Summer 2024 Impressions: Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord’s Army, Suicide Squad Isekai, My Wife Has No Emotion

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

The Strongest Magician in the Demon Lord’s Army Was a Human

Short Synopsis: Literally the show’s title.

Amun: First premiere of the new season, hooray! Usually the first show premiering is a steaming pile of poor animation or fanservice, but is this season any different? The answer is….kinda. Maogun was about as standard a premiere as you could ask for. Truthfully though, that puts it head and shoulders above any other season first premieres that I can remember. Hey, at least it’s not an isekai, right? We have a standard overpowered OP with a dark secret that only the big boobed boss knows….well and this random maid who just found out. Okay, whatever. There’s a pig henchman and then a demon queen who is on about something. I don’t really love the character designs though – there have been more shows that do this, with the heavier outlines. This more comes down to execution and that’s something I am absolutely not convinced Studio A-CAT can continue for a full season. Think of this as an old, used Honda Civic – it’ll be sorta fun to drive until the wheels fall off.
Potential: 25%

Lenlo: While Maogun isn’t quite as bad as I was expecting, I think Amun is overstating its quality a bit. It’s still a rather dull and by the books OP MC fantasy story. I suppose the whole “Hiding his identity” thing would be interesting, if it wasn’t immediately revealed that others are aware of who he is, taking a lot of wind from Maogun’s sails so to speak. Meanwhile visually Maogun is primarily mediocre CGI with poor lighting and a heavy reliance on after effects for the spells. There’s just… very little of interest here, and while that places it above most Isekai slop we get, it’s still not worth my time.
Potential: 10%

Suicide Squad Isekai

Short Synopsis: DC Suicide Squad villains are sent to a new world!

Amun: (Note, I’m only going to discuss the first episode, although I know 3 premiered immediately). Let’s keep this simple: “Suicide Squad Isekai” didn’t have a great start. My complaints: first, Harley’s fight with whoever that ninja was felt really weird – the finishing blow just felt odd in perspective. Secondly, the entire episode felt rushed and confused – tons of time was spent on showing the Joker, only for him to be seemingly absent from the rest of the show (although I love the inclusion of his car). Third, the animation wasn’t as crisp as it needs to be for an action heavy show like this. I KNOW Wit can do better. Finally, and this is probably the most concerning point, I didn’t feel that the tone of the DC Suicide Squad was well integrated with the isekai setting. Suicide Squad is about the irreverent “bad guys killing other bad guys for good reasons” with humor and style. “Suicide Squad Isekai” more felt like super powered prisoners were set free in a fantasy land. And I mean, that would be a fine premise, but we know these characters already – it just felt like hearing a song you love, trying to like it, but they’re hitting the wrong notes just slightly. Maybe the show will improve, but I’m honestly really disappointed.

(Episode 2 update: while the first episode is cheeks, episode 2 was way more fun. Maybe this could turn out okay?)
Potential: 30% (after 2, 50%)

Lenlo: After watching Suicide Squad I feel that it’s safe to say, as a comic book fan, that it’s best to go into this expecting a regular Isekai with a DC aesthetic rather than an actual exploration of these characters in any interesting fashion. If you wanted to see Harley Quinn in a fantasy world in any way other than visually, SSI simply is not for you. It has no idea who they are beyond the surface level and some catch phrases like “Puddin”. However if you just want to watch a hot blonde psychopath and her “friends” make media references and murder their way through a fantasy world, this will probably be right up your alley. And honestly, visually? I don’t think it looks that bad. It doesn’t move that well, like Amun says the animation isn’t very crisp and I’ve seen Wit do better, but I kind of like the designs and how colorful it all is, sometimes at least. If I rate this on a scale of Harley Quinn stories, it’s not shaping up to be very good. If I rate it on the scale of Isekai in general however… Well that’s a much more favorable comparison if you ask me. Suffice to say, I’m going to finish watching the other 2 episodes and probably a bit more before/if I drop it.
Potential: 40%

My Wife Has No Emotion

Short Synopsis: An exhausted salaryman gets a robot maid and swiftly falls in love with her.

