Anime-Planet Secret Santa 2021

Dear Santa, as I will soon be camping in the Kalahari Desert with limited to no reception for the next couple weeks, I shall give some early feedback.

As a self proclaimed animation whore and lover of action, fantasy and comedies, I immediately started watching Princess Connect! Re:Dive. This show was simple mindless fun which kept me entertained throughout, even if the plot was a little thin. Great rec, perfect for my tastes!

Clannad, I decided to stall this episode as a friend told me it's best to watch Clannad and Clannad After Story together so I've been saving this series for when I have the time to binge both seasons. I'm only 3 episodes in but the characters seem likeable and I feel I can get invested in this shows plot, however I can already tell this show is going to break me down the line.

Outlaw Star, I came into this show with a clean slate, knowing absolutely nothing about it but having watched and enjoyed Space Dandy, Cowboy Bebop and Redline, I was a little excited. I've watched the first episode and immediately fell in love with the interesting cast and will definitely continue this rec!

I really love comedies!... but I'm not sure about Nichijou. I mostly love comedies which either take advantage of their unique setting whether fantasy, superpowered or supernatural (think Konosuba, Scissor Seven, Gintama, One Punch Man and Saiki K) or high school comedies from a male students perspective (eg. Grand Blue, D-Frag, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Daily Lives of High School Boys, Sakamoto and Cromartie High School), so slice of life comedies are normally a hard sell for me. After watching a few episodes it feels more like the show relies on "Haha, that's so random" humour which I disliked in Azumanga Daioh and Chio's School Road. I'll continue the series and hopefully the cast grows on me.

As I have already watched Tower of God, I shall give a review of my opinion when I first watched the show and will catch up to the webcomic in the meantime. I really enjoyed the bizarre world TOG drops you into and expects you to learn and understand along with the main character. The plot and characters kept me completely hooked and I eagerly anticipated every episode as it was released. Sure some aspects were slightly unpolished but few shows have made me genuinely and unapologetically despise a character as this one. Great choice!

Overall I'm enjoying your recs santa! I've downloaded what I can and will continue watching while camping, expect to see this post updated when I return!

Ho-ho-hope you have a great December Santa!
 
Dear Santa,

Finally finished my first present: Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle. I tried to finish my first rec how quickly I could to be on the safe side in case something happens to have at least one watched.

I first read the manga of this series and I was a little bit scared to watch the anime. But in the end the anime was just as cute as the manga. The animation was really cute and I can't really hate any character. The princess is a little bit hard to like in the beginning but I already grew intro liking her in the manga, so now I knew I love her.
Also tiny Princess. 10/10
Thank you for making me watch this series I avoided for some time.

Sorry if my try of a review was so awkward i have no idea what I'm doing.

Two more to go: Heaven Official's Blessing (anime) and Stargazing dog (manga)
 
What I got:

Anime recs:
Air Gear
Detroit Metal City
Sekirei
Blood Blockaid Battlefront

Manga recs:
Blue Spring
Chainsaw Man
Grashros
The Hunters Guild

I hope you have a fancy Christmas you filthy bastard.
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My giver is clearly cultured and an enlightened person for noting my bastardliness. And for knowing what I like: Big titties, panty shots, things with violence in the title, GO TO DMC, SATSUGAI and delinquents.

But also Red Riding Hood with the knockers. That is amazing.

Starletka said:
but some people like to Thrawn stuff the day before Christmas, you know who you are
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d4e1ae27bfcf4fb5e90b842d901a03f8.gif
 
Dear Santa,

I finished Charlotte as my first gift. It felt very similar to Angel Beats (after all, both were made by Jun Maeda), but it missed that emotional onslaught that made me give Angel Beats perfect score. Nonetheless, it was very enjoyable, and I am glad the story did not take (many) convenient shortcuts for the story, but was rather well thought out. Overall, 4/5⭐

Now, which anime to continue with?
 
Dear Santa,

It's been a few days and we've reached the halfway point, so I figured it was as good of time as any to update you rather than dumping everything in one post.

Let's Make a Mug Too ~ Given my list I can see how this recommendation came about. I have quite a bit of cute girls doing cute things, some of which are rated very highly such as Laid Back Camp. Natural recommendation. When it comes to this type of show though I'm typically very split as they tend to fall in one of two categories. Those being loved it or it was ok. They don't fall below ok, but some do end up in that realm.

This show falls closer to that ok zone for me rather than the loved. It just lacks that something special that makes it stick out to me. For example, in Laid Back Camp Rin's character is that extra sauce for me or the world building and atmosphere in Aria etc. Don't get me wrong though, an enjoyable watch and the ending was sweet, it just didn't quite manage to ascend to that higher plane. Good enough that though I will for sure check out the second season when it's done airing. 6/10

On a side note, I'd actually love a show about the parents romance. That seems like it'd be wholesome and amusing.

Acca ~ I'm sitting there watching the first episode and I'm like ya this might be alright...then the preview for the next episode plays. It's at this point I hear it. The narrator with his smooth silky sexy voice. Could it be? Oh yes...yes it indeed could be. Kenjirou voicing a main character, well sign me up it's an adventure now. And a pretty good adventure it turned out to be.

There's nothing about the show that struck me as exceptional, but it was consistently good. I was interested in the mystery and then when the first one is solved, I was interested in the consequences of how that reveal would play out and satisfied with how everything wrapped up. There were a couple area's that I think could have been polished a bit more as they aren't as clear as they probably should be, but overall very solid stuff. 7/10

I'll do the skinny high schoolers teasing each other next as I'm the most skeptical about the idol show. So far so good though.
 
