He is a mecha fanatic, having his entire MyAnimeList profile half-filled to the brim with nothing but mecha anime. Needless to say, someone of this background would naturally defend the genre that defined both his childhood, and his interests in real life. In my defence, I stated the mecha anime’s only selling point is the fact that there are giant robots fighting one another; it is like ordering Frappuccinos in Starbucks - ordering a mostly non-caffeinated drink in a shop well-known for selling coffee.

Caramel Frappuccino | Source: Starbucks

I visit a coffee shop to obtain caffeine, typically in the form of coffee. Hence, it is definitely surprising to me that someone would still buy Starbucks that is not coffee; it’s like using mecha to cover up all the parts that make anime great: the ability to tell impossible stories, bring forth emotions that can’t be portrayed by flesh-and-blood actors, etc.

The mecha genre has such a large reach that most people watch anime from this genre for the sake of looking at the robotic parts - when it boils down to it, the story is just another typical shounen, lacking the substance that highlights the benefits of anime.

86’s story

For every trend, there exist exceptions. 86 is that one rare anime that I can truly respect as an entry befitting anime, as it tells a story otherwise impossible to do with actors. 86 depicts a country with twisted policies that lasted for an entire generation, allowing the plot to hide ugly truths, and pass even the most blatant of lies as absolute.

One of the robots used in 86, alongside the pilot | Source: CVPhased from MechaCatalogue

Take for instance in 86: by policy, humans who are not Albinos are considered livestock, despite being the same species as anyone else. The separation leads to growing tensions between the two parties, and what makes it worse is that the humans considered livestock have to fight to defend the very same country that forsaken them; all these while the Albinos live privileged lives peacefully in the capital. This draws a parallel to some issues in our real world too, particularly in the form of racism in various countries - I’m sure you can figure out where and how it is similar on your own.

Audiovisuals

I have a soft spot for particular characteristics when it comes to anime characters; thankfully, they have illustrated this trait so beloved to me well.

Main Character | Source: Looper

If you don’t know what I’m referring to, then it’s fine; I’m not too biased to it or anything, although I can already hear a particular acquaintance & mecha fanatic of mine screaming baloney.

Due to certain parts of the anime requiring very precise audio & visual synchronisation, furthermore conveying a certain sense of dread, the anime have to had execute audiovisuals well to receive a high score - thankfully, it met my expectations. While it was not the most beautiful art I’ve seen in anime, it gets the job done.

Character Development

You better believe that there were tons of this, characteristic of the first season of any series. The main character experiencing growth would be Vladilena (the MC), although you would also see relationship building (and destroying) that gets one emotionally attached to the characters.

World Building

Depsite 86’s setting that confines the world to a military theatre and a capital of a country, the plot allows greater world building beyond what it should have had access to. Furthermore, after the ending of Season 1, I speculate that the world will open up a lot more for plot reasons. World Building is definitely not its strongest suit, albeit it has no requirement for excellence in this regard.

Conclusion

86 is a mecha anime that also have the substance; it can exist independently from the mecha genre and still be enjoyable to watch. If you are into combat that is 8:1, main character struggles against making friends from an ostracized group, and an immediate heartbreak at the end of the series, I encourage you to give 86 a shot.

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It’s nice being surprised once in a while. Ignoring the fact that Tokyo Revengers have some serious scientific loopholes (like butterfly effect and whatnot) for its time altering plot gimmick, Tokyo Revengers presents a compelling story about a young adult trying desperately to live his life, having almost everything he loves taken away from him.

One day, he is given the opportunity to change his past, and to save the love of his life in middle school. As he takes on the miraculous chance, an entire saga of pain and suffering begins as he discovers what could have been. His dilemmas kept me on the edge of my seat; navigating a life full of painful decisions that could end in the demise of all the friendships he forges.

The characters are extremely diverse, and seem to be going through character development at every possible second - scenes not only change he environment they are in, but also gradually grows the complexity of character interactions, allowing a richer story to take place later on down the road.

