Anime Review: My Awkward Senpai

 

I went in really wanting to love "My Awkward Senpai", but came out very lukewarm on it. Office romance is such a rare genre as far as anime goes, so I hoped this one could be added to my list of faves. However, outside the titular senpai, I found the cast to be very bland and the episodic stories were extremely tropey and unoriginal, while also not really capturing just how marvelously cute, charming, and awkward the senpai mc girl is. It could be in part because the animation quality, or the directing, but the series just felt super underwhelming. The most offensive thing to me though was that the male MC was just extremely boring and I couldn't for the life of me think of why the Senpai ever became attracted to him in the first place, outside of him just being a hard worker??; I read the first few chapters of this manga, and I feel like he was more devilish there, teasing Senpai and trying to monopolize her cuteness to himself. That just didn't come across at all in the anime, and now looking back, I question whether or not he was that kind of character in the manga to begin with. Was I reading a different series??? Maybe I only read the original web version? Did I read the right one...?? They got her eyes right in at least a couple of shots, but in the manga, everything is black and white, but her eyes are full color, and full of life - this didn't really come across well in the anime, especially with everything else in color too. She just looked like another anime girl with weirdly colored eyes. They got her accent done really well though!

I'd give this a 5/10 I think... might look into reading the manga, since I do want to see more of her.

Mii-chan Wants to Be Kept: Vol. 1 Manga Review

Cat/Girls are cute too

I’m a sucker for cute anime cat-girls, but Mii-chan isn’t exactly what I was expecting...

In this series by Waka Takase, our protagonist Natsume-kun, works in a supermarket, where he gets pushed around by the ladies at his job; but, he’s generally a good guy who’ll pitch in and help out when things get tough – as a result, he’s always exhausted and burnt out.

One day, on his way home, he takes in a stray black cat for the night, even though his building doesn’t allow pets. When he wakes up in the morning, he finds the cat’s gone, but an extremely beautiful (buck-naked) black-haired girl is sleeping in his bed.

The series is only mildly NSFW

As it turns out, Mii-chan, is a seventeen year old runaway cat/girl, who is a human during the day, but turns into a cat at night. The details have yet to be really explained; is it a curse? Is it just in her nature? Not too sure. Will I read on to find out more? Probably.

I really enjoyed the book for the first 90% of the volume. The interactions between the two main characters are pretty funy. Mii-chan’s cute, and the MC dude’s not annoying (honestly the most important thing in any of the manga where the MC is meant to be a self-insert protag). It’s also really funny how he’s got such a soft spot for Mii-chan as a cat, but is really hard on her in her human form.

<<Moderate spoilers for the end of volume 1 to follow, but I think it might affect whether some people pick this book up.>>

Toward the end of the volume, Mii-chan has a conversation with another Cat/Girl, and in that conversation, it’s revealed that one aspect of their “affliction” is that unless they have sex with a guy before they turn 18 they’ll eventually be stuck in their Cat form forever…

I’m generally not too stuck up about stuff like this, but this seemed so contrived and deliberate I got a bit annoyed – especially since the MC is in his early twenties; maybe the age-gap tension will turn into a plot point. I guess it’s always possible Mii-chan chooses to stay with Natsume-kun, but in her cat form, since he’s pretty obviously got a thing for cats. Who knows? I think that’d be kind of a funny possibility. I’m interested enough to see how it plays out that I’ll probably pick up the rest as it comes out. So far, Japan has 3-ish volumes worth of chapters and the manga is still ongoing.

This is one of those weird series where I enjoyed it, but the hook might make it super annoying. Also makes it very hard to recommend, so if this is your kind of jam, go for it.

Volume 2 is due out in August.

Mii-Chan Wants to Be Kept is published by Seven Seas Entertainment.

Purchase at Barnes & Noble for $13.99

Manga Review: "I Don't Know Which Is Love" vol.1

I don't know if this is the only harem yuri series that exists...

but it's the only one I think I've ever read.

I'm a sucker for cute romance series. So, when I saw that we were getting a light-hearted new yuri series from Yen Press I decided I had to pick it up. I'd say I'm a pretty big fan of the harem romcom genre to be honest, since I grew up on a steady diet of Tenchi Muyou and the like. So, the idea of a yuri harem series intrigued me. I did a quick google search for "yuri harem manga" and couldn't really find much - certainly nothing on my shelves. So, this would be a first for me.

