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Guest Post: Unearthed Garbage with Firechick – Ongaku Shoujo (30/100)

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews

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.

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)” →

Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 6

by Lenlo, posted in Weekly Summary

Frieren – 10 [A Powerful Mage]

Ah here it is, here’s the Frieren going ham on some demons that I was looking for last week. Don’t get me wrong, last week was great, there’s just something cathartic about watching a villain get absolutely bodied. And when the entire episode is just buildup to that one moment? Walking us through Frieren’s relationship with her master, Flamme, and Flamme’s complete and utter hatred for demons? How they basically embarrass and belittle themselves as mages by hiding their Mana, typically a status symbol among mages and demons alike, just to shatter the pride of demons every chance they get? Frieren being so petty that she not only waits until the last moment to reveal her hand and crush Aura’s spirit, she also doesn’t even kill her herself? Instead telling her to end it LowTierGod style? It was all so very satisfying, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Sure it wasn’t the visual spectacle last week was, and if that’s what you were looking for I understand being a bit let down. But for me, last week satisfied all of my “Pretty lights go brr” desires and while week covered my “Compelling characters and narrative go brr” desires. Learning why there are so few elves, the Demon King systematically eliminated them, or the individualism of the demons and how much they prize it, or Lugner’s utter disgust at figuring out what they were doing. It was a good episode, I enjoyed it a lot, as much as I enjoy watching Frieren struggle with the passage of time seeing her clown on some demons is fun to.

Continue reading “Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 6” →

Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 5

by Lenlo, posted in Weekly Summary

Frieren – 8/9 [Frieren the Slayer/Aura the Guillotine]

Doubling up this week to try and get current with Frieren for these posts. Don’t want y’all waiting a week and not getting anything until the day the next episode comes out. Last weeks episode 8 was solid. The demons got outed and the conflict started in earnest, forcing Stark and Fern to face them on their own. Meanwhile Frieren fled the town to avoid being labeled a guard-killer, but it was pretty obvious she was heading out to deal with this Aura person. I’d say the best parts of this episode were two fold. The first was Lugners aggravation at geniuses and this idea that demons, despite accumulating experience and focusing on this one thing to the exclusion of all else, can still be outdone by beings they consider “lesser”. The other was the reveal of just how much Frieren hates demons, to the point of specifically teaching Fern a demon-killing version of offensive magic and being regarded as the person to kill the most demons in history. It makes her rematch with Qual earlier feel all the more personal. All in all, solid, had a good time.

Continue reading “Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 5” →

Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 4

by Lenlo, posted in Weekly Summary

Hello all! Apologies for any delay, both from this and anything else this weekend. I’m flying home to visit family and that’s not leaving me much time to finish all of these up. Should be back to our normal schedule by Monday!

Frieren – 7 [Like a Fairy Tale]

First up we have Frieren. Unsurprisingly, Frieren is still going strong. It wasn’t an action packed episode or anything, but it gave us another look back into her time with Himmel and, more specifically, her interactions with Demons. I thought this was really interesting. When it started, I expected it to be about Frieren being an old conservative grandma who couldn’t accept that times were changing. That, like how magic passed by the Demon Qual, society was progressing and passing by her. That these Demons did legitimately want piece, resulting in a Tiefling like scenario. I would have been cool with that, show us some flaws! It’s the pretty standard route to go after all, the world becoming more peaceful and such. Really progressive. Instead though Frieren doubles down. Yes Demons do suck, yes they are monsters that operate on a completely different value scale than us. That whole thing in the flashback? With the Demon child wanting to trade one child for another? Of only using the words “Mother” and “Father” because they know humans are emotional and won’t kill them if they do? Or what about Lugner blatantly looking around Graf’s son’s room to build a believable story about his own father being killed by humans to keep the negotiations going? It was all just presented so well, for an episode of basically nothing but talking it was some really good talking. Plus we have the promise of Frieren just going off in the next episode or two, so it’s not like the action isn’t coming up. So yeah. Shocker, another good Frieren episode.

