Rbastid

Whose bright idea was it to make an OVA based on the two worst characters, in a show where all the characters are pretty awful? Story - 1/10 So apparently the writers came up with what they thought was a catchy nickname for the team of Mako and Sayuki, and decided to make an OVA based solely around how many times the characters can say “they don’t call us impact blue for nothing,” or something to that effect. Now this doesn’t make sense on many levels, since I don’t think anyone called them that in their original appearance, and well the name has literally no meaning... See full review

Decades after originally watching the series, it still holds up, but perhaps nostalgia played a bigger part in what I would have expected my score to be, compared to where I finally landed.  Story - 5/10 This is one of those areas, where you can rate a show and a story completely differently. While the series is fun, exciting, and very entertaining, it still is a very run of the mill story, revolving around “Monster of the Week,” or “Bounty of the Week,” in our case, type plots. Because of that, there really isn’t much that’s original or that threads together... See full review

Just like a good car needs upgrades to go from a junker to winner, so do some anime series. While the changes don’t have this show running at the front of the pack, it at least started to make it’s way from the way back. Story - 4/10 While most of the show still follows the same formula as the first season; where Takumi get’s challenged, decides not to race, then changes his mind; they managed to add much more story to this shorter season. We finally get to see Takumi face some challenges, and in turn he begins to actually care about his car, and how it works. Itsuki grows along... See full review

Lately I’ve turned on many series where I’d prefer to have a monster chewing my face off than continue watching, surprisingly the one with monsters eating people’s faces isn’t on that list.  Story - 7/10 Akira Tendo couldn’t be more lucky, he was the star of high school’s rugby team, had great friends, and landed his dream job working for an entertainment production company. But fast forward three years and all he wants to do is kill himself, as his abusive boss has worked him to the bone, and his life outside work is lonely as can be. He’s a perfect... See full review

Never meet your heroes, especially if it’s highly rated anime. Story - 2/10 While the show does have an overall plot, it has one in the vaguest sense of the word.  Takumi Fukiwara is one of the greatest street racers around, but apparently he doesn’t even know it, since the only times he drives is when doing deliveries for his dad’s tofu shop. Upon learning of that skill, he’s repeatedly challenged to races, despite not really being interested in it. The biggest problem, outside of a very weak story,  is that the show is just the same thing, repeated every three... See full review

I don’t think I did anything horribly wrong in life, but for some reason I feel the need to perform such harsh acts of penance, by watching new versions of FLCL. Story - 2/10 To try to make up for the lack of any deep plot, the show decided it would tell the events of the same day, from the perspective of three kids realizing they have to grow up. By doing this they turned an already short OVA, into an even shorter one, as so many scenes are reused, but I guess it’s a blessing in disguise as it keeps us from having more of this series. The over arching story, is that Haruko is seducing... See full review

Nothing amazing happens here. Only the ordinary. And by “here” I mean any FLCL sequel.  Story - 3/10 *Some spoilers ahead, which may be a good thing that will save you time* Oh look, another disaffected youngster feels, well disaffected. This time it revolves around Masaki Aofuji, and his visions of strange creatures, that no one believes exist. Moving to a new school doesn’t seem to help either, but while there he meets a young girl who seems a bit out of place, and she knows exactly who he is, and what he can see.  The two believe that the source of his visions are... See full review

K-On! and The World God Only Knows, not two anime titles that would easily be connected to the Is it Wrong series, but if things follow the direction of the previous installment, this may also become a show that was bad for season after season, only to finally break out as a top rank anime. Story - 6/10 We catch up with Bell and Ryu right as they land in the lower floors, damaged beyond what would be survivable for a vast majority of adventurers. Unsure of where they even are, they struggle to make any progress, as every turn has them coming under attack from hordes of new monsters. Eventually they... See full review

We all know the story of Charlie Brown and the football, and how we should learn to not fall for the same trick over and over again. Well I haven’t, so I’ll once again watch a season of DanMachi. Story - 6/10 In this split season, our first installments is broken up in to two parts, or rather one and five eighth parts, or so.  The first adventure is pretty straight forward. Bell’s family is given a mission by the Guild, to start exploring the lower levels. As the family is still pretty small, they recruit their friends and head for the unknown. While exploring they come... See full review

I feel like this is a meta-anime, as you’ll assume watching this is some kind of after death punishment. Story - 4/10 When humans die, instead of being sent to heaven or hell, they’re sent to a bar to play a game, and through their reactions and revelations, their future is determined, either reincarnation or a dark abyss for all eternity. The people making these determinations are known as Arbiters, and they are essentially soulless beings who have no reference on how they judge humans, only using what the game tells them. But what happens if someone who has lived a life of a human... See full review

