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ThatAnimeSnob

  • Thessaloniki, Greece
  • Joined Dec 22, 2011
  • 42 / M
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Solo Leveling

Feb 17, 2024

Preface
Solo Leveling is the most eagerly anticipated anime of Winter 2024, mostly because it faced minimal competition from new releases. Hype aside, it still got eclipsed by the ongoing success of Frieren from the previous season and it is a fairly standard power fantasy that got fervently praised by fans of the web comic. As is usually the case with fans they want you to believe it’s some subversive masterpiece, although it does nothing that its predecessors haven’t already explored, often with superior execution. Furthermore, its glaringly apparent flaws provide plenty of reasons for the... See full review

2/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
3/10 characters
4/10 overall

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Feb 15, 2024

1) Not saturated
Although I do not gravitate towards such genres, it is easy to see why Frieren got to be loved by so many watchers. The fantasy genre had suffered for many years, since such anime were usually lackluster videogame adaptations that were just going over the events of the game with no care for pacing or character appeal. Even worse, the isekai plague had led to a dozen fantasy-themed shows each season, most of which were slight variations of the same, lazily-written power fantasy tropes that usually involve harems and slavery. Frieren didn’t belong in either of these two types. It was... See full review

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

Jujutsu Kaisen 2nd Season

Dec 29, 2023

Dragonball needed hundreds of episodes before it became all about Goku changing his hair colors, One Piece needed hundreds of episodes before it became all about fan fiction theories, Bleach needed dozens of episodes before it became all about bankais. It didn’t take long for Jutsu brutchu to become the Gojo show at the expense of everything else. He constantly steals the show whenever he appears, effectively becoming better than the protagonist who is supposed to be Yuji. He is also at fault for ruining the plot, since whenever something is about to happen, Gojo jumps in and stops... See full review

3/10 story
9/10 animation
8/10 sound
3/10 characters
5/10 overall

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Dec 25, 2023

Don’t make the mistake of going in expecting a typical zombie apocalypse. Just like Highschool of the Dead before it, it is not really a psychological horror type of show, as it is a comical power fantasy. The first episode exists solely to make you root for a guy who is finding joy in billions of innocent people dying horribly, just so he doesn’t have to go to work. In the alternative reality of this show, it’s easier to skip work if there are rainbow-colored bloodied zombies in the streets, than it is resigning from your job.

Anyways, this is a comedy about the silly antics of a... See full review

3/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
3/10 characters
4.5/10 overall

Goblin Slayer II

Dec 22, 2023

The first season of Goblin Slayer was the talk of the town for its edgy content that involved raping monsters and a protagonist who was blinded by his hatred for them. There were lots of discussions about whether the Goblins were born to be evil or if they were raised that way. A lot of people wondered if the protagonist could ever escape this fruitless existence of perpetually killing them, and settle down to have a normal family.

Gradually, the interest went away. Everything that could be discussed was discussed and the show was proven to be very shallow with its subject matter. It never attempted... See full review

5/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
3/10 characters
4.5/10 overall

The Rising of the Shield Hero 3rd Season

Dec 22, 2023

Yay! The Slave Hero is back in form!… Too bad nobody cares anymore. In case you missed the hypetrain, season 1 was its peak while revengeporn was the main objective. As soon as that was over and the protagonist became another generic overpowered isekai protagonist with his own harem, everyone noped out. Some tried to come back during the second season only to find a complete shitshow. Thus it doesn’t matter if the third season is better. Nobody cares, the hypetrain derailed, and there are now many other isekai to jump onto.

In case you don’t care about any of that and for some... See full review

1/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
1/10 characters
3/10 overall

Rurouni Kenshin (2023)

Dec 14, 2023

If you ever have to make a remake of a classic series, the least you can do is to make it better than the earlier version. The 90s version of Rurouni Kenshin may have had its issues, but it was top shonen material for its time, plus it had amazing cinematics and music score. The new version had nothing; it came off as a generic shonen, the cinematics made it feel flat or family-friendly, and the music was largely forgettable.

It didn’t help that it aired along with an extremely popular show such as Mushoku Tensei, an extremely well-animated show such as Jujutsu Kaisen, and another... See full review

4/10 story
6/10 animation
6/10 sound
6/10 characters
4/10 overall

Pluto

Nov 19, 2023

Pluto is a sci-fi mystery with a very serious presentation. There is none of the usual anime humor you find in most animated Japanese series. It also has close to no action, despite being full of elite soldiers who can kill thousands in seconds. The action is mostly skipped to make room for very long dialogues around the concept of A.I. and human emotions. Thus it will not please action fans.

