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Anime Reviews Reviews

AOTY 2023

Due to my complete hatred for the Crunchyroll and Anime Trending AOTY 2023 edition, I made my own. Cause my taste is the best taste and everyone who disagrees with my opinion is wrong. Criteria include 1) must have aired in 2023 2) TV/web anime only (so no movies or music videos) and 3) no sequels. I will also be counting consecutive cour shows from fall 2023 that continue onto winter 2024 because yes. These write-ups/rankings are not summaries (go to MAL for that lol) and moreso what I enjoyed about each show from a production/broad plot perspective. Also very little spoilers cause ain’t no way you guys are watching seasonals.

Please don’t expect the writing to be good I’m literally just yapping.

5. Skip and Loafer directed by Kotomi Deai

Spring 2023 was a season that was beyond stacked with quality shows and Skip and Loafer was no exception. This slice-of-life comedy/drama was a perfect fit for someone like Kotomi Deai, who has had big roles on similar-ish shows like Natsume Yujin-Cho, Silver Spoon, and The World God Only Knows. High points of the show production wise include the quality character designs which are “fluffy” and malleable for the light-hearted wholesome moments this show has to offer while also being able to convey emotion really well when the drama picks up. This show in general is just pleasing to look at in general, the softer color palette and overall art direction is just 👌. In terms of writing, something I’ve appreciated time and time again is just how emotionally mature most of the characters are. I’ve grown used to dealing with high schoolers in animanga being the stupidest shits alive (too much romcom syndrome) but seeing characters that are actually perceptive of others emotions and talking out their problems immediately is such a breath of fresh air. The OP is also stupid cute. Would recommend to any slice of life or romance fan.

4. Tengoku Daimakyou directed by Hirotaka Mori

I’ve long preached that the equation to create a good anime (visually) is talent + time. And in this anime economy, let’s just say that many shows tend to only load up on the talent, hoping that pure talent will make up for the lack of time given (Otsuka I’m looking at you). But there are rare shows like Tengoku that have both in spades. With big industry names like Kensuke Ushio (composing), Weilin Zhang (standout sequences in FGO, OP, JJK), Haruka Fujita of Kyoani fame, Kai Ikarashi of Trigger fame, etc. Easily the greatest assembly of talent on one project in recent memory. All of this talent and time led to one of the most consistently excellent visual spectacles of the year, with highlight episodes being Fujita’s episode 8 and Ikarashi’s episode 10. For most of its run, Tengoku was filled with a fun MC dynamic and an interesting dual-mystery. Watching plot points and backstories slowly get revealed was really cool. What probably drags the show down a bit is its ending episodes.  I feel like the show never found a good stopping point in the manga to end off at and thus was unsatisfying. Maybe it would have benefited with another cour but then again, I don’t trust the current anime economy with another cour of anime that looks this good. Would recommend to any sakuga meat-head. 

3.  Overtake directed by Ei Aoki

What’s better than a coming of age character drama? A coming of age character drama WITH SPORTS directed by EI motherfucking AOKI (Fate/zero, Wandering son, Kara no Kyoukai) along with an opening by NIJISANJI KANAE. Perhaps the best word to describe this show from a visual perspective is consistency. It’s got great character designs that are clean and distinctive along with great compositing/lighting that just suck you into the world of the characters. Episode 9 in particular was a standout, with storyboards that block out characters with environmental objects to convey character dynamics and a shit ton of neat camera effects to reflect the point in the plot where the photographer mc finally comes to terms with his past. With this being an original anime that first started production in 2017, everything just makes sense. All the characters are shown to be more than what they seem at first glance and all their personal arcs develop with and against each other, culminating in a very satisfying conclusion. This would probably be one of the shows I would recommend the most to non-anime watchers, as it’s extremely polished and doesn’t really have any of the “anime-isms” that make anime hard to recommend to most. Would recommend to anyone who wants a good character drama.

