The Citadel

 

I don’t usually care for FPS games at all but after seeing a few pictures of The Citadel I was very captivated by it. It’s made by a single developer and he’s also a fan of Blame! so I pretty much had to play it. There’s a very unusual charm about this title, I can’t really put my finger on it. It’s a super violent shooter, all the enemies are either weird biotech creatures or female soldiers, you seem to be walking around this futuristic endless city and you’re there to kill angels, destroy the false god and set people free… by spilling their guts all over the floor. Like I said, I don’t usually care for FPS games but as you can see by my quick description it’s a rather unique game and it loosely reminds me of Baroque, that old title for the Sega Saturn. In there you also have all these odd elements and you pretty much don’t quite know what the hell is going on.

I finished the first 3 acts on my own but when I realized it was going to be a fairly repetitive thing, I just used a cheat and finished the rest with the best weapon in the game. Maybe I don’t really appreciate FPS gameplay but the first 3 acts were quite enough for me. I was still interested in the story so I wanted to continue but couldn’t stomach to slowly crawl my way through hordes of deadly enemies to see it. This game is not hard by the way, but you need to take it slowly. The enemies are not particularly intelligent but that could easily be explained by the brainwashing done to them by the false god. All they do is walk forward and shoot. The way it works with this game is you have to take the enemies one by one pretty much. If you just run in there without any caution you’ll get shot to smithereens, so it can be a slog sometimes. Then again, maybe it’s me and people who do like FPS games will like this one a lot.

It’s a pity that there isn’t much dialogue or any plot exposition. You’ll have to assume most of the story since there’s only a couple of people you can talk to and the dialogue is very limited, maybe 20 or 30 sentences total. To me the world was the most intriguing part of this game and I would have enjoyed a little more plot exposition here and there. Gameplay is very similar to the original Doom but a little bit more smooth I think.

Along with the weird world and the interesting graphics, the music is really, really good. I can’t remember a single bad bgm for this, every single one is really fun and enhances the whole experience of going through this super violent, super depressing neon future. I think people who actually enjoy this genre would really be able to appreciate this. I had a lot of fun with it myself. It’s one of those games that don’t particularly excel in any aspect but just the combination of its parts create this charming, rather odd experience.

メイドさんを右にミ☆ (Super Zangyura)

 

 

I just finished playing メイドさんを右にミ☆ or Super Zangyura as I just found out there’s an English release for this. Not sure what the English title means but it’s not a translation of the original one. Anyway, this is an almost 20 yo doujin game remade for the consoles. It’s a rather interesting game that plays like Castlevania but I feel like deep down, at least visually, it kinda wanted to be more like a gothic Megaman. In general the game looks more colorful and optimistic than any Castlevania title and the characters tend to be cute instead of monstrous.
 
The story here is that every century Dracula wakes up and the land gets filled with monsters, so the people call for a vampire hunter and instead of Van Helsing they get a young lady dressed as a maid and capable of handling a gigantic ball and chain flail about her size, so you know she must be right for the job. There are 5 main areas divided in several rooms filled with spikes, falling platforms that will crush you, and huge chess pieces wandering around eager to hurt you. Also flying jack-o'-lanterns, lots of them.

This game is not exactly hard, as far as doujin games go but it can be if you play it without patience. The way some things work in this game can really destroy your run if you’re not careful. First, meido-san (I called her Mei on my save file, it’s fitting) doesn’t have an invulnerability period when she gets hit, meaning she can get stuck and continue to get hit until dying. This happens often if you’re not careful and there are several spots during the game that it can happen. Best policy is not to get hit at all, just to be safe.

Then, your common attacks with the flail don't go across walls and doors (unless you swing it overhead but that takes a few seconds so you can’t always use it) but the jacks can go across any part of the stage, this causes the problem where you’ll attack them but the flail will hit a wall, giving ample time for the jack to do some damage. This would not be a problem but since many stages have a very limited space, very often you’ll find yourself in very close range of several enemies at once. This is not exactly an issue, just something you need to get used to.

The music is nice but it’s too fast paced for me and for the game, too, sometimes. It gives me a little bit of anxiety to be honest. The graphics are quite nice, I really like the animation for the main character. The designs are a little bit like 90s anime of sorts and that’s my thing too, so I enjoyed it. All in all I’m definitely happy I found out about this game, I enjoyed it enough that I’m currently trying to finish it on hard mode now. They mean it, it is hard. My only complaint is how short it is, soo all it's left up to do is to get better at the few stages available. You can probably finish this in about an hour or so.

Umihara Kawase Fresh!

