Jeoffrey

This show is basically the same old bullshit that is quite cute and occasionally funny. There are a few new and quite interesting characters, even though I think Chidori is still easily the best. Plus, it gets some merit as a history lesson, and I would definitely enjoy learning this way. So no significant change from the first season in terms of my impressions. 6.7/10.

This show was awesome, beautiful, and simply fabulous! I was already immensely in love with the first season, and once again, this show more than succeeded in being great. I was a little dubious at first because in the first season I loved the frantic pace and the energy that was a rollercoaster ride. I also loved the exciting and, in my opinion, very well-developed narrative. It probably was not as detailed or developed; however, it was an excellent fantasy tale. It definitely stood up and fulfilled my expectations of a great fantasy show, and of course, I liked the characters. I admired the outstanding animation and soundtrack. I think the whole first season just worked really well, as expected. In other words, I still remember the first Rage of Bahamut: Genesis anime television series fondly and can easily recall most of the characters. It was well-paced, it had a good atmosphere, and it was enchanting and enthralling. Now, back to the follow-up and my initial doubts. I was pretty surprised that the pacing is a lot looser. At first, they explored everything a lot more and deeper, and there were many times when I thought I was missing some proper action scenes. Furthermore, I really missed the character Favaro. At first, I thought Nina was a kind of poor version as a main protagonist (or maybe a substitute.). However, it gradually became clear that everything has a good reason behind it, and the narrative sets the stage for everything it wants to say and show, and Nina has a lot to offer. Throughout this season, she managed to push herself so far that I started to like her a lot. Plus, everything the screenwriters have dreamed up worked well. The atmosphere works; it has a sophisticated and well-thought-out narrative and an emotional love story full of memorable scenes. For example, every dance I watched put another nail in the coffin of a certain other anime series I also watch that also deals with dancing. Thanks to the great animation and soundtrack, the whole narrative was fascinating, heartfelt, and to my utmost satisfaction. Then there is the conclusion itself which is intense and dynamic. Ultimately, the ending is utterly satisfying, including the final epilogue and the post-credits scene. This show is how fantasy anime series are supposed to be produced. This show has my admiration which is all the greater considering the subject matter is a pretty ordinary online card game. This anime series shows how to write a screenplay and create an atmosphere so people can enjoy everything nicely. The characters were again excellent, the animation was breathtaking in places (so I am going to let the CGI go), and the soundtrack was once again fabulous, including both the opening and ending. In the end, I am completely satisfied. It renewed my enthusiasm, and I am awarding a big 10/10.

Convenience Store Boy Friends is an utterly mediocre romantic anime series about two couples finding their way to each other - one way is too long-winded and the other is too complicated. For the most part, the narrative is either fairly predictable or full of tropes, and even the intensely romantic moments that would make me feel something were woefully relatively sparse. The couple, Mishima and Mashiki, who I have renamed to "I am not going to squeeze it out myself" as a working title, were much less entertaining than Honda and the student council president. Even the supposedly emotional conclusion, which again contained a pretty traditional storyline resembling those from trashy romance novellas, could not change that fact. 5/10.

As the title suggests, Gamers! is not an anime series that is just about a passion for gaming, but focus on video game players themselves. We, therefore, see only a bit of the actual gaming and the video games themselves. Only the opening itself is really pleasing because we can catch a glimpse of some old-school video game classics. Sure, there is a lot of chatting about video games, because real enthusiasts do like to talk amongst themselves about their hobbies. The last episode might explain what is so great about these video games; however, that is about it. As the title does not suggest, Gamers! is mainly a romantic comedy, a narrative concerning four gaming enthusiasts and an ordinary girl falling in love and dealing with all the things that go with a love story. So, therefore, being a comedy, the main companion of all the fun this time is summed up in one word, misunderstanding. Seriously, if the characters had talked more and openly discussed their feelings with the object of those feelings, most of the situations dealt with here would have been resolved quietly. However, then there would probably not really have been anything to watch. So, for my part, I guess in the end, I was happy for all the relatively simple jokes and reasonably breezy humor, all the entanglements, and the possible romantic relationships that could have come about, even though it was clear from the start who was going to be with whom. This show made sitting around and chatting about video games fun, albeit quite simple. 6/10.