The plot for this one: In high school, Mei was in love with a girl who left her when she found a boyfriend, now in college, Mei is determined to get a girlfriend. I'd say the struggle in this is going to be making JUST ONE girl happy, because from her first day of school Mei already has a sea of admirers, each of whom falls for a differnet aspect of Mei based on the five senses.

There's:

Riri Shirosawa, a fellow freshman, who's also a pin-up idol, but is very shy, and doesn't like being surrounded by men. She's soft, and squishy, and loves holding Mei's hands. 

Next up:

Maria Todomeki - she's a teacher in the psychology department who becomes Mei's advisor. She's great at reading body langauage, and especially likes looking at all of Mei's different adorable reactions to things. She's got that mommy-energy too, which Mei might be a bit into.

Then we've got:

Minato - she's a bit boyish and works in the cafe (reminds me a lof of Kashima a.k.a. "The Prince" from Nozaki-kun) She's a couple years older and Mei's senpai. She's an audio tech for the drama club - and she's really into sound; bordering on ASMR fetishist. She falls for Mei's voice

Also:

Karin Ajima, also of the drama department! She's an actress, but only as a hobby. She's also really into taste: especially the taste of girls lips - she's very, very kissy and aggressive. How in the world is Mei going to fend off her advances?? 

Lastly:

There's Kaoru - who's got a very good nose. She's going to be Mei's roommate in the dorms. She hates the smell of fabric softener, but loves the smell of Me (I can't believe I just wrote that sentece). She's a bit silly, but also smart; strict, but fair. Seems like a really nice senpai to have around.

And thus the stage is set for an epic battle for Mei's heart.

I was delighted by volume 1 of this series. I went in knowing nothing about it other than yur+harem, but what I got out of it far exceeded my expectations. All the characters are fun, and the art is really great. Mei's blushing, normy-in-distress vibe is a perfect compliment to each of the over the top characters gunning for her heart. 10/10 for a volume 1. I'll be eagerly awainting volume 2! Looking forward to reading more from Tamamushi Oku! You can give them a follow on twitter @tama_64.

"I Don't Know Which Is Love" is published by Yen Press and comes out on August 22nd! (probably in your local book store already!!)
Retail price is $13.00
Find it at your preferred retailer, none of these are affiliate links, I just want you to buy this book!
Barnes & Noble 

Right Stuf

Amazon

Manga Review: "Run Away With Me Girl" vol. 2

I had Norah Jones's "Come Away With Me" stuck in my head after reading this for some reason

I was on the fence about whether or not I was going to continue this series after the first volume, despite giving it five stars, but after reading the 2^nd book I’m glad I did. The ‘running away’ starts here and I definitely enjoyed seeing them escape. I’m very hopeful for the relationship between Maki and Midori and I wish them the best (reasonably sure we’re heading toward a happy ending now not some lovers’ suicide/tragic thing, but who knows). More than anything I just want Midori’s fiancé to disappear from existence. Dude is a scumbag. Hoping he’s not in book 3 much. This manga has this weird way of flittering between beautiful and depressing that it’s rather tough to read, but I think it’s worth it. When we see Midori from Maki’s perspective and she’s always sparkling it really hits me with a sense of wonder – but then you see the world from Midori’s side and things are rarely ever that dazzling. On a side note: really enjoyed meeting Komori for the first time. Her addition was welcome.

REVIEW OF VOLUME 3 COMING SOON!

If you'd like to purchase, do so at these links (not sponsored):

Barnes & Noble

RightStuf

Amazon

Manga Review: "Run Away With Me Girl" vol. 1

The Cover was Beautiful until I realized it reminded me of Midsommar

When I started to think "I really wanted to YEET Midori's Fiance into the sun." I realized that this series was going to be one I couldn't drop.

I bought this book on a whim when I was on a Yuri reading kick not really knowing how dark the plot is. TW: there’s some very serious and disturbing content. The plot centers around two high school more-than-friends reuniting after many years. When they were in school, they ‘played’ at being girlfriends, but for one of them, Maki, the relationship ended up leaving an everlasting impression. For her, their reunion means a LOT. The other woman, Midori, is now in a very serious relationship with a man, but the relationship is so TOXIC it might as well be radioactive. I found the first volume to be a good hook for me, but half of me is reading just to make sure that I see the horrible relationship Midori’s in come to an end. I suppose it comes off as kind of a footnote, but I want to add that I adore the art in this book, especially with the way Battan is able to shift from SPARKLES to glooooooom. Strong recommend as long as you’re able to stomach the sensitive material.