It’s also not as deep as it appears to be at first, since the robots that are targeted for termination become aware of the fact very early in the story, yet they never form a team to take out the assassin... See full review

5/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
6/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU

Oct 7, 2023

Oregairu is one of those series that many were fooled to think it’s deep and mature by supposedly criticizing whatever people take for granted and giving it a cynical view. For example, the very first thing you hear is how youth is a lie, it is evil, when for most people it is supposed to be the best part of their lives.

Then the protagonist who wants to come off as super smart and fully aware of the hypocrisy in modern societies, proclaims real life is not like in fiction and romantic comedies do not happen. And he says that while being in a romantic comedy where his teacher wants to help him... See full review

3/10 story
7/10 animation
6/10 sound
4/10 characters
4/10 overall

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War: Part II - The Separation

Oct 1, 2023

The bankai show returned with all the usual bullshit you came to expect from it. Nobody watches it for the plot since there is no plot to play attention to. We got someone becoming the successor of the main villain without any build up, without any explanation, and without any dramatic impact. The protagonist didn’t even know of the betrayal until the final battle was half-way over. Naruto versus Sasuke this is not.

Instead of that we just get more of what Bleach was always about. Stuff happening for the heck of it, such as a slut seducing and then killing her own allies because she got a bit... See full review

1/10 story
9/10 animation
7/10 sound
1/10 characters
3.5/10 overall

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation 2nd Season

Sep 25, 2023

Here is more of that isekai that for some reason is hailed for its amazing plot, even though when you actually sit down and explain it you realize right away how horribly written it is. You don’t believe me? Let’s see how amazing it really is when you summarize what has happened. Episode zero is about that teleport magic explosion that randomly takes people wherever the author wants them to be, thus it’s not random at all. The elf waifu appears somewhere and saves a princess by complete accident. How totally accidental and certainly not convenient for the plot. The princess is amazed with... See full review

1/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
3/10 characters
3.5/10 overall

Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy - Part II

Aug 12, 2023

Disclaimer: Most of what I wrote ended up being a comparison to the older version, since on its own the current Bastard is nothing special, just another action show in a sea of action shows. The 90s OVAs on the other hand were special. Not only they came out at a time when sakuga was rare in the medium, they also did the smart thing and trimmed the fat, leaving only the juiciest parts. There was a lot of crap in the source material that is simply not fun to read. The more faithful new adaptation carried over those bits, and as a result we got an average action schlock show that most will ignore or will be... See full review

4/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
7/10 characters
5.5/10 overall

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Jun 13, 2023

This is an unnecessary sequel
Like so many sequels, there was no point in making Boruto. Naruto ended by wrapping up everything it set out to do. Did it do it flawlessly? Far from it, but this sequel doesn’t do something that makes it worth continuing the plot. It ruins everything the first protagonist managed to accomplish by trashing the world peace he achieved at the end of the series. The only reason it was made for is money, because people want to see more Naruto (aka it was made to sell based on nostalgia), and it fails even there since it hardly makes the money of the first series. It also... See full review

2/10 story
5/10 animation
5/10 sound
1/10 characters
2.5/10 overall

Heavenly Delusion

Jun 5, 2023

Pros
- Good production values
- A premise that is basically The Last of Us meets The Promised Neverland
- Interesting setting
- Fun characters
- There is some mystery in the background
- Can be brutal at times
- The blend of genres is intriguing enough to make you keep watching

Cons
- It’s creepy in a bad way. The main character lusts his sister… while he is inside her body. And those kids at the academy are horny as heck. Later on there is also rape and it’s not really leading up to something.
- The action doesn’t seem to fit with what is going on... See full review

3/10 story
8/10 animation
7/10 sound
3/10 characters
4/10 overall

Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku

Jun 5, 2023

We’ve seen the same story play out so many times in the past. Edgy trash gets animated, it has a famous studio behind it, it has flower symbolism that makes it seem deep, and everyone acts like it’s the second coming of Christ. This season’s popular edgy trash award goes to Hell’s Paradise.