Continue reading “Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 4” →

Fall 2023 Impressions: The Apothecary Diaries

by Lenlo, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Uncategorized

The Apothecary Diaries

Short Synopsis: Maomao lived a peaceful life with her apothecary father. Until one day, she’s sold as a lowly servant to the emperor’s palace. But she wasn’t meant for a compliant life among royalty. So when imperial heirs fall ill, she decides to step in and find a cure! This catches the eye of Jinshi, a handsome palace official who promotes her. Now, she’s making a name for herself solving medical mysteries!

Alright I’ve waited long enough for Dog Signal, we’re just skipping it and bringing this season to a close. So! Apothecary Diaries! How was it? Initial impressions are… fine? I’ll admit to not being as wow’ed by it as I expected to be. It looks nice, but not amazing. The characters are cute, but I haven’t fallen in love with them after 3 episodes, and the balance of chibi to regular designs is… not great for me, they often feel out of place. And the setting? Well it’s just the Chinese Imperial Palace. Apothecary Diaries is promising a lot of things to come, the Emperor has appeared looking for Maomao and Jinshi is slowly involving her in his various plots and schemes. It’s very much billing itself as a slow burn. And with 24 episodes promised, it’s going to get plenty of time to fulfill that promise. For now though? It’s another one on my watch list, but I think there are a number of shows this season that were better, and more compelling, by the 3 episode mark than Apothecary Diaries.
Potential: 60%

Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 3

by Lenlo, posted in Weekly Summary

Fun new note: I have decided to order these recaps from most to least favorite. So anything near the bottom? It’s at risk of getting cut. Just some more fun times I guess.

Frieren – 6 [The Hero of the Village]

Frieren was good this week. It continues to have a fantastic mix of poignant reflection and fun fantasy action. From Frieren reminiscing about the fun and ridiculous parts of their journey, making the elemental dance and stuff, to a rad dragon fight, I had a lot of fun. There were a few things I wasn’t big on, I’m never huge on dick jokes and I don’t think a romance between Fern and Stark will add much to the story. I’m willing to see where it goes, I just don’t want it to take away from Frieren specifically.  Speaking of Stark, I like his motivations for all of this. He isn’t going because he cares for adventure or to stop some great demon or some other tragic thing. He just wants to be able to come back and tell Eisen some stories, like how Eisen told him some during their time together. Even if it’s through another character, I love hearing that Eisen cherished his time adventuring with them, that those 10 years left a memorable mark for him, enough of one to impart it onto someone else. So yeah, good episode, Frieren still going strong.

Continue reading “Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 3” →

Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 2

by Lenlo, posted in Weekly Summary

Hello everyone! Like I said in the last preview, I’m bringing back the weekly summary. These aren’t going to be anywhere near as in depth or long as my normal posts, just me rambling a bit about what else I’m watching this season. I’d wager each will be about a paragraph long. Still, my hope is that these will give everyone a place to talk about the rest of the shows this season. Some of these might have this opening blurb if I have anything to say, like if I have to take a break or something for travel, but most probably won’t. Anyways, announcement out of the way, lets go!

Frieren – 5 [Phantoms of the Dead]

This was a pretty cool episode, and alleviated a fair number of my fears after the big premier. Remember when I said I was concerned about the journey? That as much as I loved the show, I wasn’t 100% on it? Well that was because I was afraid it would become more of an “adventure” and that Frieren would lose sight of what made me love it, the way it examined the passage of time and what it means. Luckily though, that wasn’t the case! Already, one episode in on this journey, and we have a conversation about legacy, grief and how we remember our loved ones. Stuff like Fren saying she would be fine, only to have a harder time facing Heiter’s “ghost” than she thought was nice. Same for Freiren’s almost offended reaction to Himmel’s, as well as even his “ghost” telling her to shoot him. The monster’s own power backfired on it! On top of that we also meet Stark, Eisen’s protégé, like they are almost rebuilding the party they had all those years ago with the next generation. It’s cool, and I’m looking forward it.

To touch on Stark real quick, I’m not huge on him yet. Zenitsu from Kimetsu no Yaiba has made me really wary of “Coward” fighters. And I get that isn’t his thing, he’s not a coward he’s just untested, and even when faced with a dragon he still stood up to it. Plus his relation to Eisen, who has his own past about running away and regretting it, makes it pretty clear he will grow as they journey. He’s also not at all weak, having carved that channel in the mountain, so he won’t hold them back. So it’s not that I hate him, I don’t. I just don’t love him as much as I do Frieren yet, which I think is fair.