REVIEW OF VOLUME 2! 

This manga is published by Kodansha.

Buy it here (currently, I get nothing out of this, just think you should read the damn book lol)

Barnes & Noble 

RightStuf

Amazon

Manga Review: "She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat" vol. 1

I'm getting hungry just reviewing this manga

Full disclosure, I'm writing this review after I've already read vol. 2, but I tried my best to review it based on the first impression I got from the first volume when I read it originally.

Nomoto is an OL with an Instagram and loves sharing picutres of her cooking, but she has a problem. She's always wanted someone who can really pack it in. She wants to craft mega-sized dishes like bucket-pudding, or giga-pancackes. Huge omelettes. Great overflowing bowls of curry. The urge to just go nuts in the kitchen is welling up inside her. However, she's just one woman, living alone, and not interested in marriage (and especially not interested in becoming a 'good wife' for some random male coworker).

Then, one night, Kasuga appears, carrying buckets of KFC... which she will eat. By herself.

When trouble happens at work, and Nomoto goes a LITTLE overboard de-stressing with some serious kitchen time; a steak donburi of epic proportions is born, and the only way to keep it from going to waste is by having her neighbor help her polish it off.

And thus begins a beautiful friendship... and maybe, in the future, more...

This volume was great. I’ve reread it multiple times since it came out. I really like food centered manga (but especially ones that have a bit of romance to them - guess the way to my heart, ultimately, really is through my stomach); when the visuals are so good that you can smell the dishes, and get hungry yourself, that’s when you know you've got a hit. This manga definitely did taht for me. Every time I read it (i think i'm up to four times now) I end up needing to go grab a snack. I blame this series for my recent craving for Yaki-onigiri (gonna try it with Miso the way they do in the manga) and going on a hunt for the best Karage in the county… (I ended up finding a really good spot too! I've started getting takeout karage-bowls now after work). I’m sure this book has put a few pounds around my waist. This series also has the ‘Yuri’ tag on it, but I’m not sure if I’d call it a main plot, or a sub-plot; here in volume 1, there is a lesbian romance going on under the surface, but it has yet to develop into a mutual relationship yet. Hoping in the future both Nomoto and Kasuga realize their feelings for each other. But I feel like that’s where it’s going because I don’t see it becoming a one-sided affair.

This is an easy 5/5 for me. I've already bought and read vol. 2, with review of that one coming (shortly, and i'll spoil for you... my score doesn't go down).

She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat is published by Yen Press. MSRP $15

You can buy it at the following. I don't get anything for these links, but I loved the manga, I'ma recommend you just go right over and pick it up yourself.

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Rightstuf


Now, if you'd like to read my take on volume 2... check it out here...

Manga Review: "She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat" vol. 2

Manga Review: "A Condition Called Love" vol. 2

Learning what 'Love' is for the First Time

The second volume of this manga really helped deepen our understanding of the characters; Hananoi has a decidedly darker past than what I originally expected, and Hotaru has her own trauma to deal with too. I’d say Hananoi’s borderline brooding with how territorial and possessive he’s become, but in a caring/nice way. Waiting for his girlfriend after work, walking her home, it’s all very well-intentioned, but somewhat overbearing the top. Hotaru’s understanding of how love works levels up a bit in book 2 as well. I found it really, really funny watching her friends listen to her and losing their minds trying to get it through to her that the feelings she’s experience ARE love, but Hotaru has to figure that out herself. I’d say that volume 2 improved my appreciation for this series, cementing it as one I’ll actually continue collecting. This couple has some very cute moments together which bring my shriveled up old heart joy. Very curious where things will go from here.

Just look at how cute they are

I'd give this a 4.5 out of 5 if I could give half stars. 9/10

There's still some room for improvement, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this manga now.

"A Condition Called Love" is published by Kodansha and retails for $10.99

Maybe I'll start putting some store links around here... thoughts in the comments??

Anime Review: "The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady" - 5/10... oof

 
Viva the Yuri Revolution!!

Or that’s what I’d say if this series left me feeling excited about it. Sadly I didn’t really enjoy it as a whole.