2. Sousou no Frieren directed by Keiichiro Saito

Saito’s rise to anime stardom was rapid, with his most notable work pre-2022 being episodes 3 and 8 of Sonny Boy. But suddenly, he comes into 2022 with the mega-hit Bocchi the Rock, a CGDCT comedy filled with endless ambition, creativity and passion. The man then returns in 2023 with Sousou no Frieren, a slower, more contemplative fantasy adventure. What stands out most about this show is its overall aesthetic. This show is simply gorgeous. Its got beautiful background art, simple but distinct designs, and some crazy detailed animation. These visuals tie in with the music, composed by the legendary Evan Call, perfectly to create gut-wrenching emotional moments, but also hype fight scenes. The first 4 episodes (shown together as a theatrical release in Japan) are absolute highs from a story-telling perspective, with vibes that sorta remind me of Violet Evergarden at its best. Meanwhile episodes 6 and 9 are action-packed with sequences that rival the best battle shounen. It’s a show that’s got a little bit of something for everyone, an absolute masterclass on almost all fronts. If there was anything to nitpick about this show, it would be a “lack of focus”. It swings between trying to be a slow emotional type show and a battle adventure show too often for my taste. Despite the anime executing on the battle aspects of the manga excellently, I think more focus on the more emotional aspects would make this already great show into a modern classic. Would still recommend this show to literally everyone.

1. Onimai directed by Shingo Fujii

Onimai is an uncommon sighting on AOTY lists, often replaced by more the more popular Frieren and Oshi no Ko. But Onimai is fucking special. An absolute explosion of passion, love and sheer talent for 12 straight episodes. The character animation is easily the best of the year, with absolutely crazy and exaggerated acting mixed with more detailed and subtle shots. There are so many impressive cuts of animation to speak of. Do you want anime girl cooks fried rice? Maybe you want anime girl puts on makeup? Or maybe you want anime girl participates in snowball fight. Onimai truly has it all. But the visuals aren’t the only aspect where care and love are shown. You don’t expect an absurd slice-of-life comedy to be a coming-of-age story with themes of familial love and friendship but that’s exactly what you get. Watching the slow and subtle development of the main character Mahiru as she slowly becomes more comfortable and confident in herself really just warms the ol’ kokoro. While the subject matter doesn’t make it the easiest show to recommend, anyone who can look past it are rewarded with some good old wholesome fucking anime.

Honorable mentions: Oshi no Ko, Uma Musume: Road to the Top, 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You

Dishonorable mentions: Butareba, The Girl I like Forgot Her Glasses, Ameiro Protocol, Inukai’s Dog, Jigokuraku

Overall Rankings (sequels included):

  1. Uma Musume Season 3
  2. Link Click Season 2
  3. Onimai
  4. Frieren
  5. Overtake

Special mention to Vinland Saga S2, Tsurune S2, and Trigun Stampede for being shows that could’ve potentially made it here if I finished watching them : ]

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Anime Reviews Other Articles Reviews

Spring Anime Misadventures!

After a fairly lackluster Winter season, the new Spring anime is finally upon us!  And since most of what I’m watching just ended, I find that I’m looking for a couple new shows to pick up.  So here’s what I’m gonna do for you!

I’m going to grab any first episode that comes out in the next week or two and then tell you all what I think!  I’ve had a look at the schedule, but there won’t be any refreshers for me!  Nope, if I see a new show, I’m watching it right then and there.  And I have to sit through the whole thing, no matter how poorly drawn it might be!  So watch as I suffer through god-knows-how-many terrible anime shows about basketball, cats, fishing, and whatever other brilliant ideas managed to make it to production.

P.S. Basketball and fishing are actually the topics for shows this season…

So, let’s get this started!

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Anime Reviews CJAS Reviews

Mid-Semester Showing Survey

Shockingly, the semester is already at its halfway point, so it’s about time to talk about what’s been going on in showing.  For each show we’re watching, I’ll be summarizing the premise, discussing the plot up to this point, and then adding my own thoughts about the series.  As always, plot can and does equal spoilers, so make sure to skip over plot sections where you don’t want to know just yet.  We’re watching a lot of great shows this semester, so many of these come with strong recommendations.