This is a show with an MC who can’t die no matter what, so there is no tension. They try to make it seem like everything is super deadly and everyone dies before you know it, but then they have a guy who begs to be killed and nobody can kill him. What a way to ruin your premise right... See full review

2/10 story
8/10 animation
7/10 sound
2/10 characters
3.5/10 overall

Oshi no Ko

May 26, 2023

So I watched the next highest voted anime on MAL, before it dropped in ratings a few weeks later and FMAB went back to no1 as it always does. If you are one of those people who think no1 means anything, FMAB will forever be no1, so you can give up on trying to excuse quality through rankings.

That aside, for a supposed masterpiece it bored me out of my mind. I was stopping every 10 minutes to go watch something retro instead. And I am talking about the movie-length pilot here; not about every episode after that which is white noise as far as I care. And I will admit that I am not part of the... See full review

4/10 story
8/10 animation
6/10 sound
4/10 characters
4/10 overall

The Ancient Magus' Bride

Apr 7, 2023

When the anime began airing, the community was split in half. There were those amazed with the fantastical world and the premise of an emotionally damaged female protagonist being given a second chance in life. And then there were those who 5 minutes into the opening scene of the OVAs had ‘nope’d out. It was another pro-slavery series where it’s fine to own slaves if you treat them well. This sick power fantasy that is mostly encountered in bottom of the barrel stories (which so happen to be mostly isekai) is enough to alienate all those who are not willing to see past it. And you... See full review

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

The Day I Became a God

Mar 9, 2023

Jun Maeda is a director who got a lot of praise for his work on datesim adaptations during the mid 2000s with Clannad being his crown achievement. After that he was stumbling from one failure to another, unwilling to admit he was not making good use of the amount of episodes he had available. Like a spoiled child he was constantly threatening to quit if people kept telling him he fell from grace. This anime is proof of that since it’s actually his worst work. Instead of learning from his mistakes and becoming better with time, he got worse to the point he created a trainwreck by the name The Day I... See full review

1/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
3/10 characters
3/10 overall

Charlotte

Mar 2, 2023

This anime begins with one of the laziest plot devices that can make any story to play out however the author feels like it at any moment. Whether it’s Code Geass or Attack on Titan, the moment mind control comes into play nobody has free will. They stop being characters and become puppets that behave however the plot wants them to behave. The author is the first who realized it and stopped trying to flesh them out. That is why the characters are all 1-dimensional archetypes, defined by a single gimmick which they repeat in an identical manner in every episode.

The premise is about the... See full review

1/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
3/10 characters
3/10 overall

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

Feb 20, 2023

Here’s a show that was quite popular when it began airing and is now mostly forgotten because of the ridiculous amount of fluff that comes out every season. It starts by establishing the eccentric waifus, and because it’s based on a light novel each one of the girls is defined by a cosplay fetish. One of them dresses like a playboy bunny; another one has a brother complex and dresses like a bear. And no, they don’t play it off as a cute joke, but as a sexual fetish. Like all light novels, half the things they say is sexual foreplay and the other half is lazy exposition. The characters are... See full review

3/10 story
6/10 animation
6/10 sound
5/10 characters
4/10 overall

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

Dec 13, 2022

The bankai show is back and everyone is happy with the bankai show being back. That is the only thing they are happy about since the bankai show has nothing to offer besides that. Here’s what you notice when you pay attention to something other than nostalgia and pretty colors.

Episode 1

The show begins with a wide and detailed view of Karakura Town. It seems like the animators really cared to make it feel alive… until you notice how despite the movie-level artwork, Karakura Town is devoid of life. What a better way to care about the people in it than by having the city being... See full review

1/10 story
10/10 animation
10/10 sound
1/10 characters
4.5/10 overall

Chainsaw Man

Dec 7, 2022

1) THE DRAMABAIT

The story begins with an attempt to make you care about the protagonist. It’s not a bad thing for a story to create sympathy with the main character by victimizing him right away, but when it’s so half-assed it works against it. It’s typical emotional manipulation that expects from you to root for someone who suffered a lot, lost everything, and risks his life for peanuts. He also fixes all that in less than a single episode and you are supposed to think he deserves it because he suffered, and not if he is worthy of it. Spoiler, he doesn’t, he is an immature... See full review

3/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
3/10 characters
4.5/10 overall

Aachi wa Ssipak

Nov 28, 2022

A very out-there “anti-conformist punk” style movie that pokes fun at consumerism.

