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StevenSAKUJO

  • Australia
  • Joined Dec 30, 2010
  • 31 / M
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Solo Leveling

Feb 18, 2024

Story [4/10] I usually stick to reviewing completed anime, however, sometimes, I'm in need of the catharsis reviewing and getting my feelings out there can offer, and this is one of those times. I will include some spoilers about the general direction of the show up until episode 7, which is the latest episode out, but I won't spoil anything that I think would diminish the viewing experience.  Solo Leveling fits into what I'd call the "OP MC" genre, but it's also a zero-to-hero story, following a character who takes the "zero" to the extreme and is nicknamed "The Weakest... See full review

4/10 story
8/10 animation
7.5/10 sound
2.5/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

Reign of the Seven Spellblades

Feb 14, 2024

Story:[7/10] I use AP to keep track of my anime, and to find new anime, and for this, I've made extensive use of the average rating. "While I might't enjoy a highly rated anime, I definitely won't enjoy an anime with a poor rating", I thought. There are so many anime to watch, and more than enough with an average of 3.9+ rating for me to watch. Using the ratings saves me from investing time into something bad.  Over the past few years, I gradually started trying out various "lowly rated" anime, around 3-3.5 stars, and I was stunned by how much I enjoyed them. Recently... See full review

7/10 story
7.5/10 animation
8.5/10 sound
8/10 characters
9/10 overall

Vinland Saga Season 2

Jun 1, 2023

Story:[3/10] Season two has been incredibly frustrating to watch, primarily because of the characters, which I'll get to, but the pacing is unbelievably slow. What's worse is that even this slow pacing wastes our time, what is so painfully and inefficiently setup has an underwhelming payoff and very little impact on the plot. Everything about this season is slow, the way characters talk, the repetition of what they say, the mundanity of what happens. There's no humour, we're focusing on side characters who could be removed from the story without anything changing, and everything that was done... See full review

3/10 story
7/10 animation
5/10 sound
2/10 characters
3/10 overall

Classroom of the Elite 2nd Season

Oct 1, 2022

Story: [7/10] Classroom of the Elite's story is by no means something to be taken seriously, the premise is entirely absurd. These children of wealthy families are pretty much left to their own devices, to play some ridiculous games, and somehow they're supposed to learn how to be ruthless business leaders through this. It's the same as Kakegurui, the show doesn't take itself seriously, we know the protagonist is going to slay and we're just here to enjoy the show. Despite how the show portrays itself as a battle of wits, it is rarely the case that any problem is actually overcome by someone making galaxy... See full review

7/10 story
6.5/10 animation
6/10 sound
5/10 characters
7/10 overall

RWBY: Ice Queendom

Sep 29, 2022

Story: [6/10] RWBY Ice Queendom would've been much better off as a movie or being substantially shorter than it is, the story could've been good in that format. Weiss is attacked by a Grim that puts her into a coma, the only way to save her is to enter into her dream and destroy the grim there, however, much like inception, Weiss' subconscious makes up the people in the dream and they fight against team RWBY as they try to save her. This could've been something like a RWBY-themed inception movie, but instead, it's a 13-episode series and the issue is that the story is too simple for that. So, even though I... See full review

6/10 story
5/10 animation
6/10 sound
6.5/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

Requiem of the Rose King

May 21, 2022

Story: [7.5/10] Requiem of the Rose King is set in medieval England and based on Henry V by Shakespeare, we follow two families, York and Lancaster, fighting over the throne of England. Our primary protagonist Richard has been raised by his ambitious father and taught that the crown is all that matters, and Richard will do anything to deliver that crown to his father, to whom he is utterly dedicated. But Richard is different from his brothers, his body is nonconventional and his mother hates him for it. A "demon" she calls him, something he now calls himself. Richard wants to make his father... See full review

7.5/10 story
6/10 animation
8/10 sound
8/10 characters
9/10 overall

Skeleton Knight in Another World

May 20, 2022

Story [2/10] An elite gamer wakes up to find himself in the world of his favourite MMORPG as his character, the skeleton knight, Arc. He accepts his predicament with a hearty attitude and decides to live as a mercenary, to eat well and experience the thrill of adventure. Until he is hired for a big job by elven warrior Ariane - to save some elves.  Skeleton Knight in Another World is a typical self-insert isekai, Arc humiliates his male rivals and saves the day, protecting cute things, waifus and adorable children. Every antagonist is comically evil with no redeeming qualities, he defeats them with... See full review