Mario: Boy this is tough to sit through. For me, the problematic part of this premise is not about him falling in love with a robot (which of course is a can full of worms), but the very idea that the “perfect wife” image is the one who cooks for you and does the household chores… and refers to you with the honorific “-sama”. It’s just a blatant wish fulfillment cranked up to 11. Adding to that is a very generic male lead whose name I immediately forget as soon as I hear it. He doesn’t have much of a personality, really. Just look at his apartment and you don’t see anything that reflects his hobby or characteristics. But I guess he’s human enough to… have a boner when a humanoid girl sleeps next to him. The fact that the titular robot is emotionless but somehow 10 times more interesting than him speaks to that. Sorry but I don’t buy this relationship at all.
Potential: Nope. Does this show deserve three reviews written for it? Nope nope.

Amun: This premiere was lowkey disturbing. Not on the level of Goblin Slayer or anything, but yeah, this was not enjoyable. I looked into it and the source comes from 2019, somewhat at the beginning of the current AI boom. Given today’s advancements with humanoid robots (props to showing the extensive charging sequences) and LLMs like ChatGPT, My Wife Has No Emotion isn’t a cute comedy, but more of a dystopian nightmare. There was just way too much discomfort and awkwardness this episode, ignoring that this could very well become reality within the next decade. Of course, we have the obligatory ghosts in the machine, where the AI exhibits functionality beyond programmed behaviour – could it be, gasp, alive?! I do have to give props for that clock animation (that’s on point). Plus, there is also no way on earth that having a robot sleep in your bed doesn’t smell like oil. Yeah – this is disturbing. No more of this for me, thanks.
Potential: Absolutely not. Why do they keep making tradwife anime weirder and weirder?

Lenlo: I don’t know what I find more depressing, the idea of live-in tradwife sex robots, or the idea that this guy works what looks to be 12-hour days just to get home, crash, and do it all over again. Anyways, Amun has the right of it in that this show isn’t wholesome or cute at all and instead rather creepy. Weebs and Neets are already too afraid to go outside and talk to the opposite sex, do we really need to encourage it with things like demure robot wives who do anything you say? Maybe the show goes somewhere with it and gives her a personality, does the thing where it chastises him for falling in love with an appliance and that a true and fulfilling romance can only come from another sentient being reciprocating those emotions with their own free will. The emotions bit at least definitely seems to be what My Wife is gunning for judging by this first episode. That’s enough for me to not write it off completely like Amun, as there’s clear potential there. But I can’t say I’m particularly hopeful for it, just going by Japan’s track record.
Potential: 1%

Wind Breaker Anime Review – 69/100

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Wind Breaker

Delinquents are a pretty common sight in anime. From classic Shounen like Yu Yu Hakusho to more modern series like Tokyo Revengers, we get plenty of them every year. So standing out amongst the crowd can be pretty difficult for a show like this. Do you get weird with it like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Season 4? Or more heartfelt and personal, like Great Teacher Onizuka? Regrettably, most shows never really figure that out. Whatever they try, most fall short and aren’t able to separate themselves from the pack. Well today I’m here to talk about one that manages to do just that, though only barely. A delinquent battle shounen that tries its best to fly and, by the end, is able to fly on its own. Originally created by Satoru Nii, animated and adapted by Cloverworks, directed by Toshifumi Akai, and with music by Ryou Takahashi and produced by Shinji Yamauchi, I give you… Wind Breaker.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Wind Breaker. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Wind Breaker Anime Review – 69/100” →

Viral Hit Anime Review – 51/100

by Lenlo, posted in Finished Series: Action, Viral Hit

How familiar are you with the Creator Clash? That boxing event hosted by iDubbbz where various content creators box each other. Ever heard of that? Well remove the rules and the stage, remove the big names and huge payouts, move the entire thing to Seoul, South Korea and suddenly you have Kenka Dokugaku aka Viral Hit. Originally created by Tae-Jun Park, animated by studio Okuruto Noboru, directed by Masakazu Hishida and with music by Yutaka Yamada, Viral Hit is about Ho-Bin Yoo’s quest to make money by fighting random punks in his community and livestreaming it on YouTube I mean NewTube, pulling himself up the social ladder along the way. Does that sound interesting? Do you want to watch knock-off LeafyIsHere get into a fist fight with Korean Logan Paul and slowly fall in love with fighting? Then read on, because that description is about the best sell Viral Hit gets.