Continue reading “Fall 2023 What-I’m-Watching Summary – Week 2” →

Fall 2023 Impressions: Hoshikuzu Telepath, Kawagoe Boys Sing, Whats Left?

by Lenlo, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Hoshikuzu Telepath

Short Synopsis (Anilist): Konohoshi Umika is a high-schooler who is very bad at communicating with others. Feeling almost like an alien trapped on Earth with nowhere to belong, one day she meets a girl who claims to be an actual alien!

Had this just stuck to the girl really really liking aliens then it could have been cute. Instead though Telepath decided to go full social ignoramus, missing even the most basic of social ques with an equally ridiculous secondary girl. This is like Bocchi the Rock all over again, except while both handle their subject of socially challenged kids poorly, one was at least spectacularly animated and produced. Don’t get me wrong, Telepath looks fine, better than a lot of things airing this season actually. But it’s also not the best. It also doesn’t help that while watching it I had to check multiple times to see how close we were to the end, making a 20 minute episode feel like an hour. Maybe I’m just not built for these social outcast shows where the outcasts are always depicted as cute girls with no actual issues and yuri-bait non-romance. Still, I’ve seen enough friends rave about it that I’m willing to accept this is a me thing more than anything else. After all, I praise Bocchi in this very post and I didn’t like that either. Probably just not my thing, if your looking for socially inept children interacting than you will probably have a good time here.
Potential: 5%

Kawagoe Boys Sing

Short Synopsis (Anilist): The story is about the Kawagoe School Boys Choir Club and their instructor, a former orchestra conductor named Haruo Hibiki. The club members’ personalities clash, but Haruo helps them grow together through singing, as they aim for the nationals of the Boys Choir contest.

Ok this might come across as rude, but no matter how good the singing is, the Engrish just completely ruins it for me. Were they singing in Japanese, or had actual English singers like the My Hero Academia Culture Festival, everything would be fine. But as a native English speaker, it makes all of the music sound discordant and amateurish. Pair that with a generally rather annoying teaching and a generic plot and I’m not really feeling any of it.
Potential: 0%

What”s Left

With that we come to the awkward point in the season where there are only 3 shows left to cover and none of them come out anytime soon. So what do we do? Dr. STONE I’m obviously going to be covering, I love it and I want to continue to give it love. But what about Dog Signal and Kusuriya? Well this is my plan. I’m going to wait until both are released, give them their own preview post, and then once all are out I’ll drop the seasonal awards. Between now and then though I’m going to continue the season as normal, posting about the shows I’m watching when I have the time to write them up. I’m also going to try and bring back the Weekly Update, just so y’all can see a bit of what I’m watching outside of my main coverage. Hope everyone enjoys that, I want to spread the content around a bit and this is the best way I can see to do that. Thanks for reading and see y’all throughout the season!

Fall 2023 Impressions: I Shall Survive Using Potions!, Tearmoon Empire

by Lenlo, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

I Shall Survive Using Potions!

Short Synopsis (Anilist): Nagase Kaoru, a 22-year-old office lady, suddenly finds herself reincarnated in another world. To help her survive in this new world, a being that amounts to its god gives Kaoru a younger body and… the ability to make insanely overpowered potions?! The reincarnated Kaoru must use her knowledge and cheatery to survive!

Why is this entire cast just legal lolis? Why is it an isekai when it has no reason to be? Why are we drugging said lolis already? Why does this show exist at all? Seriously skip this, just watch The Apothecary Diaries instead. I know it hasn’t aired yet but I can already tell that it’s going to be the better potion/medicine show. It’s kind of funny to be honest, how this season backloaded all the terrible shit. For a while there I was feeling pretty good about this season.
Potential: To Many Loli’s

Tearmoon Empire

Short Synopsis (Anilist): Twenty-year-old Princess Mia of the Tearmoon Empire, often scorned as the “selfish princess,” was executed by guillotine in a rebellion. Next thing she knew, she awoke in her own twelve-year-old body, with her own blood-stained diary that she kept before she was beheaded sitting next to her pillow. Given a second chance at life, Mia decides to rebuild the empire. For the sake of Tearmoon’s future? To save the people from starvation? For all the soldiers who lost their lives in the civil war? No! Everything she does in this life is for the sake of avoiding the guillotine! “F-For me, this should be a piece of cake!” Thus the useless, cowardly, self-serving princess brings about miracle after miracle in her great struggle to save herself in this altered-history fantasy.