2/10 story
4/10 animation
4/10 sound
2/10 characters
4/10 overall

Platinum End

Dec 9, 2021

Story: [3/10] Platinum End follows Mirai, a troubled middle schooler who is ready to take his own life before he is saved by an angel, Nasse. Nasse tells him that she has selected him for a competition between 12 other suicidal people in Japan, each selected by one of 13 angels, and that one of these candidates will become God. Some of the other candidates take this to mean that if they are able to kill the other 12 candidates, that they will become God and thus chaos ensues.  The plot of Platinum End is nearly identical to Mirai Nikki in concept, the protagonist is unwillingly brought into a... See full review

3/10 story
5/10 animation
8.5/10 sound
3.5/10 characters
4.5/10 overall

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation

Aug 25, 2021

Story: [9/10] It's an Isekai, a hikikomori adult gets reincarnated as a baby in a European-style medieval, fantasy world to a happy marriage between a knight and a cleric. He isn't summoned to take on some grand quest, but just inhabits the body of their newborn son, thus, the anime has pacing similar to that of a slice-of-life, except within this unique world setting. In fact, Rudeus, the name of the MC, mostly stays indoors, relaxing and messing around with magic, swordplay, educating himself by reading books and messing with women. His motivation is to live a productive life, unlike the one he lived in... See full review

9/10 story
9.5/10 animation
9.5/10 sound
9.5/10 characters
9.5/10 overall

DOTA: Dragon's Blood

Jun 17, 2021

Story [7/10] Loosely based on the video game DOTA, the story follows Davion, The Dragon Knight and Mirana, Princess of the Moon who travel together in mutual interest. They end up at the centre of a battle between powerful beings, and face many trials as each try to figure out, what exactly they should be doing and with whom exactly their allegiance lies. This is an adventure-style, character-driven anime with strong themes of violence. The entertainment value comes from forming an attachment to the characters, including secondary ones, and having an emotional investment in their choices. In this regard... See full review

7/10 story
7.5/10 animation
7.5/10 sound
8.5/10 characters
9/10 overall

World Trigger

Jun 7, 2021

Story [4/10] In a world where you're a has-been by 25 and pretty old by 17, there is a need to send 13-year-olds to the front line to face invading alien forces. Watch them effortlessly destroy hundreds of fodder robot invaders in battles which may or may not result in one of the characters being scratched or something. The organisation, Border, recruits hundreds of 13-17-year-olds to defend Earth by luring the portals the aliens come through to a single spot, where tens of thousands of people still live near for some reason. They use alien technology, a device called a "trigger" that allows a... See full review

4/10 story
5/10 animation
5/10 sound
4/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

KING’S RAID: Successors of the Will

Dec 21, 2020

Story [7/10] As of writing the anime's rating is 2.6/5 and I would nearly always avoid an anime with such a low rating. Even anime rated around 3/5 tend to have serious flaws that most people can agree on. King's Raid is a dark medieval fantasy which follows a group of adventurers who set out to claim a divine power which a hundred years prior defeated the demons that are now returning to their world. They must journey to find those who hold the keys to this power. King's Raid strikes a balance between being dark and serious without being excessive, the story also focuses not just on the external threat of... See full review

7/10 story
6/10 animation
6/10 sound
7.5/10 characters
7/10 overall

The Irregular at Magic High School

Oct 6, 2020

Story [3/10] The Irregular at Magic High School is an OP (overpowered) MC (main character) shounen based in a future setting where magic functions with technology and creates a new era where a single magic user can equal a nation's modern army. Tatsuya is such a magic user, yet, this is unbeknownst to his classmates at Magic High School, which is a mix between a normal anime high school and a government program aimed at creating weapons which will protect the nation. Due to his inability to exercise magic in the traditional manner, he is relegated to course 2 which is for weaker students and is... See full review

3/10 story
8/10 animation
4/10 sound
5/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

Mar 11, 2020

[Story 7/10] This is the first time I'm reviewing an anime that has yet to finish but it's also the first time that I've thought an anime was pretty good whilst the ratings for it are so terrible. Right now it's 2.7/5 and I don't know whether that has something to do with the fact its a remake or what but it's pretty good so I thought it'd be fun to provide people who might be interested an alternative to that rating in this review.  Orphen is about a prodigious sorcerer who went rogue after a failed experiment lead to his sister being transformed into a dragon - with nobody within his school... See full review

7/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
5/10 characters
7.5/10 overall

The Rising of the Shield Hero

Jan 8, 2020

Story [2/10] The Rising of the Shield Hero is an isekai following one of the four people summoned to a medieval fantasy world to fight as its protectors. Everyone in the world is more or less following an MMORPG format, where they gain exp, items and fight monsters. Their goal is to defend against the "waves" which summon an array an of monsters that threaten to destroy the civilised world. Of the four heroes, the shield hero is treated differently, he is viewed as weak and useless by the kingdom he's supposed to be protecting. Which leads to Naofumi, the shield hero, having to fight not... See full review