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positiv2 said:
Dear Santa,

I finished Charlotte as my first gift. It felt very similar to Angel Beats (after all, both were made by Jun Maeda), but it missed that emotional onslaught that made me give Angel Beats perfect score. Nonetheless, it was very enjoyable, and I am glad the story did not take (many) convenient shortcuts for the story, but was rather well thought out. Overall, 4/5⭐

Now, which anime to continue with?
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Watch Anohana, then ERASED. Save the best for last.
 
Dear Santa,

I just finished my first pick - ERASED. I thought I knew what it was all about. I was wrong, I just knew the base premise, and then the anime brought me somewhere else. I enjoyed thoroughly the watch. Normally I'm not a huge fan of time-fuckery animes (looking at you tokyo revengers), but I really liked ERASED. I felt the rhytm of my watching a little falter at ep 3 (?) when I thought "oh this could be just a movie", but then the action picked up and I got caught up in the plot. At the end there were tears and all.
The biggest downside for me was that
I suspected who was the killer pretty much immediately. I think I was supposed to be shocked at the reveal, but it was just a " I knew it" reaction. It felt very obvious for me. Guy just gave me creeps since beginning, like a suspiciously friendly teacher at school who you always suspected was a pedophile.

But overall good anime, would recommend, 4/5
 
spookymorrigan said:
The biggest downside for me was that
I suspected who was the killer pretty much immediately. I think I was supposed to be shocked at the reveal, but it was just a " I knew it" reaction. It felt very obvious for me. Guy just gave me creeps since beginning, like a suspiciously friendly teacher at school who you always suspected was a pedophile.
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I feel like you have good instincts then. It certainly caught me off guard.
 
A'ight Santa, I don't know why I decided to read your recs in one sitting each, but here I am after intending to go to bed on time for once, which means this is gonna be a sloppy review. But! I have now finished Neon Revenge. I had a number of bully and school fight stories on my lists, so I can see why you chose it, but it certainly is one of the more intense ones, even if only in the "morals" department.
I was a bit worried at the first chapter that he would be taking this attitude of righteous justice or vigilante, but he seems very aware he's just as bad as them, which is an interesting concept, and I'm glad the author is keeping it in mind. Because it's bringing in a lot of moral questions about their actions, it reads differently than the epic beatdown stories like Mercenary Enrollment and Weak Hero where the MC still is still regarded as a good person both by characters and readers. I feel similar to some of Neon Mask's observers (like the one who controls his servers), in that the bullying and gang activities are horrible, but it feels hard to accept the Masks' methods due to their brutality. I find it cool and I'm pretty invested now, but it for sure is not gonna be a mindless consuming series.
Anyway, g'night all
 
Dear santa.
I want to tell you i did receive your picks but i haven't had time to watch any.

I will make sure to tell you how i feel about your recommendations in this thread when i come around to it. Don't worry though, when i get the time i will speed through your first pick which is "Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It".
Once again I'm sorry that I'm late but i do appreciate your picks for me.
 
Dear Secret Santa,

I just finished your bonus recommendation:
https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/hanasaku-iroha-home-sweet-home

Kind of puzzling to me. If I were in the mood, I would probably give it a 3.5/5, but I'm not in the mood right now. :(
I admit, there there were good themes in the anime, but also there were some confusing parts as well. The time lines and how they were all over the place really made me confused. Might be because I didn't see the series?

More of my thought:
https://www.anime-planet.com/forum/threads/hana-saku-iroha.96578/page-15#post-2278917

All in all, it was a solid average for me. I will probably move on to the others ones (once I finish up my Bingo card).
 
Alright! I finished my first rec: Angel Beats!
I knew it was good based on the reviews etc, but other than that I went in completely clueless (I thought it was a music anime from the title alone haha) and let me tell you - I was not prepared. For anything. It was a wild ride. And it was very funny. I liked it.
Next, I think I'll watch New Game!
All I know about this one is that it's a comedy about coworkers. And that it looks cute. Looking forward to it :DD
 
Dear Santa,
I just wanted to type something as I haven't even started or got to catch up on jojo part 6 and I am jelly of everyone informing their santas of the latest update.
I blame all my misery and anime-less mood on genshin.
It didn't work out this weekend, may it does next Friday.
 
nyaladin said:
Alright! I finished my first rec: Angel Beats!
I knew it was good based on the reviews etc, but other than that I went in completely clueless (I thought it was a music anime from the title alone haha) and let me tell you - I was not prepared. For anything. It was a wild ride. And it was very funny. I liked it.
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If you liked that one, try Assassination Classroom next, it's by the same director (different source material author though) and has very similar emotional and comedic value to it.
 
virgilunderground said:
Dear Santa,

Thanks for the anime for Christmas. I'm not sure what to start with. Any suggestions?

Made in Abyss
Wolf Children
Mushishi

Hopefully you enjoy these, which are some of my personal favorites
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I'd suggest starting with Wolf Children, then Mushishi, and save Made in Abyss for the grand finale.

That makes Made in Abyss the most recommended show now doesn't it?
 
virgilunderground said:
Dear Santa,

Thanks for the anime for Christmas. I'm not sure what to start with. Any suggestions?

Made in Abyss
Wolf Children
Mushishi

Hopefully you enjoy these, which are some of my personal favorites
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Mushishi, Made in Abyss, then Wolf Children.

Speaking of Mushishi, I started it today myself, though I'm going to wait to watch more if it until the rest of my claims for bingo get approved, and I can get a new card.
 
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