Category: Anime Reviews

I normally don’t try to review an anime before it ends, as I prefer to watch it all the way through before sorting out my thoughts on it. But dear lord, Prima Doll as a show annoyed me so much that I honestly just couldn’t hold my feelings on it back any longer. Prima Doll is a new multimedia franchise created by the company Visual Arts/Key, who many will know as the people who created beloved visual novels such as Air, Kanon, Clannad, and Little Busters. They’re still making games to this day, and I remember watching the anime adaptations for Air, Kanon, and Clannad when they came out, and loving them, though if I were to watch them now, it’s likely my feelings on them will change. But lately Key has wanted to expand their horizons, and I can understand wanting to try something new…though multimedia franchises usually don’t fare well in this oversaturated market. Yet even by those standards, Prima Doll just absolutely screams shameless corporate artifice that’s only there to sell products, and literally nothing else.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Garbage with Firechick – Prima Doll (50/100)” →

(This review will cover seasons 1-4, and as of this writing, I still haven’t seen seasons 5 and 6, along with the movie and some of the OVAs. I really need to change that)

Man, Natsume’s Book of Friends, or its Japanese title, Natsume Yuujinchou, is such an important series to me, you can’t imagine. I remember seeing a promo image of it on the AnimeSuki forums and thinking it looked nice, along with thinking Nyanko-sensei looked cute. But I’m not gonna lie, the second I finished the first episode of this series, way back in 2008, I was hooked, and continued to devour more of it as the series churned out more new seasons…until the fourth season ended in 2012. Four years passed until a new season came out, and another one after that…but I couldn’t bring myself to watch them, because it was during that time that I was in my massive anime burnout phase. It didn’t help that since it had been years since season 4 ended, I wasn’t sure if I could keep up with any new developments the new series had, and I had no motivation to just go back and rewatch the series in Japanese. It also didn’t help that in 2011, NIS America announced that they would release the seasons that were available later down the line, but with no English dub. I couldn’t afford to buy the DVDs NIS put out back then, as they were too expensive for me and I didn’t have a job. As of this writing, I still keep up with the manga and even own the volumes that are out in the US right now, with intent to keep buying them until the series reaches its conclusion, whenever that’ll be, and since I have a job, I can actually buy the manga volumes as they come out! So as much as I absolutely love Natsume’s Book of Friends to death, I couldn’t bring myself to get back to it for some reason.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Treasure with Firechick – Natsume’s Book of Friends Seasons 1-4 (95/100)” →

On April 3rd, 1952, Osamu Tezuka started up a new manga that would later become not only one of his most iconic works, but become a staple in Japanese children’s media that still continues to be beloved to this very day. That manga was Astro Boy, or its Japanese title, Tetsuwan Atom. Astro Boy as a character became a popular icon, helped by the fact that the 1963 anime adaptation of the manga was the first ever serialized anime series to ever air on Japanese television (Or at least, one with an ongoing plot), running for a full 193 episodes across three to four years. Said anime was also the first Japanese animated TV series to be brought over to the United States and dubbed into English, though not every episode was dubbed. I’ve only seen one episode of the 60s anime for a college class, and…it’s definitely a product of its time, mainly because its animation, while it may have been considered good when it was first made, by modern standards is extremely primitive. Seriously, most of the action scenes in the 60s Astro Boy consist of nothing but still images and cutaways, that’s it. Though it seemed even Tezuka and his team realized how poorly the 60s series had aged, as later on, they decided to form a company called Tezuka Productions for the sole purpose of remaking the Astro Boy anime from scratch, which would come to fruition in 1980. Said 80s remake of Astro Boy is the subject of today’s review, as last year, the mad lads at Discotek Media managed to license it and put it out on Blu-Ray. Now that I’ve seen the entire series, my verdict is…it’s okay. It definitely looks amazing for its time, and is a pretty good kids show in its own right, but even without having seen the 60s series, the 1980 remake has some problems of its own.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Baubles with Firechick – Astro Boy 1980 (70/100)” →

So…would Pokemaniacs kill me if I said that I was more excited for this than the announcement of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet getting DLC? Pokemon: Paldean Winds is yet another short animated web series centered in the Pokemon universe, and to be honest, I’m really happy the Pokemon Company is allowing these to be made. All of them have been really good in their own ways, and even the weakest ones still have something to offer. So you can bet I was excited as all hell for Pokemon: Paldean Winds as soon as it was announced. Now that I’ve seen all of it, I do feel it could have done more with itself, but I’m still happy with what we got. Taking place before the events of the games, Paldean Winds centers on three students at Naranja Academy—Ohara, Aliquis, and Hohma—who are tasked by Director Clavell to make a video for incoming new students to show that the school is a great place to learn about Pokemon. But the three students are having trouble getting anything done on account of Ohara’s shyness, Aliquis being an arrogant prick, and Hohma getting too excited about whatever interests him.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Treasure with Firechick – Pokemon Paldean Winds (78/100)” →

Rating: 74/100

As of today, I’ve gotten through quite a few Fire Emblem games, with varying degrees of completion. I’ve played the NES Switch port of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, and the subject of today’s review, Fire Emblem Engage, to completion. I’m halfway through both Three Houses and Sacred Stones, started Fates, but haven’t finished it yet. I originally wasn’t going to play Engage because the commercials for it made it seem like a console gacha game with monetary microtransactions, though that turned out to not be the case. What clinched the deal was finding out one of my favorite newer voice actors was going to play one of the characters, so…yeah. I know, I’m shallow like that. It turned out to be money well spent, as I found Fire Emblem Engage to be pretty fun, though not without its issues.
Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Baubles with Firechick – Fire Emblem Engage (74/100)” →

Lenlo:  Hey everyone, Lenlo here. Amun is taking a break for a while so I’m filling in as Firechick’s pack mule, bringing her latest review! Hope you enjoy, everything after this is all her.

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Hooo boy. Strap yourselves in people, because I’m gonna go on a BIG rant.

Rating: 30/100

So I heard that an anime called Ongaku Shoujo was going to be made in 2018. Then I saw it was a 25-minute OVA before that, and I sat down to watch it. But I won’t lie, this OVA is really bad.

I mean, seriously. I’ve never seen something so absolutely insipid, vapid, and downright annoying. It’s basically about two girls, a shy blue-haired girl and a perky blonde haired girl, who run into each other thanks to singing, decide to become idols, and a lot of drama happens. That’s it. There’s absolutely nothing about its storyline that makes any effort to stand out, it doesn’t even try to make use of its potential or be interesting in any way. It’s just a cookie cutter cutesy idol drama anime with no substance to it at all. Many anime I’ve seen that were similar to this one happened to pull off the premise much better, and the ham-fisted drama near the end really didn’t endear me to it at all. It doesn’t help that the characters are bland, empty, and have no substance to them at all, and their voice actresses over-act to hell and back, and every single line that comes out of their mouth is hammy, screechy, high pitched, and downright grating on the ears, which is a shame because I know these actresses can put on MUCH better performances.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Garbage with Firechick – Ongaku Shoujo (30/100)” →