throwing random shit at you.

This could've been a great slice of life story about a simple man finding joy in the only company he's probably had, even if it's not the cat or dog he wanted. Let the drama come from the girl next door, who he always finds sitting late at night, waiting for her negligent mother to arrive home or open the door. I'm surprise Sasaki never invited her inside his house to wait, though considering this young girl has an weird crush on him, perhaps calling the police would be a better step. Why this hasn't already happened and this otherwise kind man allows for this obvious abuse to continue, is beyond me.

There were alot of teenage girls in this show fawning over the guy, while he's 39, and I think he's a nice guy too, but, like, I'm not 16 years old and blushing over it. This had to be the most unrealistic thing to happen in this fictional fantasy story.

The psychic organization part of the series is the least interesting and necessary, nor particularly well done, since its workers are really not that strong and their incompetence shows itself whenever they're in public as well. Like, why would you carelessly talk about another employee and his magic abilities when you know there's a regular human girl being interviewed in a police car just a few steps away? What a sloppy way to force a big reveal onto another character.
And with unrecruited psychics out causing harm or destruction, how is it possible that the secret of their existence hasn't come out yet, especially in this modern world of cameras? An airplane is blown out of the sky by an emotional high schooler, and not only have I not seen any effort from the organization to save those passengers, it's only the three bullies directly standing next to them who are taken care of. How, I don't know and the show doesn't bother to explain. This organisation is a joke.

Speaking of joke, what the fork is wrong with episode 9? I saw some of the weirdest editing and animation goofs in there. Then episode 11, where it throws you into a situation without explaining anything, and funny music plays during fight scenes that could've actually been really threatening and cool.

This show wants too much and it doesn't make for a great package. I think that if the series was about a lonely man trying to connect with the bird he had to adopt instead of the cat he's always wanted, while dealing with his neighbour and her abusive family, we'd have a better story.

I'll give this a meagre "Average+", though that might be too generous of a rating.

(Average+) BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense

Note: Only watched season 1

Series in one sentence:
Noob gamer uses the same 2 or 3 moves the entire time, pretty realistic.

Series in more sentences:
Kaede tries out a popular virtual reality video game, and in her inexperience, makes peculiar decisions that only end up benefitting her.
Other players can't stop talking about her as she's climbing up the ranks and continues to experience a tremendous amount of luck during her digital travels.

A fun idea and the start was alright, until the main character's friend shows up to play and Kaede is given a back seat for the next couple of episodes.

Like is the case with most anime playing off in a virtual reality world, it's only fun to watch when it's acknowledged it's a video game. After all, if everyone's a devoted roleplayer, then it's no different from those isekais where the main character finds themselves in a reality that merely functions like a video game, but is a real world with real consequences.
Like, how are players able to taste food in this world? Aren't they just wearing a helmet back home? How does that connect to your brain and tongue? It can't be legal for an entertainment device to be this physically intrusive and make you believe you're feeling, tasting, and smelling things that aren't there. Not to mention the mental ramifications a hyperrealistic virtual experience will cause; because someone with even the slightest of mental illness won't be able to discern reality from video game anymore.
Since you can visit cafés and buy fake cake for no reason -it's not like you'll gain a buff or your HP gets restored- will that make you feel full? Will you stop eating in real life and starve to death, since your brain is being tricked? What stops a player from going to the bathroom in a game like this, thus pissing themselves in their bedroom and not even realizing it? I find these pretty important questions, and when an anime argues for a big fake world that has all these details and features, it's important to establish how even. In my opinion.

I liked Bofuri when it was just Kaede exploiting this video game, acknowledged to be a video game, and that just didn't happen often enough for me. At the end of every episode, you get this chatroom bit of players talking about her as if she's some crazy rarity, which was fun, but I didn't think the praise was warranted most of the time.
The speed in which she -or any other character in the anime for that matter- defeats a monster is ridiculous. How is she able to if her attack stat is 0 and she's not some ridiculously high level yet? I also don't buy that she finds all these game-breaking abilities no one else has ever found before in this extremely popular MMORPG.

Events you think deserve its own episode are over in a minute, and then the next big event happens that same episode, which again, is over and done with the same minute it's stated to exist. And as if things aren't moving in super speed already, this anime has an abundance of compilation scenes, accompanied by the same stupid music track as well. How lazy can you get.

This could've been funny, simple entertainment, but the story is in a constant hurry to tell itself and I don't think Kaede is that special after seeing her friend fight. The anime has a strange preference for this friend as well, even though she and her fights are boring.

Also, no one in-game uses their real name, but apparently every avatar is just the actual player sitting at home, but with an outfit? So much for anonymity.
More importantly, where are the 30+ unwashed and unshaven gamers? You're telling me it's only cute, young people playing this game? And is the title of the show insinuating that players experience actual pain upon getting ripped apart by an in-game monster? What the Hell, why?

(Average+) Solo Leveling

Series in one sentence:
Should've gotten a job at McDonald's.

Series in more sentences:
Portals to monster dungeons suddenly appear and open themselves up in the modern world, and with them, humanity grows supernatural abilities to destroy the "boss" inside, necessary to erase the portal before these monsters can break out and infiltrate Earth.

Amongst these well-paid hunters, one is notoriously weak, yet forced into the business to help his struggling family, until one day, he and his team find an inescapable foe and his resilience in the face of utter defeat grants him a special ability that helps him grow in ways he could never before.

Starts out badass, but suffers from the same thing all those weakling-grows-powerful anime stories do, which is that the moment the main character becomes strong, he turns into this bland, mean-mugging hero. Completely unrelatable, just an empty vessel for the viewer to project themselves onto.
The guy looks really different after his training as well, I felt like I had lost my mind for a few seconds after seeing him again.

Sung also acts rather angry and psychotic at times. Like, I understand you've entered a cruel business and are in a difficult position in life, but how has the fact you're still alive and are benefitting from a power no one has not made you more optimistic?

The problem-solving skills Sung used to have, that made the first episode so exciting, are now an irrelevant talent with his tons of ever-expanding, random fighting abilities that basically do the thinking for him. I didn't quite care for his battle scenes because of it.

They've already announced a season 2, I'll still likely check it out, and I'm sure that this show is a bona fide "good" in most people's eyes, but to me it feels like the most exciting developments have transpired and now you're just watching a guy with no personality playing a video game on easy mode. I doubt it the fantastic first episode will ever be topped.

I'm still waiting for a show starring a hero with no strength using their smarts to win their battles. I've seen many anime with a set-up that could've gone into that direction, but content creators (and perhaps audiences?) are so hungry for power fantasies, no one ever wants to entertain a story where one's intelligence is the power. Not without also combining it with great magical or physical strength. And it's a shame.

A cunning weakling hero, a cunning weakling hero, my kingdom for a cunning weakling hero..!