This anime leaves a particularly strong memory footprint on me, with a major contributing factor attributed to the surprising cliffhanger at the end of the series. Nevertheless, I recommend the anime wholeheartedly - when watching this anime, I am reminded of Steins;Gate, although the execution and focus is drastically different.

Give it a watch!

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You know what, for what I assumed would be a cookie-cutter harem anime, this sure has some lasting effects.

I think one of the main reasons for this is because of how complete the anime is; The Misfit of the Demon King encompasses all the right factors for story-telling, and goes through arcs in a fast-paced yet understandable manner.

Apart from the main character (due to obvious reasons of being a freaking ancient demon lord), the character building for the main cast was quite exquisite. This combined with the contrast of the main character’s unshakeable ideals makes the anime quite refreshing to watch, even though the OP main character troupe has been replayed across many anime in the recent seasons.

This anime should stick in your mind for a while after you watch it; if you don’t mind watching anime with no inherent value yet enjoyable, add Misfit of the Demon King into your to-watch list.

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Sherlock Holmes is a repeating concept throughout many media, and individually has many interpretations attached to his name. In the context of anime, I am reminded of Aria Holmes Kanzaki from the Hidan no Aria series, an anime I consider a classical fundamental to the action-comedy-romance-school combo genre.

Aria H. Kanzaki illustrated on the Light Novel Cover | Source: Hidan no Aria Fandom Wiki

Aria is a descendent of Holmes, but she inherited none of Holmes’ wit and deduction skills - even in a action-comedy-romance-school combo genre anime, a tribute and interpretation of Sherlock Holmes is formed to better tell the story. However, while most media affectionately draw inspirations from Sherlock Holmes, none of them bat an eye on James Moriarty, who arguably is the most complex character in the tales spun from Sherlock Holmes’ legacy.

Story

In Moriarty the Patriot, we see an interpretation of the prequel to the Sherlock Holmes novel in James Moriarty’s point-of-view. Minor spoilers: James Moriarty is a composite of three individuals; William, Albert, and Louis. These three individuals make up Moriarty’s intellect & cunning, nobility, and combat dexterity respectively. This creates an interesting dynamic between the characters, and opens up some possibilities to deviate from the “boring normal” of the typical Sherlock Holmes storyline.

Despite knowing the events that take place within the novel, “Moriarty the Patriot” creates a compelling story by telling it from a different point-of-view, not to mention the how easy it was to follow the plot thanks to the characters’ clear dialogue with one another.

James Moriarty 'William' | Source: Tumblr

Seeing the perspective of the antagonist of the Sherlock Holmes novels, and his overarching plan to achieve his goals is very refreshing - it made me think about how there is no difference in being overly good and overly evil; everyone is righteous from someone’s point-of-view. The true evil, is being neutral to it all.

Audiovisuals

Good. I mean, what did you expect? This anime is animated by the same studio in charge of Shingeki no Kyojin, Psycho-Pass, and the insanely popular shounen sport animes Haikyuu!! and Kuroko no Basket.

World/Character building

There is no need for world building; they are just locations to house the story. In other words, the locations have no real meaning, and can be replaced by any other city in Great Britain and have no impact to the story. The only exception to this is where the story is situated: in Great Britain - a place where nobility rules over commoners like farmers raising livestock. This is the only world-related thing that matters in the story, further serving as a main motive for James Moriarty; hence, is developed to hell and back in the anime.

It is important for certain characters to remain stagnant in terms of character building, to maintain the integrity of the story. Certain other characters, such as James Moriarty ‘Albert’, go through the typical character growth of resolution after confronting his source of hate.

Conclusion

Hidden gem :gem: which I personally enjoyed way too much; I even ignored my deadlines to binge the anime. Put this anime somewhere at the top of your anime bucket list, I’m sure you won’t regret it!

EDIT: Season 2

As expected, Yuukoku no Moriarty Season 2 brings the story to it’s grand conclusion the best way possible. Maintaining good audiovisuals and captivating character dynamics between Sherlock and Moriarty, I believe that this anime is a :gem: of 2021/22, that not only psychological freaks should watch, but everyone should give a watch, too.