I enjoyed PARTS of this show, but way, way too much of it was bogged down in seriousness and depression. Why can’t I just have a cute little yuri isekai slice of life series???? I dislike series that can’t pick a tone, and this series definitely had that issue. It started off with the hilarious antics of this bloody, wild princess, who steals away her brother’s fiancé to take for herself. It’s very comedic. I was legitimately laughing at how the princess shows up the first time. I need a good laugh these days. Life’s too serious to be serious all the time.

But, the problem comes after this, because all of the important obstacles in the story are TOO big, and TOO serious. Really killed the mood.

The titular ‘reincarnated princess’ is from our world, by the way, which is never really used as much more than a B-side subplot device to give her a reason to come up with various magical inventions that look like stuff from our world. Not that that’s a bad thing, but this series definitely puts me into the frame of mind where I’m questioning what the point of this series being an ‘isekai’ is in the first place. The origin world stuff really doesn’t come up that much whatsoever. Could have been default fantasy without a problem.

This is a problem because on the one hand, we have a ridiculous princess who makes flying brooms and magic swords, and there’s vampires and dragons, etc. and on the other hand we have a very serious plot with characters being worried about rites of succession and having to bear offspring that will carry the royal bloodline. There’s a serious divide here. Ultimately it led to me feeling pretty bad about the series in general.

In the end, this series became one I completed mostly for the sake of not leaving something unfinished, but I couldn’t really bring myself to care very much about it. The visuals were stunning, so it certainly wasn’t a drag to watch, but I don’t think I’ll think about anything aside from it having a cute little yuri couple. I ended up buying the manga after the first episode, and with the dramatic tone shift, I actually felt pretty baited. Not likely to continue to buy volumes of this, or watch a season 2 if they make one.

 

Anime Review: "The Ice Guy and his Cool Female Colleage"

This was a very nice little romance anime. The two main characters were really cute and had a fun dynamic. It’s not often you get a series where the male lead is a soft blushing fellow always getting embarrassed and freaking out over his love interest. And the way it’s expressed using his “Yuki-onna” heritage was super fun (especially the snowmen). In fact, the whole ‘fantastical creatures’ aspect of the series, with many of the characters being descendants of famous Japanese mythical monsters (?) was a cool premise. The only problem I really had with this series is focus; I would have loved it if we could have seen much, much more of the main pair, and less of the side characters. The side characters had their own charm, but they weren’t nearly as interesting to me as the main guy and gal. Adult, office romances, are few and far between, and having screen time divided up among all the various office-people caused me to kind of lose interest. Needed them to spend more time on the title folks. All in all, a fun read. I believe the manga for this has recently been licensed; I may check it out, but not sure yet. Will definitely peep a season 2 if they make one though.

TL;DR 8/10

Anime Review: "Don't Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro" Season #2

 

Season 2 improved the Nagatoro formula in a big way IMO. Senpai grew a spine and became much less of a wimp. Nagatoro’s bullying got more flirty and endearing. As a whole, Season 2 was really, really cute.

As far as the things I think make up an anime adaptation:

Voice acting was still just as on point as it was in season 1, with the addition of a new member to the cast in Sayumi Suzushiro, who was also excellent. I think they actually improved the music too for this season. I ended up downloading the OP for a mix tape. The animation was also just as good as season 1, with amplified wiggle-taro.

Now, why do I rate this season higher than season 1? I think for me it mostly comes down to the stories in this arc. They’re much, much more fun than the stuff that happens in season 1. When there’s teasing, its way more playful and flirty and less mean/bullying. I think maybe season 2 is really where the author got into their groove with plotting, jokes, etc. The payoffs are really great too – for me the ‘caught a cold’ episodes were fantastic.

The episodes in season 2 also really accelerate bringing out the best in all of the characters. Both senpai and Nagatoro receive a good amount of character development. I especially liked the whole training arc because we get to see both of them getting serious about improving themselves in their own respective ways.

If and when they make a season 3 I’ll definitely be there for that.

Anime Review: "Don't Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro" Season #1

 

I’m finishing Nagatoro season 2 right now and realizing I haven’t reviewed season 1 yet, so here we go.

Adaptation rating. Very Good.

Voice acting was great. Sumire Uesaka (Nagatoro) does a fantastic job with all of her characters and she’s certainly a great Nagatoro. Daiki Yamashita plays Senpai a little too weak for my tastes, ends up channeling early My Hero Deku… I’m not sure I had senpai pegged as being quite that soft, but I suppose it works.