Be warned, this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for Viral Hit. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. Continue reading “Viral Hit Anime Review – 51/100” →

Guest Post: Unearthed Baubles with Firechick – Air (Visual Novel) 68/100

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews

Nostalgia can be a funny thing. One of the first anime I watched fansubbed was Air, and back then, I didn’t know it was based on a video game. I didn’t even know what visual novels were at the time. I did really enjoy the anime for what it was to the point where I bought the DVDs for it, and even though it’s been years since I’ve last seen it, I remember it pretty vividly. But the original visual novel was never localized in English in any official capacity, but there were a few fan translations that were made over the years. As of now, I’ve managed to play one of them in its entirety, specifically the PSP port thanks to finally learning how to use emulators on my PC. Though in light of the fact that after almost 25 years, Key announced that Kanon is finally getting released in the US in English, I think it’s only a matter of time before Air gets this treatment since most of Key’s other games were released in English as well. Plus, I have been curious about how the original visual novel for Air is compared to the anime, especially since games tend to be longer than their TV adaptations, resulting in a lot of things getting cut. Now that I’ve finished the visual novel…well, let me put it this way: As you grow up, you can find yourself either liking something you watched/read/played just as much as you did back when you were a kid, realize it’s not as good as you thought it was, or appreciate it even more than when you first encountered it. Air as a visual novel is an interesting piece of gaming history and an important game in Key’s legacy but…honestly, it made me appreciate the anime adaptation much more.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Baubles with Firechick – Air (Visual Novel) 68/100” →

Summer 2024 Season Preview

by SuperWooper, posted in Seasonal Previews

Lenlo: Hello all, welcome to our first Season Preview since my retirement from consistent content! I told you things would still happen, just not on a weekly schedule. Well this is the first of that! And as if in celebration, both Amun and Wooper are here to help me out. So go ahead and take a look at what you can expect from the Summer 2024 season!

Wooper: Poll’s at the bottom this time, folks – it’s cleaner that way! Once you’ve voted, don’t miss Lenlo’s post on what else you can expect from the blog in the coming weeks and months.

 

Middling Expectations

Quality Assurance in Another World

Studios: 100studio, Palette
Director: Kei Umabiki
Series composition: Shougo Yasukawa
Source: Manga

The Premise: A debugger attempts to fix a poorly programmed JRPG from inside the game, even after all his co-workers have given up.

Wooper: I am a board-certified isekai hater, but something about this show caught my eye as I was combing through the upcoming seasonal chart. At first it was the poster, with its stocky red-haired protagonist and nightmarish blob monster, both of which are nice departures from the genre’s myriad Kirito lookalikes and Dragon Quest-aping slimes. Then it was curiosity about the director, whose experience working on comedies like Gintama and Iruma-kun may serve him well on a series that, based on the PV, understands just how silly it is. Unfortunately, the same PV reveals Quality Assurance to be a visually modest affair, so if the writing fails to elevate its “stuck in a video game” premise, this thing will swiftly be forgotten. I’m hoping, though, that the conceit of someone trying to debug a crappy MMO from within will allow for some amusing metacommentary. Usually I’m punished for my optimism when it comes to this subgenre, but maybe this time will be different?

Lenlo: Like Wooper, this being an Isekai has caused it to immediately lose most of my interest. And unlike Wooper, I’m actually not a fan of Gintama and Iruma-kun, so the director didn’t catch my interest much either. But watching the PV… That “dragon” design, and the world at large, did. It doesn’t feel like Quality Assurance is taking itself too seriously, is willing to have some fun with it and not have all the usual isekai tropes, which is probably for the best. I’m not expecting much, but like Wooper, it’s at least earned me checking it out.

Amun: Iruma-kun catching strays (I still love you). I’ll be watching this.

Continue reading “Summer 2024 Season Preview” →

What’s Cooking

by Lenlo, posted in Special Articles

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since my last post here announcing my semi-retirement. Now that we’ve all had some time to digest that, and I’ve been able to rest and get some of my energy for writing back since I’m not stuck doing 4 posts a week, I wanted to let you know about a few things coming down the pipe. I know some of you were worried that the site would end entirely, so let this be a public notice that we’re still here, and I’m still writing. Just not weekly.