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Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector manages to bring Season 3 to a close via logical storytelling, better-than-before artstyle and easy to understand chorography.

Being in the middle of a series, there is less to be expected of character building and world building, and more of fulfilling the plot points required to move the story forward. Befitting the psychological genre, there are some dilemmas as we explore the newbies of the series, namely Arata, Ignatov and the duo’s dynamic with Maya.

Psycho-pass is a staple for all psychological fans, hence, I would recommend it for anyone trying to complete their portfolio.

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Hey. It seems like I have a backlog of anime to review, but I seriously can’t remember the contents of this anime…

Which reminds me…

What is the point of a forgettable anime anyway?

And hence begins the review of anime via lasting impressions alone.

This one left completely no impression. Don’t bother.

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I’ve repeated this many times over in other reviews, but I do not typically watch romance anime; they’re usually too sappy, or too ecchi for me. However, I have been eyeing Horimiya for a while, especially after receiving recommendations to give it a shot by the online community. For the longest time, I’ve never been able to find an anime I liked enough to also binge the manga.

Synopsis

Horimiya | Source: But why though?

Horimiya is an anime that centers around Hori and Miyamura, two starkly contrasting characters who were able to meet due to a certain incident. In no other circumstances would they have met; Hori is an honors student who was popular and a beauty, while Miyamura was a quiet loner who was distant to everyone in class.

After the certain incident, both Hori and Miyamura stumbled across sides of their characters concealed from the outside world, something none of them have done before; Miyamura has many piercings and tattoos on his body, while Hori was always busy thanks to her housework - these two grew closer to each other as they spent more time with their true selves, leading to interesting and heartwarming events to transpire within the anime.

Opening

I loved the opening for Horimiya - it has some kind of tranquility that I cannot really explain.

Yoh Kamiyama - Irokosui | Source: Melodic Star @ YouTube

Horimiya skips all the fluff in between getting to know each other, to actually being in a relationship within two episodes; this seems to be a deliberate choice, given how unlikely it is to maintain the atmosphere in the scenes otherwise. At first, this felt too rushed; however, I later understood that the relationship has to exist to bring out certain elements that the author is trying to convey - for instance, questioning the stability of the relationship, how it feels to have a 5 day no-interaction gap from the significant other, how does jealousy feel, and so on.

Human-like issues, Human-like solutions

The thing about Horimiya is how natural the individuals felt with their quirks, and how that affects the relationships. For instance, Miyamura is highly self-conscious about his piercings and tattoos, and tries his hardest not to reveal them; this causes him to dress heavily no matter how warm the whether is, which many people worriedly remarks on until it becomes “just a Miyamura thing”.

Miyamura's Tattoos | Source: Pinterest

While employing reasonable solutions to problems, Horimiya is able to somehow turn that into comedy, making it one of the only “comedic” anime that I can truly relate to.

Differences to Manga

For the most part, Horimiya loyally follows the manga. There are some dropped bits here and there, probably to fit the ending of the manga within the (short) timeline of 12 episodes.

One of the biggest dropped events in Horimiya is the sports festival, which will hopefully air in the form of an OVA sometime in the future.

Side-characters

Horimiya isn’t just about a romance between two characters; it is also about the two characters’ interaction with the other people around them. The cast of side-characters helps the audience take a breather to observe a fresh interaction apart from those by Hori and Miyamura, which develops the story, context and scenario. The results of these interactions are then used as a plot device to strengthen a concept later on down the road, or highlight the emotions of a particular scene; a good example of this would be the last episode of Horimiya.

Tooru, Yui & Sakura | Source: Rabujoi

Ending

It can be said that the whole series is slowly building up towards the ending of Horimiya; unlike other romance anime, where the series ends after the main character engages one of the possible heroines, Horimiya is about building a rock-solid relationship from interest to engagement. From all the little details in each episode, to all the actions performed by the characters, we see and understand how and why the ending is achieved.