The music was good. OP ED were fine, but not really the kind of songs I’d buy to play in the car.

The animation of the cute, wiggly bits, certainly worked great.

That being said, there’s a couple reasons why I score this one pretty low as a series (low for me at least, romcom's are usually an easy 10/10). Though I eventually turned into a Nagatoro fan after buying the manga, the first season of the anime didn’t really help me with that. I think this series as a whole gets better as things go and season 2 was definitely an improvement.

I found the male MC to be excessively wimpy in the beginning. In this season his wimpy-factor gets played up even more than in the manga, which is… *ugh*. In contrast, Nagatoro starts off as too much of a sadist. I understand in the original prototype for this series Nagatoro was MUCH more sadistic, even going so far as to torture senpai with not a single hint of flirting. The first stages of the series still had too much of this essence and it took too long for it to go away.

But, things do get better, much better in fact.

Nagatoro’s friends are pretty hilarious and drive her to be more territorial protecting Senpai so that only she can tease him. Then you throw in the senpai of senpai from the art club and now you’ve got a force pushing them together on the romantic front too.

For me the highlight of this season was the last few episodes. Nekotaro arc and the school festival art contest were pretty incredible.

Manga Review: "My Clueless First Friend" #1

The premise for “My Clueless First Friend” is very cute and simple. There’s a girl in class with a bit of a dark and gloomy appearance, who’s being bullied by the other kids in class. They make fun of he, in typical fifth grader fashion, calling her names like ‘grim reaper’. Takada, the new kid in school, who moved in from the country, is a complete airhead, and doesn’t understand she’s being picked on – only that Grim Reapers are A W E S O M E!!! So, he’s quick to befriend her, and constantly presses the fact that he finds her wonderful in all different manner of ways. This series is super formulaic. XYZ happens which triggers Takada to say something completely outrageous that embarrass Nishimura, causing her to blush like wild. This is played out every chapter. It definitely can get a bit repetitive if that’s not your thing, but for the most part, I enjoyed this book. That said, not sure how I’ll like it after 7 more omnibus. Will definitely peep the anime though.

TL;DR - It's a Cute Premise, But it Got a Bit Repetitive 4/5

With that said, I don't think that necessarily repetitive is a bad thing. Rather, I like it a lot. When you've got a good formula, use it. The problem I think I had with this book, that I didn't have, for example with "When Will Ayumu Make His Move" is a combination of a couple factors.

1) The Formula Being Too Simple

        The formula used in this manga is really, really basic. Boy says something, makes girl blush.

It's cute, but it's definitly not rocket science. That's fine, really. Ayumu has the same thing going for it. Very simple premise, repeated every chapter for the entire series. The part that I think became an issue for me was that...

2) Repeated Too Much in One Book

        This book is an omnibus, so it's really two, much smaller tankoubon, which have been sewn together. That's usually fine. It makes things more affordable and less risky to publish. The problem I think here is that since it's an omnibus, you get the same gag repeated like 50-60 times in one book, because in this series, the same formula gets repeated more than once each chapter, and this book is 30 chapters long...

Thats.... a bit too much for me to handle.

I actually had to break up reading this book over several sittings because it was just too much all at once.

I still genuinely really enjoy it, but I think the format doesn't really do it any favors unfortunately. If I was getting this on a weekly basis, in a magazine, I think i'd have really loved it a lot more. Could have been very fun reading online as well, but trying to tackle the whole thing at once was too much of a good thing.

Manga Review: "The 100 Girlfriends Who Really x5 Love You" #5

I Really (x5) Love This Book

I really, really, really, really, really love this series. So, don’t go into this review hoping for something profound. It’s just a silly little harem comedy. It’s gone so far past parody at this point that it’s just pure joy. I don't quite understand why this series is released under the 'Ghost Ship' label that SevenSeas has going right now? That label, from what I understand is reserved for explicit series featuring lots of nudity and sex, but this series is much more wholesome. This volume in particular - SUPER wholesome. The cuteness level is over the top in parts. 

Girlfriend Count in this volume +2. They’re both great, and the arcs we get introducing them are both great. But, let’s face it, all the girlfriends in this series are great in their own way.