Within the Week

First up is something I’ve seen a lot of people clamoring for and hoping we keep doing, and that’s the Seasonal Previews. Well don’t worry, because we’ve actually almost got the Summer 2024 Seasonal Preview ready to go, with only a few more blurbs left to write. You can expect that sometime this weekend most likely, early next week at the latest. Additionally, I do still plan to cover the First Impressions of the Summer season. It’s a lot, but that’s actually pretty fun for me and I’m looking forward to it. I assume Wooper and maybe Amun will join me on that as per usual, so look forward to that as well when the Summer season starts.

2-4 Weeks Out

After the Season Preview I also have a few reviews I’m working on for a couple of Spring shows. Since I’m not writing weekly posts, I’m actually able to prepare these in advance, meaning I should be able to get all 4 (That’s right, 4) out in a pretty reasonable time. You can probably expect one a week once the season has ended. I won’t spoil what shows these are, since that’s part of the fun, I’m just letting you know that they are on their way!

1 Month or More

Finally we have the long term posts, the sort of unique articles I’ve been wanting to do for a while but never had the time for. These are akin to the I watched Black Clover so you don’t have to post I made back in 2020, big, chunky things that don’t really fit into our normal content. Because these are big and chunky, as well as hyper specific, they take a tad more time to write. As such, I don’t really have a set date for when you can expect these to go up. Suffice to say though, I’m actively working on them between reviews. As for what those posts are, here are my working titles for the two I have in production right now:

My Hero Academia – The Life of a Super Hero (Series) – A look back at how My Hero Academia started, what inspired it, where it went, and the author behind it all, Kohei Horikoshi

The 4 (8?) Forms of Ancient Greek Love, Using Anime – Analyzing the various words/forms of Greek love using anime, as inspired by Vinland Saga

Both of these posts are still in the preproduction phase for me, I’m blocking them out and researching them. I expect the Greek love one to be done first, simply because it requires much less research than the Horikoshi one, but who knows. Don’t hold your breathe on these, I’m still figuring out how long it takes me to write this sort of stuff. Just know they are out there being worked on.

So yeah, the blogs not dead! I promised it wouldn’t be and that we would instead be shifting to more irregular content, and I’m sticking to that mission statement. Thanks for coming along for the ride and I hope you enjoy what I have cooking!

Guest Post: Unearthed Treasures with Firechick – Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette (95/100)

by Lenlo, posted in Anime Reviews

The year was 2007. It was around that time that I was really starting to dip my toes deeper into the anime fandom beyond just Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or whatever was airing on TV. I was browsing some anime websites, and a promo picture for a new anime called Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette caught my eye. It looked interesting and I wanted to watch it…but at the time, little to no fansubs for it existed, and the few people that saw the anime hated it, dismissing it as a watered down version of the original novel right out of the gate. Back then, I wasn’t familiar with the original Victor Hugo novel Les Miserables, but I watched the few episodes that received subs and I liked it a lot. But Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette wouldn’t receive completed fansubs until 2011 (Thanks, Licca Fansubs!!), around the time I started college. During that time, I learned that Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette was actually made as an attempt to revive the World Masterpiece Theater franchise, which was notable for adapting Western children’s novels into Japanese animation, from the early 70s up to 1997, then from 2007-2009. Unfortunately, the attempt to revive WMT failed, and since Konnichiwa Anne ended, no new WMT anime have been made. Which is a damn shame in my opinion, because as of this writing, I’ve seen a good majority of the WMT, this anime included. While I do consider Dog of Flanders to be better, I’m thankful that I got to watch Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette, because it introduced me to the WMT as a whole and was one of the anime that helped refine my personal tastes. And because, honestly? Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette is pretty damn amazing. I did review this when the fansubs finished, but looking back, my old review for it is pretty overly fangirly and not up to standard with how my reviews are now, so I’m writing a new one.

Continue reading “Guest Post: Unearthed Treasures with Firechick – Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette (95/100)” →

State of the Blog – We need to talk

by Lenlo, posted in Special Articles

Hello everyone, Lenlo here. Lets talks, about the state of the blog, the state of my life, and where things are going. Or well, I’m going to talk, y’all are going to read.