Conclusion

Horimiya is something I enjoyed while highly fatigued; yet, it was able to lift my mood, and conveyed emotions in a way I can only hope to one day feel in my life. Of all the romance-highschool-comedy anime I’ve ever watched, I think Horimiya tops them all, including over Bunny Girl Senpai.

There is probably likely never going to be an anime that can blow my expectations out of the water - after I watched the first few episodes, I realized that I was craving to watch the next episode. After also reading the manga, I daresay that Horimiya is the :gem: of Winter 2021.

This must go on top of your to-watch list; I highly encourage you to give Horimiya a watch.

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Having watched the first season a while back (in 2016), I’ve let the initial hype of Re:Zero die within me. What originally hooked me from the first season was how unique the main character’s struggle is, which is a result of the unique setting created for the story. Everything else, from the story’s conflicts, to how the main character overcomes them eventually is, well, bland, at most.

Season 2

This is a season that develops story elements and characters, finally introducing the “fabled” ones from Season 1, developing Beatrice and our most mysterious Roswaal. The season also gives us a glimpse into the inner workings of Subaru through a bunch of well-placed story-supported flashbacks.

Unfortunately, this is the one season that lacks the “punch” required for me to give it a higher rating - there is no significant event that would make me go around to recommend this to anybody. While it is true that a deeper lore is established between the characters through Subaru’s restarts, often changing who the suspected villain and ally groups are, the season lacks the defining moment that is the climax of a story arc.

I know that this season is only a “Part 1” - there is still a “Part 2” coming soon. Hence, it might be fairer to judge the season as a whole after also watching Part 2 - for now, objectively judging the anime that is considered “complete” according to MyAnimeList, “Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season” has been mighty underwhelming to watch.

Season 2 Part 2 PV | Source: YouTube

Update: Season 2 Part 2

Part 2 fixed some issues I had with Part 1 - I henceforth dub this part the “answerer of all questions”, in theme with Echidna’s witch power. The conflict in the last season involving Beatrice finally gets resolved within this Part. Many questions were also answered, including Roswaal’s involvement, Beatrice’s connection to Roswaal through the gospel, and why the whole conflict was even happening in the first place. If Season 2 Part 1 was the “question enticer” of Season 2, then Season 2 Part 2 is the best possible pairing to conclude the season.

I believe that Re:Zero is closing on the end of the whole series post-Season 2; let’s see where it takes us.

Conclusion

I cannot recommend a “must-watch” for “Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season” - at least not in its current form. The key is Part 2 - if done right, Part 1 can be justified as having the necessary pre-requisite story, character and scene developments required for a impactful climax.

EDIT: While I still think “Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season” isn’t a must watch, I believe that it deserves to have a higher priority in your bucket list compared to an anime like Jujutsu Kaisen within Winter 2021. Take that recommendation however you will!

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Despite being the most generic anime ever with the most generic setting ever, making it seem like a clone of Naruto than anything else, the anime is somehow popular enough to receive one of the highest ratings in this season.

And I’m really confused as to why; but:

Audiovisuals

I’m going to put this section first because it’s important. Have you seen the ED for Jujutsu Kaisen?

Jujutsu Kaisen ED | Source: YouTube

This thing slaps; this is an ED that makes you forget that the anime leaves cliffhangers that make you itch for more. Apart from the opening and the ending, the visuals didn’t particularly stand out too much otherwise; which is good given that most of the action happens in the visuals and story.

Story

Being a shounen anime, the story isn’t particularly interesting compared to other anime within the same genre. That being said, this generic shounen anime is a good model for future anime to follow; being in an over-saturated genre, keeping viewer’s interest is an increasingly difficult endeavour.

What this anime does well is pacing and consistency: training arcs feel reasonable, the speed at which the characters move are consistent with their mentioned abilities, and powers are explained in an easy to understand manner.

However, there are many part of the stories where I subconsciously compare the anime to Naruto, due to how similar the characters are. For instance, Itadori can be compared to Naruto: they both rush into situations without much thought, are natural airheads and have a “beast” within them with a crazy amount of power.