I think we may need to develop a stat power rankinkg system like in pokemon for his girlfriends by the end of this. Each of them has their own personal strengths and weaknesses. Shizuka has max power in cuteness, for example, but Hahari's sexiness stat would be over-the-top.

This book had, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest back-to-back 2-page spreads in the HISTORY of manga. When you get there, you’ll understand. I truly hope the translator got paid by the word, cus otherwise… ouch. The anime got announced officially today, so I anticipate this series will be growing in popularity quite a lot.

Anime Review: "Bibliophile Princess"

 

I’ve been expanding into a variety of new anime genres recently, and the premise of ‘Bibliophile Princess’ sounded like something I’d like. It *sounded* like it’d have all the elements of a nice cozy series about a girl who loves to read. For me, that’s an easy hook. She loves books. I love to books. We have so much in common. Wham! Easily relatable protagonist. But, ultimately, I found myself just as annoyed with this series as the heroine constantly seemed to be. All she wanted was to be left to her books to read. That’s all I wanted for her too! And yet. And yet… our heroine, a hopeless bookwork, gets continuously distracted by the various episodic problems created by the multitude of other women fighting for the prince’s affection despite the fact that none of them have even the slightest chance with him. 

The prince makes it pretty clear, early on, plainly, in front of everyone in the court, that he's in love with the heroine. Nobody has a shot with him. But, they continue their worthless schemes, struggling away, even though they’ve been utterly defeated by little  miss bookworm. 

Every episode I wanted to scream at the screen. “For fucks sake, Stop! Fucking stop! Let the poor girl read!!” I would have watched an entire series with just the main heroine reading her books and reporting to the prince about the various things she learns. They’d flirt over tea (or coffee). It would have made for an adorable shojo romance. Unfortunately what we’re left with is a series that’s basically a ‘monster of the week’ type thing, but the monsters are just other ladies of the court. Sadly, this left me pretty disappointed. The chemistry between the prince and the princess was genuinely good, but we barely got any damn screen time with them together. I have very mixed feelings about this show. I want to recommend ‘Bibliophile Princess’, but when it comes down to it, it feels like it has too much wasted potential.

Anime Review: "The Duke of Death and His (Black) Maid"

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room first, so I can spend the rest of this review convincing you to forget about the elephant, and watch this anime. The characters in this series are done in CGI, using what appears to be the same kind of process that was used in one of J.C. Staff’s other series: “Hi-Score Girl.” You’re either going to let that bug you, or you won’t. For some people CGI is a complete turn-off, and means an instant drop. For others, they don’t care. I’m kind of in the middle. I much prefer standard animation, not too big a fan of CGI, so when I saw the trailer for this, I was initially really disappointed; I’d read some of the manga, before the announcement that this was coming out, so I was pretty excited when I heard it got picked up, but when I saw the trailer I was crestfallen. I’m sure a lot of people had the same reaction. But, if you can, be a bigger person, and see beyond the CGI, you’ll find something pretty special.

Since we’re already on the topic of visuals with the CGI I’ll start by saying the art in this series is fantastic. The backgrounds are done with incredible detail, even given texture to make them look like they’re paintings on canvas. It gives the entire series a glorious fairy tale vibe, like you’re watching an anime that’s come to life right out of a pop-up book. I caught myself, at times, just fascinated by all the little minor things that decorated each frame. So, despite the fact that the characters are CGI and move around a bit weird, it somehow comes together pretty well and I didn’t find myself overly bothered by it.

From art, the next obvious thing that needs to be talked about, is the sound. This series had probably the best sound track of the year I think. It was enchanting. There were multiple vocal performances by the main VA’s Mano Ayumi (Alice) and Hanae Natsuki (Bocchan); they sang not only the opening theme song, but also did several other insert pieces that popped up within the show as well. There were also a number of classical songs featuring beautiful piano arrangements which were a joy to listen to. I’d say “glorious,” is a pretty good word to summarize my feelings for the music of “Duke of Death”. I may end up hunting down a copy of the OST if I can find one.

Also, Hiroshi Kamiya (MAL’s #1 Person) is in this. He plays a bird-faced witch. Anytime I get to hear him play anything I count that as a win.