As many of you have noticed, posts have been slowing down for a while now. I’m months late on things like the 2023 Anime of the Year, as well as the Dr. STONE S4 and Undead Girl Murder Farce reviews. Some of you also probably figured out those were never happening. Well I’m here to talk about why, as well as the future of the blog. Simply put, I’m tired. So very tired. I’ve been doing this for almost 7 years at this point, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot! I remember every single series I’ve covered, and I valued every comment. But… I just don’t have the energy for it anymore. Not only can I not handle 3-5 posts a week on top of my  regular life, watching anime in this way, looking for things to praise or criticize, taking notes as I watch it… it’s ruining my enjoyment of them. I can’t do it anymore. So… I’ve decided to follow the rest of the writers and retire, from weekly posts at least.

What does this mean for the site? Well for starters, it’s not necessarily the end. I’ll still write the occasional review or post that interests me, I do still enjoy writing the larger reviews, but I’m going to do it on my time, as I naturally finish a series, without any weekly posts or other deadline considerations to worry about. I’ll also continue to post any guest reviews, such as Firechick’s, for as long as I am able. But basically this means all weekly, almost daily, content is coming to an end for the site. Everything else, we’ll see. As for how long this will go on for, the server is paid for until 2025, so at the very least it will remain up for another 18 months. All the old reviews, all the posts, the comments, those will all stay up until the end of next year. Once that time runs out I’m going to evaluate where we’re at and decide whether or not to pay for the server for another year.

So yeah… That’s the news. I talked it over with the other writers in the discord, and they support my decision. They understand that some day, all things must end. That every dreamer must wake. And while I tried to put it off, I held on to this place as best I could, it’s my time. Effective immediately, for the sake of my own mental health as I finish this last busy summer semester of my Master’s degree, I am retiring. I apologize for the series left half-finished, for the incomplete weekly roundups. I might, hell I probably will, write a review for a couple of them. But those will come out on my own time. So until then, chat with you in discord whenever I can, and I’ll see you around space cowboy.

Ranger Reject – 7 [The Zigzag Road to the Final Exam!]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Ranger Reject

Welcome all, to another episode of Ranger Reject! This week continues the exam, revealing the true secret behind it and driving our cast to conflict, meanwhile in the background a greater threat is beginning to arise. Pretty ominous right? Well lets dive in and talk about it!

Starting with the test itself, the reveal that this wasn’t actually designed to test pairs of two but full teams of five was really interesting. Suddenly a seemingly impossible test designed to fail everyone instead becomes a measure of leadership, team work, and judgement on who you team up with. I still wouldn’t call it perfect, the way Ranger Reject presented it last episode was still very flawed, but this episode was a valiant recovery and may end up saving the arc for me. Shion’s betrayal despite everything Fighter D did for him yesterday, the way Fighter D is slowly building up his team of rejects to steal back the keys they need, as well as everything else going on in the background, was all around pretty good. It still suffers a bit from pacing, but not nearly as badly as the previous episode.

Continue reading “Ranger Reject – 7 [The Zigzag Road to the Final Exam!]” →

Kimetsu no Yaiba S4 – 3 [Fully Recovered Tanjiro Joins the Hashira Training!!]

by Lenlo, posted in Currently Watching:, Kimetsu no Yaiba

Welcome all, to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! For how simple the premise is, how little promise the arc seems to have, I’m enjoying myself a shocking amount. It’s nice coming back and seeing these characters again, spending time understanding who they are and what they think of the current situation. It’s what the series needed! I just can’t believe we actually got it. What do I mean? Well lets dive into the episode and find out.

All things considered, this was a pretty straight forward training episode. Tanjiro returned, we caught back up with Uzui and saw what he was putting the Demon Slayers through, had a motivational speech, then moved on to the next Hashira. Nothing big happened, no fights or major revelations, just Tanjiro getting to show off how far he’s come and how great the difference is between him and a regular Demon Slayer. So why am I so happy with it? Well that’s simple, Yaiba executed a basic premise very well. Rather than being about empowering our lead, making him stronger, it was about how our lead can empower and raise up those around him. It showed us the nameless, faceless mooks and made it clear that, even if we don’t see them at the final battle, they will be there. Doing their part.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S4 – 3 [Fully Recovered Tanjiro Joins the Hashira Training!!]” →