2/10 story
9/10 animation
8/10 sound
2/10 characters
3/10 overall

Bloom Into You

Jan 21, 2019

 Story [7/10] I don't usually watch slice of life anime and when I do the experience is surreal. I'm waiting patiently for some epic drama to start, I expect there'll be some comedy and I enjoy some good comedy. Let me tell, you false alarms everywhere, something happens and I'm thinking "heh, time for some over-the-top drama" or "nice... finally, the plot thickens. When the anime finished and nobody had died, no huge coincidences, a few speeches and arguments but nothing serious. It's almost as though the anime is literally about this student council who quietly plan some things... See full review

7/10 story
6/10 animation
5/10 sound
5/10 characters
7/10 overall

Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World

Dec 31, 2018

I will be spoiling the first couple of episodes and general story pace on purpose here because I genuinely believe that most people who didn't enjoy the anime but perhaps thought they would, didn't have expectations for these things and got caught up on focusing on the wrong aspects of this anime. If you're mentally prepared for what the anime does wrong and focus on what the anime does right, you'll enjoy it a lot more imo. Story [3/10] Re:ZERO could be your next favourite anime but the conditions for enjoying it are rather specific. Anime offers presentations of violence, despair and depravity like I've... See full review

3/10 story
9/10 animation
10/10 sound
7/10 characters
7/10 overall

Record of Grancrest War

Oct 12, 2018

Story: [8.5/10] Grancrest Senki is a fantasy-based, political/war story following a wanderer named Theo, as he is dragged along by his mage Siluca on an adventure to challenge the injustices that exist in their world. Lords and mages fight for power and survival and prioritise that over the wellbeing and prosperity of the people. The continent is at war and Theo, Siluca and their companions must contend with the status quo. I am always interested in this kind of setting but they generally don't seem very popular with others. Anime about medieval politics can find themselves unfortunately situated... See full review

8.5/10 story
9/10 animation
10/10 sound
7.5/10 characters
9/10 overall

Romeo x Juliet

Sep 14, 2018

Story [7.5/10] Romeo x Juliet is loosely based on the play by Shakespeare, really loosely. Romeo's father Prince Montague has staged a coup against the Capulet dynasty and Juliet is the lone survivor of the subsequent slaughter of the Capulet house. Fourteen years later and those still loyal to the Capulet family continue to protect her and look for a chance to put the Capulets back on the throne.  Unlike the play, which mostly focuses on Romeo, the anime focuses on the heroine of the story, Juliet, as she must continually juggle her responsibilities as the last remaining member of the Capulets, her... See full review

7.5/10 story
7/10 animation
7.5/10 sound
6/10 characters
7/10 overall

Scrapped Princess

Feb 28, 2018

Story: [9/10] Often when I'm critiquing the storyline of an anime, I'm considering things like "was it entertaining?" and "was it interesting?" and all too often "was it coherent?". Scrapped Princess is different, it was clearly entertaining, interesting and coherent - I am wondering how much I should praise the Scrapped Princess for being philosophical while also poignant. Undoubtedly anime seldom offers much depth to their stories and that includes the good ones. So it's seldom the depth of the storyline that makes the anime good. I've heard complaints about anime being... See full review

9/10 story
5/10 animation
8/10 sound
10/10 characters
9.5/10 overall

GANTZ

Jan 3, 2018

Story: [5.5/10] GANTZ is a sci-fi, high stakes game anime that follows a very simple premise, when someone dies there is a possibly that they will be sent to a room in Tokyo where they will be armed with weapons and sent to fight aliens taking residence on Earth without anyone's knowledge. If you've watched other high stakes game anime then you'll know what to expect and this is always a genre which has grabbed my attention. There's a lot of action, drama, violence and moral/psychological themes which create a level of intensity that separates these kinds of anime from other shounen/seinen.  That's... See full review

5.5/10 story
5/10 animation
3/10 sound
2.5/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

"Bungaku Shoujo" Movie

Apr 30, 2017

Story: [3/10] Here ye! Here ye! You good sir and you madam! I do proclaim I have witnessed a tale of drama and tragedy! Comedy and romance! It has it all and will leave you wanting for nothing!! Behold the psychotic yandere childhood friend of emotionally retarded, socially inept generic protagonist! As the first member of his harem, she claims ownership of the protagonist she calls her dog, she projects her hatred of herself onto the protagonist whenever he is around, harassing his friends and threatening to kill herself every twenty minutes adding to the drama that will shock and horror you! However fear... See full review