Clione no Akari probably wants to be an interesting and melancholy spectacle. It probably wants to impart some lesson regarding that to its audience, even though it fails on several levels. First of all, the narrative lacks any kind of intensity, something that would arouse any sort of emotion in someone like me. In other words, I could not sympathize with the main female protagonist and the other characters. Part of this show is spoiled because the whole of the narrative is chopped up into such short chunks, so it does not really have a chance to have any real impact. However, even so, it does not seem to be trying too hard. I could not really feel any of the main female protagonist's pain, and so I could not feel any sympathy for her. I could not see the effort and struggle of any of the characters enough to make a real difference, and so I lacked the desire to start rooting for any of them. A friendship gradually starts between the characters, even though that development does not really solve anything. To bring things to the desired conclusion, an element of mystery is introduced. In other words, some supernatural forces intervene in the lives of the main protagonists. However, as good as this might sound, even this element is not very convincingly incorporated due to the poor writing of the screenplay. I found the overall feel of this anime series was about the same as if a complete stranger just said, "Bullying is bad." to me with a serious face, without any real explanation of what that meant and just buggered off. I probably would have said to myself at that point: "Well, sure..." and not given it another thought. Well, if I ever needed to be convinced that bullying is awful, I would watch A Silent Voice again. Clione no Akari is not exactly a bad anime; I did find the animation quite amiable; I even enjoyed the soundtrack quite a bit in places too. It is just damn underdeveloped, and overall it just could not convince me in any real way. 4.5/10.

At first, I could not believe that the second season could be better than the first, and during the very first episode, I almost wondered if I was simply watching an OVA. I doubted if the second season would be in the vein of supposedly ordinary and perhaps even random narratives concerning the background of a company making new games with female protagonists I was already familiar with. Gradually, however, it became clear that the second season would once again have a coherent concept and narrative. In the end, it also convinced me that it was slightly better than the first season. A significant part of this has to do with the two new characters that joined the team. They contrasted beautifully with the existing members, perhaps making it easier to see how the main protagonist had moved on. The contradictions between the couples Aoba x Momiji and Narumi x Nene showed some interesting aspects of working relationships and their approaches to work. However, when someone like me can understand both sides, then no one is actually the bad guy. On top of that, this anime series still manages to convince people of the passion everyone involved has and their love for what they do. The fact that it is pretty amusing sometimes and still gratifying (because many of the characters are indeed endearing) still holds true (the first season had these attributes as well). Regarding the soundtrack, I liked the opening very much, even though the rest of the music was not as appealing. Another thing that impressed me more than the first season was the game the girls were creating, this time, I even felt like I wanted to play PECO. The ending was good, too; it was emotional, although it did not feel as overdone as in some other anime series. So, in the end, the second season of New Game! is better, and if I had to try and put it in one word, it is just much more considered. 7.5/10.

It is hard for me to rate this anime series because there are many things I found interesting, even though at the same time, after the final episode, I am not quite sure what this anime series will leave me with. What I definitely want to remember was the setting. The idea of the Berlin Wall relocated to London, and the whole location of industrial England, in general, was very charming. Then again, I would quite like to forget all the nonsense about the Cavorite and the fact that the main protagonist uses it to fly. The Cavorite was unnecessary after all, and even without the main protagonist flying, it would still be a decent spy-thriller anime series. I mean, even the individual cases were not so badly thought out, the spies’ work was portrayed quite realistically and interestingly at some points. I, therefore, could not understand why they shoved a useless thing that was not even used that often (I mean, I certainly did not get the impression that we could not live without it). Another thing I was quite pleased with were the characters as they became more likable with each passing episode. Quite possibly, it was the fact that some episodes tried to be emotional and move me besides all the investigations, deceit, and conspiracies, and sometimes they succeeded. However, there was also a certain revelation that I had been suspecting, which really pleased me. It proved that someone was trying hard when writing the screenplay. Of course, if they had put adult women instead of young Lolita girls, it would probably have been much more believable, more adult, and it would have worked out much better. On the other hand, however, I am probably the last one to mind the Lolita girls in the lead role because I found them likable. As I have already written, I felt that someone went to quite a lot of trouble with the narrative, characters, and descriptions of the spies’ work. They, therefore, managed to convince at least one viewer that watching this anime series was worthwhile, interesting, and even very good at times. The conclusion itself may not have been that intense, and I did not feel very moved (or rather the wall around my heart still holds firm), even though it was not actually a bad conclusion either. I liked the animation, and I had no problem with the soundtrack. I do not know if I am rooting for 3Hz animation studio, but once again, I was quite impressed with their production. So, I am going to leave the fourth star there. 6.7/10.