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Anime Reviews Manga Reviews Reviews

Review: Kuroshitsuji (“Black Butler”)

Welcome and good evening again, ladies and gentlemen!  Our series this time Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), originally released as a manga in Square Enix’s Monthly G Fantasy in 2006 by Toboso Yana.  It has since proven popular enough to warrant a two-season anime adaptation, a spin-off video game, two well-scored stage musicals, and an impressive doujin community.  For this review, however, I’d prefer to focus on the manga and anime.

Sebastian Displaying his Contract
Clearly, this will not be a objectionable program.

Although the two differ in execution, the basic premise remains the same between them:  In manor house outside of London, the demon Sebastian Michaelis serves as Earl Ciel Phantomhive’s loyal butler.  The two have a contract: In exchange for Ciel’s soul, Sebastian serves as his retainer until the Young Master kills those who slew his parents and sold him on the black market.  The Earl, though only twelve when the series opens, is already a captain of industry and a favored subject of Queen Victoria.  He lives a double life: By day, he works as the head of the Funtom Toy Company; by night, he serves the Queen as her agent in the London underworld, assisted at all times by Sebastian, who performs his duties with impeccable skill.

What’s the overall result? Well, for me that’s a bit of a tricky question.  As of this writing, Black Butler is my “fanboy” series; it’s the kind of thing I like for far fewer reasons than I should because the series happens to hit enough of my favorite story and character elements (Ciel, for example) it its execution.  So, bear in mind that my view on things is likely more forgiving of Black Butler than I would normally be.  That said…

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Anime Reviews Other Articles Reviews

Mid-Semester Anime Roundup

It’s Fall Break now, which means that this semester’s Showing is already halfway over.  So I’ve put together this handy little article for those of you who might have missed the first half of Showing, who think they might forget what’s going on over Fall Break, or who want to waste a few minutes on the internet.  For each of the shows we’ve watched thus far, I’ve assembled a description of the series, a summary of the plot, and a quick review of what I’ve thought about it so far.  Plot summaries will almost certainly contain spoilers, so if you want to watch the series for yourself, you may want to skip these.

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Anime Reviews CJAS Reviews

Fall 2009: In Review

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.  Good to see you all again! Although I can’t really speak much from experience, I must stay that I was thoroughly impressed by the lineup this past semester.  Showing was a real event this time around, and I’d like to take a few moments to take a quick look back on it.

Series Reviews:

Genshiken

Our starter for this semester was one I had not seen since I was in high school.  At the time, I was rather amused with it, but after re-watching the first season, I found that the series hasn’t held up as well as I had thought.  Let me be clear:  It’s not a bad series; I don’t think so, anyway.  But whenever Genshiken’s not poking a good-natured elbow in the ribs of hardcore anime fans, the overall result is disappointing.  The humor tends to be awkwardly spaced; whole episodes can go by with scarcely a slice of wit to hold interest, relying instead on the (mostly bland) antics of local basket-case Madarame to keep the whole thing from grinding to a halt.  Add to that rather generic BGM and character design, and what’s left is a series So Okay, It’s Average.  You could do worse than this dull little piece of work, but you could do much better as well.

Wolf’s Rain

Aint he pretty?
Ain't he pretty?

I must admit, I was pretty skeptical about this series.  Just looking at the character designs made me shudder; I like bishounen as much as the next fan, but I didn’t walk in expecting much in the way of, well, anything else.  Thankfully, Wolf’s Rain does not disappoint.  It has its issues, mind you; the plot moves at the pace of cheap pancake syrup and the dialogue can sometimes suffer as a result.  But thus far, it’s been nothing short of a treat to watch.  The backgrounds and character animation are, as expected, fantastic, with real eye for detail and cohesion.  And the music! Man, Kanno-sensei should really go make an album or something.  If she does stuff like this for a show… Ah, I digress.  Anyway, if this series can overcome its pacing problems and deliver its already unique story already, then it’s well on its way to becoming a favorite of mine.