Story - 2/10 Animation - 5/10 Sound - 3/10 Since the sound boils down to just Bell and Hestia having a conversation you’d think it couldn’t be that bad, but once again having to listen to Hestia and Bell babble on for nearly thirty minutes can drive you nuts, which is surprising since I tend to enjoy Luci Christian’s work. Characters - 5/10 Overall - 3/10 Even for a recap this isn’t very good because it starts from the very beginning, and they even comment that it’s for people who haven’t watched the series, as if someone is just going to... See full review

So, Dracula is a Part-Timer! I guess? Story - 4/10 Staz is one of the few bosses of the demon realm, a position he obtained by being one of the most powerful vampires in the land. While he enjoys fighting to keep his crown, the thing he loves most is otaku culture from the real world, especially video games, manga, and anime. So when Fuyumi, who resembles the epitome of anime “waifus,” arrives in his world, after dying, he’s as happy as can be.  The two are able to travel back to the real world using a portal that took Fuyumi to the demon realm, and once he see’s her... See full review

By the end you’ll wish you were in Uncle’s original condition. Story - 3/10 After waking from a seventeen year coma, “Uncle” as he’s called throughout the series, has to navigate a new world that quickly evolved from the one he knew. Despite all the differences, and major world events that have happened in those nearly two decades, the most damaging change to him is that his beloved Sega Corporation is no longer a major player in the world of video games. Now while this could be a pretty funny concept, it is almost no where to be found, as instead the show almost... See full review

Cliches are also bubbling up by the boat load.  Story - 3/10 Cherry is a teen boy whose greatest pleasure is writing haiku about the world around him. He has a few friends, and gets along with the elderly man, Mr. Fujiyama, whom he’s paired with at his job, but otherwise he’d prefer to not have to interact with the general public.  This becomes a slight issue, when he accidentally exchange’s phones with Smile, a young a popular local V-Tuber who has a few issues dealing with self doubt herself, but outwardly is as bubbly as the movie’s title. The two start to... See full review

Better run, run, run, run, run, run, run away. Oh wait. Story - 6/10 Flipping the normal “male nerd gets all the girls,” anime trope on its head, Romanic Killer takes a female lead, who wants nothing more than to play video games and eat chocolate, and puts her in the middle of a harem situation. Unlike so many of those other types of anime, they even give a plausible reason why this wallflower would suddenly become the best friend of the three most sought after guys in school, magic! After turning on her newly acquired video game, Anzu notices what she’s playing, isn’t what... See full review

The fact that this show didn’t have an infinite number of episodes, unlike another series with over a hundred episodes of trash, made this a quick and enjoyable watch, despite its flaws.  Story - 4/10 The show starts off as a pretty standard show about a guy who joins an MMO style video game. Much like another series, this one is a virtual reality game that allows the users to not only port over some of their real life skills to the game, but also one that uses your likes and dislikes to build your character.   Our show’s hero, Reiji, joined after being invited to the game by... See full review

Hidden within Makoto Shinkai’s giant ad for McDonalds, Yahoo, Seiko, and a dozen other companies, is actually a really nice movie that, unlike so much else he’s done, has a complete story.  Story - 8/10 I feel like all the synopses I see for the movie really did a disservice to the film, as it makes it seem as if it’s just some sci-fi story, when it manages to meld supernatural, romance, slice of life, thriller, and comedy, all in an extremely watchable way.   Many stand alone, original idea, anime films always tend to leave much to be desired. Either you get a film... See full review

At this point I only have myself to blame when it comes to watching this awful excuse for entertainment.  Story - 1/10 Being that this is just a pick up from the last “season” things haven’t changed in the least. We’re back with more unwinnable situations for our heroes, that are resolved by someone new coming in and snapping their fingers. This goes on for episode after episodes, with the same scenario playing out in the same way. One of the worst versions of this is when all seems lost for one character, but from his coma Kirito still saves them, thanks to an accessory... See full review

The title gets it partially right, as if you’re an artist you’ll surely feel blue about the pretentious way they look at art and the art world.  Story - 3/10 This story is about a young man who, right before having to decide to choose a college, throws everything he’s done before in the trash, and on a whim chooses to go to art school. Now the show is, for the most part, following him as he goes to prep school, learns about art, and struggles with the intense work load that’s required to get in to one of the best public universities in Japan. This is more or less a Slice of... See full review

The story of a young grade school girl who gets hooked on hallucinogenic drugs after being targeted by a creepy old man in a park. Story - 7/10 So obviously my preamble there was a joke, but more on that later.   Looking at the movie on it’s face, it’s about a young girl, Miyo, who gets a mask that turns her in to a cat. By using this mask she’s able to get close to the boy she has a crush on, and to live in a fantasy land where she doesn’t need to deal with the reality of her life. She soon decides she wants to just be a cat, and in turn gives up her humanity, though... See full review