Jujutsu Characters | Source: SuperDelivery

Gojou Satoru looks like Kakashi, has a similar aloof attitude to things, quite well-known in their respective worlds, and serves as a overseer for the “beast” lurking in Itadori/Naruto. While some characters are generic, there are also new personalities added into the mix; for example, there is Panda who is not a human, Toge who has unique speech due to his ability circumstance, and so on.

A mix of “known” characters alongside “fresh” ones gives the story some level of engagement that keeps the viewers interested in the characters’ interactions.

This season introduces a large portion of the world, its context, and their standards. From explaining the tiers of curses to how they can be dispel, to the different levels of Jujutsu Sorcerers and how they are paired to a situation, to the constraint of manpower, a ton of information is being pumped to the users at a time. Luckily, the anime does this well - information is presented in tidbits, only when they are required to explain situations within the scene.

Conclusion

Jujutsu Kaisen is a generic shounen anime that is well-executed and interesting to watch. However, this season of anime has a bunch of other anime more worth your time; hence, you should only watch Jujutsu Kaisen during a content drought.

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Story

Using the concept of gaming as a base, Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun follows Tomozaki-kun, a god at a brawl game, as he plays through the game of life as the lowest-possible-tier character. The game of life requires social interaction, which many people, including myself, is completely inept at wielding competently; for Tomozaki-kun, who has no friends, and no life outside of gaming, social interaction is a skill he kept at level 0 since he was born.

After an offline meeting with NO-NAME, they discover that they come from the same school, and the god player of the brawl game is a loser in real life. Determined to change this, both Tomozaki and Aoi decided to try and raise Tomozaki’s level, at least to the level where he can get a girlfriend by the end of summer.

An interesting concept aside, I personally believe that chemistry is important when trying to pair ideas together. Gaming + romance is something that has been explored to death in other forms, such as the case in The World God Only Knows, or High Score Girl. Hence, I couldn’t help but feel like the combination has become closer to being cliché than novel.

The anime is systematic in ensuring its viewers understand the story flow within the first two episodes; Aoi writes goals that Tomozaki should try and achieve before any conflict could even arise in the story, and comes back to this board regularly to check on Tomozaki’s progress. This creates a clear path for the storyline that is difficult to deviate from, which makes some conversations within the story quite awkward and forced, albeit that might be the writer’s goal.

Later on in the story, Tomozaki breaks out of these systematic goals and decides to just be himself for a while, restoring a factor of unpredictability that all anime should have.

Characters in Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun | Source: Tiwitter @myanimelist

Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun is, at the moment, an incomplete story; by observing how the plot is progressing, there is probably a whole deal more that the story authors are planning, such that “multiple routes” become available eventually. Abducting backwards, this means that the plot progression is slow, which is a norm for high school romance anime where the main protagonist is a social recluse.

Nevertheless, viewing the beginnings of a romance anime is still relatively enjoyable, despite some portions of the anime being difficult to watch due to how stale or awkward they were - I hope this is all just part of the setup towards something greater in the future.

Character Development

The series is at the beginning, so there is not much character development among all the characters. The two exceptions to this rule would be Tomozaki himself, and Nanami - both of which grew significantly within this first season. Tomozaki is an obvious case, considering the entire anime surrounds him stepping out of his comfort zone to try out the game of life, while Nanami, on the other hand, gets over her inferiority complex as she tries to fight against her rival.

Character development is an important aspect in an anime with little to no world-building, and a almost-stagnant plot progression, as it is the only factor that engages the viewers.

Audiovisuals

Not going to lie, the main character looks a lot like me: ugly and a sore sight no matter where he goes. Otherwise, the visuals are pretty, and the audio doesn’t get in the way; I’d say that’s good enough.

Conclusion

At the moment, Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun is a mediocre anime. Perhaps it’ll get better as new seasons are released, but it shouldn’t be at the top of your to-watch list, unless that list is empty. I’ll look out for what the next season (if any) brings!

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