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Anime Reviews

Anime Review: Zero no Tsukaima

Last semester, CJAS screened the first season of one of the more popular shounen-harem series in recent years: Zero no Tsukaima, a.k.a. The Familiar of Zero.  Originally a series of light novels from Japan, the series (still in serialization as of this writing) proved popular enough to warrant an anime adaptation and an additional retelling as a manga.

It is the story of a student-mage of noble background, Louise, who unintentionally summons a teenage boy from Japan named Saito into her world of magic, mystery, and fan service to act as her familiar.  All is not sunshine and roses for our hero Saito, however, as his new mistress treats him no better than a dog, and only softens as time goes on.  As he struggles to make a living for himself under the furious eye of Louise, there is action, adventure, and even the budding of romance for our happy couple-to-be!

Sounds like a fun anime if I ever heard one, no?  Well, I hate to disappoint you all, but I beg to differ.  Zero left a bitter, bitter taste in my mouth, that special flavor that only comes from good, old-fashioned bad writing and an unhealthy abundance of wasted potential.  Be afraid, ladies and gentlemen.  Be very afraid.

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Anime Reviews

OVA Review: Hellsing Ultimate, vol. 4

September 23, 2008 saw the release of the newest volume of Hellsing Ultimate on DVD, and this episode does not disappoint Hellsing fans. While volume 3 introduced the Millennium organization and the character of the Major, the viewer learns in volume 4 just why Millennium exists and just how insane the Major’s reasoning for attacking actually is.

If you know about the Hellsing Ultimate series, then you should know that this has nothing to do with the original anime post-Valentine brothers. So, no crappy overpowered Incognito villain to almost kill Alucard. Instead, the servant of the Hellsing Organization must battle against the Third Reich’s last battalion, a thousand-vampire army with the goal of creating war. And, indeed, war is what they get.

Instead of giving you, the reader, a long synopsis of the episode and giving away everything that happens in the fifty-minute OVA, I’ll just briefly summarize the important plot points. The OVA starts directly after Ultimate III, with Alucard having just recently killed Alhambra and learning about Millennium’s plans for full-scale war. While this is going on in Brazil, Enrico Maxwell and the Iscariot Organization learn about Millennium through an old priest who corroborated with them during the experimentation process to create a vampire army. The organizations (Hellsing and Iscariot) meet, and eventually, the Queen of England gives Hellsing the green light to wage war against Millennium. However, Millennium has already declared war on England and launched two squads to attack England. Most of the army is launched as a primary fighting battalion set to land in London, while a small group is launched to provoke an attack. Leading the second group is this volume’s main villain, First Lieutenant Rip van Winkle, the huntress.

Using her power to control a magic bullet to continuously weave through the enemy and rip through metal, Rip and a fraction of the Millennium vampires kill the crew of a British naval vessel and claim it as their own. Of course, England will not tolerate this attack and asks the Hellsing Organization to deal with this problem. After tons of one-sided fighting (i.e., Alucard ripping the nameless vampires to shreds), it is time for the climactic battle between Rip and Alucard. Unfortunately, this battle lacks the same amount of adrenaline-pumping action the previous three volumes had in their respective climactic battles. Alucard, though, does still revel in his “bad-assery” during the fight.

While the whole OVA is an enjoyable watch, Geneon saved the best for last. The very last scene of the OVA features the Major delivering his famous “I Love War” monologue to the Millennium battalion just before landing in England. As he continued to ramble on about why he loves war so much, I became enthralled by his passion and wanted to hear everything. This is definitely one of the highlights of the OVA. And, if you think just watching the speech is good, then you are in for a treat. The Limited Edition OVA set’s second special-feature disc holds, in my mind, the best extra to ever be put on an anime DVD: a six-minute version of the Major’s speech… karaoke style.

If you are a major fan of the Hellsing series, you’ve probably already seen the OVA, and are awaiting the next episode to be released. If you are a fan of the dub, one of the best because of the use of English (and now German-English) accents, then you will most likely purchase the OVA as well. However, if you are not yet a Hellsing fan and you like copious amounts of blood, gore, vampires and guns, then this is definitely the series for you.