An anime, about a video game, that really really doesn’t want anything to do with video games. Story - 2/10 The show starts off very promising, as they’ve taken Kirito out of the equation by making him a brainless sack who just rubs on his pair of swords. Though don’t think that saves us from the usual overpowered awfulness of S.A.O., as now that personality black hole Alice is taking center stage, doing all she can to make the show dull as can be.  The group that has attacked the outpost where Rath is testing their new system has hit a dead end, so their new idea is to enter... See full review

The writing staff also seemed to be filled with part timers for this show. Story - 3/10 When the devil ends up on Earth, devoid of any of his powers, he must live like a normal human until he can figure out a way to return to his kingdom. Now we basically follow his every day life, as he tries to do what you’d expect from every teenager. Every now and then demons from hell, or assassins from heaven, will come down and try to take him out, but those short scenes end up just being set ups for slightly humorous jokes, and character introductions for future seasons. The show runs like a typical... See full review

A very promising story ruined once again by someone who can just take one swing and win the game. Story - 4/10 After a few successful years being at the top of the gaming world, Virtual Reality has now been surpassed by Artificial Reality technology, where instead of playing a game, the tech augments the world around you to become a game. The big hit is called Ordinal Scale, and it’s more than just a game, as the system allows you to do pretty much anything our current generation of phones does, including pay for items, search the web, and presumably get tracked everywhere we go.  The... See full review

It’s hard to think of something witty or snarky, considering what you’re going to spend twelve episodes watching. Story - 5/10 The story isn’t a very complicated one, as for the most part it’s just a basis to show lots of fights, blood, and gore.  Denji is a young man who is forced to pay off his father’s debts to the Yakuza. After the group turns on him, he’s saved by his partner, a devil that takes the form of a small dog like creature with a chainsaw attached to it. This turns Denji into a devil hybrid himself, who has the power to turn into a chainsaw wielding... See full review

The term “to be in your own little bubble” means to be isolated from other ideas or outside forces, and in this case I wish the movie Bubble was isolated from everything in this world. Story - 2/10 Tokyo has become a no go zone for most people. Years earlier the world was beset by a phenomena that caused bubbles to flood the world, but while this subsided in every city in the world, Tokyo wasn’t so lucky, as they are now cocooned in a giant bubble that has turned the city into a floating wasteland. While most have moved out, a few brave souls have decided to live in the area and turn... See full review

Sword Art Online, Offline, Waste of Time. Story - 3/10 Set up like an informational news show, each episode is broken down to the same format. First our anchor Asuna gives us a goofy look at a “Breaking News” event that happened in that DVD’s episodes.  Following the news Yui introduces us to a bit of trivia about the S.A.O. or A.L.O. game, such as stats or different types of legendary weapons.  The longest section of the show has our host, and co-host Kirito, interviewing one of the player characters from the game, as they review scenes from that DVD. Often the scenes will... See full review

A recap, an OVA bonus quest, and a typically worthless “beach type” episode all rolled in to one extra long film, and for once I didn’t completely hate it.  Story - 4/10 So I think one reason I wasn’t so down on this extended extra feature was because it’s been quite some time since I watched the original series. Even though I’ve caught this way out of order, I think it works somewhat better now, as it reminds me of what I watched, before getting back in to the dozen other parts of the series.  Instead of just doing a a typical recap, they bundled it... See full review

Although a show about deceit and trickery, it’s no con to say this is easily the best series of the year, if not the last decade. Story - 8/10 Right from the get go you can see this show is going to be interesting and keep you on your toes. We get a cold opening that introduces a few characters, and then plays one over on the viewer very quickly, and things just get better from there. Our show is broken up into four plots, all focusing on a scheme to defraud someone who pretty much deserves it. The first pits our small group of three con-artist against a mob boss who uses his movie production... See full review

It’s an anime, about a game, that feels more like a game, than an anime, and it actually works! Story - 8/10 So in my review for The Ones Within I had mentioned that I haven’t watched too many, or possibly any, “High Stakes Game” type anime. I enjoyed that show, but was disappointed by the abrupt and pointless end, so when I went to move on to my next anime to watch and review, I thought Darwin’s Game would be a good choice, as so many people had compared the two.   Much like all these shows, the main character is still someone who was not planning to be in the... See full review

Some fruit in this basket is sweet and satisfying, and some has turned a little moldy.  Story - 4/10 The overall story here is one of a lonely girl, who has unjustly been pushed out of the lives of her family, and now finds a new place to call home. That place just happens to be a house where her classmate lives with his cousin, and they have a very peculiar reason for maybe not wanting to live with a female. From there the show is really just a drama, with a few comical and parody elements thrown in here and there. Each episode will focus on some daily task or normal life occurrence, with the... See full review