Witches and magic are pretty central to the story of “Duke of Death”. The plot revolves around the titular duke, who was cursed by an unknown witch, when he was just a boy. The curse causes him to kill anything he touches – plant, animal, or even people. It’s honestly a very, very dark plot hook, but it’s used in an extremely creative, fun way, through the antics of the character Alice. She’s the (black) maid of the moment, who’s favorite past time is getting as close to the duke as she can, without touching him, in a cute/sexy kind of “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you,” playful way, while also sexually harassing him every opportunity she gets. She delights in his adorable, embarrassed reactions (which are done extremely well on both an animation level and acting one). This dynamic is the core of the show, turning it into essentially a rom-com with a strange, slightly morbid kink to it.

With that being said, it’s quite a bit more than just your standard romantic comedy though, because the plot hook of the show, the duke’s curse, is actually quite intriguing; the more we learn about it, the deeper the mystery surrounding it gets, but that’s something you can enjoy yourself watching the series. I don’t wanna spoil anything.

All in all, the flirting between the Duke and Alice is really entertaining to watch, making for a fun little SOL/rom-com with a unique premise, so I’d be happy giving this series a 7 or an 8 on just those merits alone, but as it turns out, by the end of the series, I was genuinely invested in the characters, their futures, and the answer to the mystery of the curse, thankfully, after the credits, they announced that the story will continue in season two, so hopefully we’ll get to find out then, because the season ends with all the big questions still up in the air, which is to be expected because the manga for this has been going for near 200 chapters now, and expecting to cram all that into just twelve episodes is asking much too much.

This all leads me to say that this was a perfectly enjoyable watching experience. Not even going to take off points for the CGI characters and wonky animation because after about episode 2 I had completely gotten over it, forgetting all about the elephant, and just enjoying the ride.

Masterpiece, round of applause, etc. 10/10 from me.

Update to this post in 2025... additional seasons of this have now aired, and I've gone and added the entire manga series, which is finished, to my collection..... vol. reviews eventually, series review to come as well. Score for this one still stands. 10/10 - even in manga form.

Anime Review: "Nakaimo"

 

Nakaimo is basically as average as you can get. So average in fact, I forgot everything about it, including having already seen it, and watched it again. I had this marked as completed on MAL for who-knows-how-long, but could recall literally nothing about it, including the answer to the titular question, “who’s the MC’s little sister?”

This is a PLOT heavy show that is heavy on actual plot. The premise is that the main character’s father has passed away, and he’s soon to become the head honcho at his dad’s company, so he’s going to attend a new, elite school, where he’ll become a refined, adult, and find a wife… but, the catch is that his little sister, the illegitimate child of his father, also goes to the school; so, he’s gotta find a wife, and not ALSO bang his sister by accident in the process.

This is a fan-service loaded, echi, rom-com anime that can’t decide if it’s for the incest, or against it. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of little sister incest plots. They have a bad tendency to come off as really weird, and fetishist most of the time. This time, it was even weirder when they’re passing around literal DNA tests trying to determine who the MC’s related to by blood.

So, honestly, I question why I continued the show. I found that there were three reasons why I didn’t drop it and give it a 2 or a 3.

1. I was perplexed that I’d seen this and didn’t remember it at all, and didn’t want to admit that I’d checked it as complete without seeing it at all.

2. Once I started watching it, the plot actually did leave me guessing, because it seemed to be wrapping each question inside another question and leaving so many different flags, and red herrings that I couldn’t make heads or tails of what’s what.

And the last reason is probably the most critical…

3. The voice cast of this show is perplexingly loaded with all-star seiyuu on the Japanese side (no idea about the dub, I watched the sub).

Keep in mind this series came out in 2012, so for some of these people this was fairly early on in their career, for others, not so much.

The main character is played by Takahiro Sakurai (Reigan Arataka, Oshino Meme, Suzaku Kururugi), a VA legend, who’s been been in the business for a LONG time. He’s surrounded with female actresses who’ve also played some huge roles:

Koshimizu Ami (Kallen Satdtfeld, Holo, Matoi Ryuuko)

 Ayane Sakura (Uraraka Ochako, Nakano Yotsuba, Gabi Braun)

Kaori Ishihara (Souta from Dragon Maid, Aladdin from Magi, Murayama from DxD)

Rina Hidaka (Milim Nava, Last Order, Filo)

Ayana Taketatsu (Nino Nakano, Kirino Kousaka, Azusa from K-ON!)

So in the end, what kept me from dropping this show was the voice cast for the most part. It was so crazy loaded with talent that I couldn’t pull myself away and forced myself to finish it, even though I didn’t really get any satisfaction out of the ending or the plot.