ART: I stepped on poop
- Very distinctive concept in artwork. Everything and everyone have a very humorous / creepy look that turns this feature into a memorable watch.
- The characters look like Saturday morning cartoons for kids but are in fact very sinister (part of the whole irony thing). The Diaper gang members look as sweet as the Smurfs, yet don’t think twice before chopping your head off and steal your wallet. The mayor of the city looks like a cute little girl but treats people... See full review

7/10 story
9/10 animation
7/10 sound
5/10 characters
6.5/10 overall

One Piece Film: Red

Nov 9, 2022

For starters this is filler and no matter how much they try to make it seem like it’s canon, it’s not since the events are never mentioned in the series, nor they fit somewhere in specific. That aside, the movie sticks out from the precious ones, all of which were also filler, by having several pop idol songs, all of which are cringe. They don’t fit in the setting of One Piece and they are mostly animated with CGI so they don’t even look good. But even as a standalone story it doesn’t make any sense since there’s too much going on without proper build up. Most of it... See full review

1/10 story
8/10 animation
8/10 sound
1/10 characters
4/10 overall

The Devil is a Part-Timer! 2

Sep 26, 2022

When The Devil is a Part-timer came out back in 2013 a lot of people loved it, mostly because they had never seen a reverse isekai before. It was otherwise nothing special, just another adaptation of a light novel and a 5/10 at best. For a decade many were constantly requesting another season, and were really excited when they finally heard it’s coming. No joke, they hyped the living hell out of this show before it came out. Then as soon as the first episode aired the entire community forgot its existence. How is that possible when they were so hyped up about it? It’s not because there were a... See full review

3/10 story
6/10 animation
6/10 sound
3/10 characters
4/10 overall

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

Sep 19, 2022

The initial response from the community regarding this show was nothing but praise and lots of 10s flying around. On the other hand my reaction to it was complete apathy since I was looking at the whole thing from a neutral perspective. Once you do that most shows are nothing special and Edgerunners is no exception. Let’s get this out of the way right away. The reasons so many people liked it are:

1) It did not suck like the videogame it was based on (the bar was set very low)
2) Anything by studio Trigger is always praised and is well animated (the studio’s fame played a part)
3)... See full review

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

RWBY: Ice Queendom

Sep 18, 2022

The original RWBY was an anime-inspired western production that became a sensation among a lot of early Rooster Teeth fans. It lacked the polish but it was making it up with passion. Then the original creator died and those who carried on with the show made a huge clusterfuck that alienated most fans with its loose plot and lack of direction. The anime version of RWBY seemed to be a reboot at first. They remade the early episodes with a far higher budget and expanded certain events for fleshing out the characters and for introducing the world in a smoother way. On paper it was a remake that could surpass... See full review

3/10 story
7/10 animation
6/10 sound
4/10 characters
4/10 overall

Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy

Sep 18, 2022

Disclaimer: Most of what I wrote ended up being a comparison to the older version, since on its own the current Bastard is nothing special, just another action show in a sea of action shows. The 90s OVAs on the other hand were special. Not only they came out at a time when sakuga was rare in the medium, they also did the smart thing and trimmed the fat, leaving only the juiciest parts. There was a lot of crap in the source material that is simply not fun to read. The more faithful new adaptation carried over those bits, and as a result we got an average action schlock show that most will ignore or will be... See full review

4/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
7/10 characters
5/10 overall

The Rising of the Shield Hero 2nd Season

Jul 5, 2022

The first season of the Shield Hero had a big impact in the community. Half of it was praising it for its bold take on an isekai protagonist who is wrongfully accused, and the other half was shiting on it for being full of cheap tactics to engage the viewer through rage instead of quality writing. As the season kept going, more and more people were joining the dislike side as one by one everything that made the initial episodes good was being replaced with the same generic crap that plague all isekai, and turned a once (supposed) subversion of the formula into yet another power fantasy. By the time the... See full review

3/10 story
6/10 animation
6/10 sound
3/10 characters
3.5/10 overall

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Jun 13, 2022

The CGI animation, an attempt to save money since the studio knows a lot of people are going to watch it no matter how cheap it looks, is definitely going to be a turnoff for most who liked the far more polished look of the Broly film. It is not terrible but having to get used to that after 25 years of being 2D ain’t easy. And the animators knew that, since whenever there is a flashback to previous events, they keep it in 2D since they know people will be pissed if they saw nostalgic moments in a completely different style.

Anyways, assuming that is not a problem for you and you expect to see... See full review

3/10 story
7/10 animation
7/10 sound
3/10 characters
4/10 overall