They say there are miracles everywhere, and I think the biggest one for me was finishing this anime series! I was sort of subconsciously convinced that it was going to be a supposedly miraculous pile of nonsense from the first episode. Simply the fact that two priests go to investigate one miracle and within twenty minutes there are about five more of them was causing me to stop finding it believable. Furthermore, the miracles kept increasing with each episode; everything was constantly unnaturally dramatized and convoluted that I could not believe that they would ever reasonably get out of it. All this was mainly to conclude the first narrative, which I do not think I am ever going to forget! The point of it all, and who was behind it was so incredibly B-movie-Esque, plucked out of thin air. It aimed to leave as much of a surprising effect as possible, and I was rolling around with laughter. Any positive impression went definitively in the bin, and I was entertained by the fact that I expected it to be bad, even though I had not expected it to end that way. Any seriousness was gone, and I was waiting to see what would happen next. After a brief interlude, there was another narrative stretched over a few episodes, with everything basically repeating itself; only the word MIRACLE was replaced by the word PROPHECY. Suddenly prophecies were everywhere, and everything was again getting more and more convoluted, so I was waiting to see what "brilliant" outcome they would come up with this time. They did not disappoint me, and I had a great time with the absurdity. Plus, by consistently watching all these episodes, I have also confirmed that another thing that scares me about this anime series is that most of the characters strike me as somehow strangely unlikable. Still, I was eagerly awaiting the last episode, and there was a part that felt like it was lifted from a sub-par horror movie. Once again, everything got messed up and convoluted, and the conclusion was actually quite weak this time compared to the previous ones. I was disappointed that after two absolutely brilliant nonsense movies, they came up with something this plain stupid, or rather not so shocking. So the last episode came along, and I was not expecting anything great because they probably would not wish to cram a new big case into one episode. Well, the conclusion was typically emotional and philosophizing on the subject of those real miracles. However, it did not do anything special for me and did not improve my impression of it much. So I guess the only thing this anime series gave me that I enjoyed was the anticipation of whatever bullshit they were going to explain everything with this time. As a positive thing (especially for a show that does not consider itself a comedy), that is a great big bummer. 2.5/10.

Starting a show in the middle of a story may seem like nonsense; however, if you have ever heard of something called "Monkey King" or even "Journey to the West" then you are going to have a pretty good head start and can get the hang of it pretty quickly. If not, just a quick introduction to the plot via the table of contents and just take it as a quartet of rather distinctive characters going on an epic road trip, this time to kick some demon king's ass. Or, ideally, start with the first anime series from 2003. I did not know that existed, though, so I was a bit thrown off at first by what was going on. Fortunately, I still got my bearings quickly, and because of the fact that the bunch of main protagonists is really quite likable and it is full of decent fight scenes, I made it through until the end quite easily. The show does not have a complicated narrative by any means, plus the flashbacks from the past that come in make even that part pretty well understandable. So even though it should probably not start in the middle, in this case, it works pretty well, and I would rate this anime series the same way (in an easy way). 6/10.

Sakura Quest contains a pleasant narrative concerning a group of young women and their efforts to revitalize and raise awareness of a small village in Japan. Along the way, we are presented with lots of ideas to revive tourism, wake up the sleepy village, and make it more visible in the general public's eyes. Some are pretty silly, some naive, and some quite good. We watch as all the characters slowly find themselves and discover what is really important together with the other residents throughout the journey. Because of the really good conclusion, I thought, as a viewer, it ended up working quite well. It is kind of understated and a little bit wacky, even though it is still quite enjoyable for a single viewing, and while it is not very dynamic or suspenseful, it is still OK. All the girls are quite endearing, and their efforts make the viewer happy because the main aspect of the fight is not to give up. Plus, there is a fairly decent mix of tradition and relentless progress, and finding out that you need to remember what was, although also be able to adapt and learn from anything new, feels like the right way forward indeed. Thanks to the final episodes, which wrapped things up really well, the authors managed to convey their message, which was quite emotional. I will increase my rating to a weak four stars in the end because I found it satisfying and in the words of their local poet Sandal: "All is well, that ends well." - 6.8/10.