So, I don’t really recommend watching this, unless you want to witness some VA’s in roles they’re DEFINITELY not known for. If you’re kind of a seiyuu nut, like I am, than watching this, and listening to their performances will leave you scratching your head, but will prove to be a moderately pleasurable experience. Hopefully I’ll remember I watched this series better now that I’ve written a review about it.

Anime Review: "Horimiya"

 

TL;DR

10/10 Romance with Comedy and Slice of Life elements to compliment the central character development. Fantastic voice acting, great animation, and an excellent OST. Only complaint is that there wasn't more of it; would have been nice to have 2-cours with more of the random slice of life stuff shown in the manga. You'll love this if you need a break from over the top RomCom's with too many rediculous tropes. This anime might not be for you if you're easily bored.

Horimiya 

Extended Spoiler Heavy Review

For my first review on this site, I wanted to cover something that's not only recent, since the majority of these will not be coming out in any timely manner whatsoever, but also something that I genuinely loved, and was excited for for years. Horimiya. This series, which premiered in winter 2021, is an adaptation of the manga of the same name with story by HERO and art by Hagiwara Daisuke. The manga has been going for almost a decade, concluding in the the final chapter at the beginning of March 2021. It developed a massive following and for a time was the most popular manga series on MAL that didn't have an anime adaptation yet.

Horimiya is the standard by which I measure all other high school pure-romance series. Although it gets labeled as a RomCom, Horimiya is a romance series first, with comedy and slice-of-life elements later. I'd group it up with series like Blue Spring Ride or Say I love You before I put it in wich something like Kaguya-sama Love is War. That's very important, because Horimiya is very vanilla. Omega vanilla if you will. This series is about as realistic as you can get in terms of high school romance, and has none of the frills or wild tropes that you see in so many other series these days. It is entirely generic with aboslutely no gimmicks to make it stand out, apart from the underlying premise that the main characters put on one face in public, and another in private, which if you know anything about Japan, you'd probably know is pretty normal.

This series embodies the Japanese idea that people have 3 faces: 1) the face you show to the world 2) the face that you show to your family and friends and 3) the face that we keep for ourselves. 

Hori Kyouko at school is popular, smart, and good looking, but at home she's a caring sister who lets down her hair to revel in house cleaning. Miyamura Izumi is a quiet, dark, gloomy guy in class, that nobody really knows much about, but at home he's pierced and tatted up; he's fashionbable and knows what's popular and trendy. Chance brings them to know each-other's "other" side and romance ensues. There's not much time between inittiation of interest and flag capture, which makes this series a lot different than shows that center on the chase. After the couple get to coupling, the show shifts its attention to the side characters and lets us see whats happening with them, while still giving us bits of fun RomCom SOL about the main MC's.

The thing that makes this series shine is that the characters are very fleshed out and have great development considering they're all just high school kids with normal problems, worries, and passions. None of them carry the burden of a multi-national conglomerate which they'll have to take over when they're grown. The relationships are incredibly realistic as well These are kids that know how babies are made (hint: it's not by holding hands), and have no qualms about getting down and dirty. The show is very classy about it though, and never shows anyone actually doing the deed. This show has zero fan service with the sexiest thing every shown being some bare shoulders (spicy). 

What I really like the most about Hori and Miyamura's relationship is that through their intimacy we get to see them expose their third face to each-other which brings them even closer. Hori, who's always in control in her life, awakens her masochistic side, but only for Miyamura. She gets off on him roughing her up (mildly) both in public and private; Miyamura obliges, grudginly, because he'll do anything to make her happy. She's kinky, and Miyamura's fleixble. Their relationship goes to levels that frankly we never get to see in most anime.

The major complaint that most people have had with the manga, for years, is that once the main couple reaches the end of their romantic progression (and commit to a lifetime together), the story shifts away from pure romance between the MC's into random slice of life stuff and stories about the side characters. There's not as much of this in the anime, as opposed to the manga, because it's only a single cour, 13 episode series. If they'd have given us more of that, the manga readers may have rejoiced, but they also risked losing more audience who weren't intersted in the day-to-day lives of the characters.

In the end, Horimiya doesn't disappoint. It's a nice breath of fresh air. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it lived up to all the hopes and dreams I had after many years of reading the original manga.