3/10 story
1/10 animation
4/10 sound
1/10 characters
2/10 overall

Nobunaga Concerto

Apr 10, 2017

Story [6.5/10] Synopsis: Saburo is a disinterested high school student who inexplicably finds himself in the warring states period after falling from a railing he was trapezing across. He falls on none other than Oda Nobunaga to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance and upon noticing this Nobunaga confides in Saburo that he is sickly and has decided to run away from his responsibilities, requesting that Saburo act as a decoy for him. Saburo's nihilistic and care-free attitude is completely at odds with strict feudal Japan but as Saburo realizes that in order to not tamper with the... See full review

6.5/10 story
7.5/10 animation
6/10 sound
6/10 characters
8/10 overall

Shigurui: Death Frenzy

Mar 31, 2017

Story: [6/10] Shigurui is based in feudal Japan and centres around a sword fighting dojo Kogan-Ryuu which is challenged by a ronin named Seigen Irako who then joins the dojo, setting in motion a chain of events which will eventually lead to tragedy. This is one of the most violent and depraved anime that I have ever watched and I believe it extends far beyond what could be considered a realistic depiction of feudal Japan. That is not to say senseless violence did not exist but Shigurui depicts a world without kindness or happiness, just endless fighting, abuse and insanity. Shigurui instead deals with... See full review

6/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
5/10 characters
7.6/10 overall

Haikyuu!!

Jan 29, 2015

Story: [7/10] Yet another sports shounen, each season we get a new sport shounen that tackles a new sport and each year becomes less mainstream than the last. Volleyball is the name of the game in Haikyuu!! and its a blast to experience a sport that ur unfamiliar with in such a fantastic and inspiring setting that anime can and Haikyuu has provided. The storyline is exactly the same as Yowamushi Pedal and Kuroko's Basketball, an underdog school is aiming to challenge the best in the inter-high (high school championships). The same shounen hype, the same cliche characters and its very easy to compare most... See full review

7/10 story
8.5/10 animation
8.5/10 sound
8/10 characters
8/10 overall

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works

Jan 9, 2015

Story:[3/10] Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works (UBW) has some references to previous fate zero but for the most part, you do not need to watch them to understand this anime. For those of you who are familiar with the previous series then UBW is esentially the next holy grail war with the masters being desendants, more or less of the main characters of fate zero. For those unfamiliar the general idea is that there are 7 contestants for a powerful artifact "the holy grail" which is ... See full review

5/10 story
3/10 animation
7.5/10 sound
2/10 characters
5/10 overall

Noragami

Apr 19, 2014

Story: [2/10]  Anime planet's synopsis: "Yato may just be a minor god now, but he’s determined to make it big and he’s got a plan. Unfortunately, things just don’t seem to be going his way. He doesn’t have a single shrine dedicated to him, his partner has just quit, and now he’s got to find a new divine weapon." The synopsis sounds kind of exciting right? A god trying to increase his influence over Japan, have the people errect shrines in his honour and pray to him. A plot that involved world conquest, betrayal, strategy and alliances... who knows what they... See full review

2/10 story
3/10 animation
6/10 sound
3/10 characters
4.5/10 overall

Watamote: No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!

Apr 8, 2014

Story; [8/10] I feel as though there are two perspectives to the same story that can be taken here, (Kuroki Tomoko doesn't stand out and her social skils are atrocious, as a result she can't make friends at school or have the romantic high school experience she wanted). One side of the story is the ridiculous schemes she comes up with to make friends or to to make her school life more fufilling and worthwhile. This is the comedy of the series and some of it can be fairly unrealistic while others might not be, depending on your experiences at high school. The other side is the real part of Tomoko's... See full review

8/10 story
9/10 animation
8.5/10 sound
9/10 characters
8/10 overall

Samurai Champloo

Jan 16, 2014

Story: [8/10] Samurai Champloo is a story about three travelers who for the purpose of finding the mysterious samurai who smells like sunflowers  group up together and travel across 19th century Japan. Our characters face danger and starvation every day, in this somewhat episodic action-adventure. Usually I dislike episodic series because they lack a structure which can give closure to a story and I feel as though each episode may as well be it's last but Samurai Champloo's main story is knitted into each episode and despite how many characters and spin-off story lines are introduced, it never lost... See full review

8/10 story
7.7/10 animation
6.7/10 sound
6.5/10 characters
7.3/10 overall

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions!

Jan 12, 2014

Story: [6/10] The synopsis is a good one except that it doesn't indicate the high level of drama that is involved in the anime. While the premise can be quite funny for the first few episodes, the drama that develops between the two leads is very gooey and whether it should be considered seriously or not is open to intepretation. While I would understand what someone might mean when they say the anime provoked a strong emotional reacton and they were rather touched by it, I think the anime came close to being relatable, it came close to being a good drama but it fell short and just annoyed me. The reason... See full review

6/10 story
5.5/10 animation
5/10 sound
6/10 characters
5.5/10 overall