Here we have another weird time travel show sending our lead back into their own past. It’s kind of cute how the MC has absolutely 0 intention of saving her kingdom/people, focused entirely on avoiding her own death. And it is decently well produced. But… I just can’t get into it. We’re at the point in the season where I’ve seen what else is on offer and this just doesn’t do it for me. Maybe if you’re looking for a show about a bratty girl learning to be a better person through osmosis you’ll get some enjoyment out of it. But for me there are better girls, better time travel stories, and better plots to be found in this season.
Potential: 5%

Fall 2023 Impressions: Protocol: Rain, Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig-, A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special

by Lenlo, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Protocol: Rain

Short Synopsis (Anilist): The story centers on Shun Tokinoya, a second-year high school living with his mother and younger sister. After his father’s death in an accident and his sister’s injury, he quit the game he was passionate about, and now works at an esports café called “FOX ONE.” He spends all his time studying and working part-time while hanging out with his childhood gaming friends. Suddenly, he learns that “FOX ONE” has a huge amount of debts. In order to repay the debts, Shun and his friends aim to win the “Xaxerion Championship” and win the prize money. With a sense of guilt, Shun jumps back into the world of online games, and is confronted by Bakuretsu-kun, who used to play the game with him.

I’ll say this for Protocol, as shit as the game looks, PS2 graphics and everything, this is one of the first “Video-game” anime I’ve seen that actually bothered to create a game people might actually play. Like they got the movement down, the poses, the first person perspective. It’s budget CS 1.6. And its depiction of fixing/caring for machines? Not bad. Is that enough to sell/watch an entire show off of? Of course not. But it’s something I can respect and praise. Maybe, if we’re lucky, that will translate into a passion for E-Sports across Protocol’s entire run. Sadly that isn’t enough to get me past a pretty basic “Hobby trauma” story and one-note characters, plus the weak production outside of the game itself. If you have a thing for E-Sports maybe give it a try and see if it clicks with you? I wouldn’t expect much out of it though.
Potential: 1%

Butareba -The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig-

Short Synopsis (Anilist): An unappealing otaku awakens in the body of a pig after he passes out while eating raw pig liver. Pig finds himself in the company of Jess, an innocent girl who can read people’s minds, and she accepts him despite his boorish thoughts… although she does plan to eat him. When Jess is in danger of succumbing to a dark destiny, can Pig save her using only his quick wits, wisdom, and refined sense of smell?

This is about pig-fucking. No I’m not joking, it’s literally just a hot girl lusting after an Isekai protagonist reincarnated as a goddamn pig. She has a collar and everything too. There’s not really much to say beyond that. This show is garbage. It’s literally pig-fucking garbage. Do not watch it. I wish I hadn’t.
Potential: Don’t Fuck a Pig.

A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special

Short Synopsis (Anilist): Another dimension that continues to taint our world, the Shadow World. Humanity is faced with the worst calamity, known as the Shadow Labyrinth. In spite of their desperate attacks, Desir Herrman and his friends lose their battle to the Destruction Dragon, Boromir Napolitan, and the world comes to an end. When Desir is convinced of his end, he opens his eyes… to find himself 13 years in the past. Desir has gone back in time to the enrollment ceremony of Hebrion Academy, the top school for mages in the Empire.

This is the point in seasonal previews where I start to get tired of watching the same shlock over and over again and just get really blunt about things. So here goes: The CGI dragon sucks, nothing about it is particularly visually appealing and I’m just sort of done with school settings. Returner is basically Ragna Crimson, what with its time travel, memories and OP MC, except far less edgier. Maybe to some that’s a bonus. But to me it takes the only bit of teeth, the only thing that made Ragna possibly worth watching, and… scrubs to clean. There’s no meat to this. We have better revenge shows, better time travel shows and better fantasy shows all in this very season. I don’t see why you’d watch this.
Potential: 0%