 

I had a blast with Umihara Kawase Fresh! I feel like not enough people appreciate this game. I finished it yesterday but my library is still missing some items and there are 4 or 5 enemies I haven’t encountered yet, so I went looking for a FAQ or guide to the missing stuff but to my surprise there is none. There’s barely any content at all about this game out there. So I’m slowly replaying it from beginning to end in order to find everything by myself. It’s better this way really, that way I can enjoy it all over again.

I find this is my favorite Umihara title yet. The way you make progress now is by completing quests in an open world ripe for exploration. Fresh! is huge compared to the rather smaller stages of the previous entries, which makes it more fun not only to explore but to try to solve the difficult jumps and pulls in a lot of different ways. Gameplay is pretty much the same but this time you can enhance your abilities by eating certain types of dishes. You learn that by completing quests that grant different food recipes. They’ll grant you boosts like jumping higher or a longer fishing line.

Also there’s a plot now and several characters. You can skip everything with no detriment to your enjoyment of this game but it’s nice that they put it out there anyway. I enjoyed it throughout. This time, Kawase is a traveling chef working at a particular restaurant and many of the quests are about you finding ingredients or doing some delivery. It’s just an excuse to get you out there in the field to do some tricky jumps with your fishing line and hook. It’s not only that though and the plot suddenly takes a much more interesting turn by midgame. Even Cotton shows up eventually. Now, I’m a fan of the Cotton games so I was pleasantly surprised when it happened. Also, after you finish the main story with Kawase, you get an extra set of fields to play as Cotton on her quest to fetch some candy. I found all of this to be a very nice addition to the whole thing. I would be happy with the classic Umihara gameplay by itself.

The only thing I didn’t quite like was the graphics. It works just fine, but I kinda liked the original one and Sayonara a little better. There’s nothing wrong with it but the world now is much less surreal and mysterious. They also added a hunger feature here that works like a soft timer to the quests but if you’re like me who likes to harvest all the stuff that shows up around you, you’ll have all the time in the world.

Music is pretty good, it fits perfectly in this game. It’s relaxing enough and not distractive, so it works. I feel like the BGM for this really helps to not be overly frustrated when something goes wrong and if you played any Umihara game you know it will happen a lot. One particular quest took me a few hours doing the same 4 or 5 platforms over and over again. If you don’t have that patience you can always prepare a pizza or a burger on the fly to increase your jump or something and that will make things easier. If you still can’t make it, after you unlock Cotton you can play all quests as her and she can fly around for a few seconds which makes the entire game a lot easier. Not easy, just easier. Still, I feel like this is one of the most accessible games in the franchise.

All in all I really loved this title. Definitely one of my favorite games now. The combination of hard, sometimes brutal platforming, endearing characters, colorful environment, relaxing tunes and throwing Cotton in an Umihara game when I was not expecting it at all really made it for me.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

 

I just finished Kirby and The Forgotten Land. I became a fan of Kirby maybe just 6 or 7 years ago, exploring the GB, SNES and N64 games. I never bothered to try them out back when I had those consoles. Kirby games never really interested me but since playing many of them, they’ve grown on me quite a bit. You kinda have to understand what they are first, though. You’re there to appreciate cute characters huffing around, colorful and relaxing little worlds and happy music. It’s all leisurely and relaxing, There’s no timer, no urgency of any kind. It’s just you and Kirby walking around magic caves, green fields, around mountains and other such beautiful places.

I’ve seen a lot of people saying this game is too easy so let me address that for a second. Look at the character design, the way the stages look and just the general atmosphere of this game. Now tell me what the target audience for this title is. Of course it’s easy, it’s a game for school children, you’re not playing Kirby to improve your platforming skills, you’re there to take a stroll with Kirby while some catchy tune is playing in the background and a soft breeze goes by. You’re there to enjoy yourself. Maybe it’s difficult for 9 yo but it’s probably not going to pose much of a challenge for you. Also, as a side note, it makes sense it’s easy. Kirby is the most powerful creature in the universe. He can actually gulp down a black hole without breaking a sweat (check the manga), so keep that in mind while you’re playing this game.
Yeah it’s too easy at times, so why play it at all? First it has all that relaxing, cute atmosphere and endearing characters I told you about. If you like that it’s reason enough, but there’s something else. For me, playing Kirby is like having a small window into how children perceive the world in a way. The innocence of Kirby’s universe grows on you and it feels nice to be part of it, even if it’s for a little while. Speaking of which, this game is quite big as far as Kirby games go, so you’ll be in there for a while. It was quite a pleasant playthrough for me.

I my opinion this is one of the best 3D titles of the series. Back when they released the trailer I thought they were going to try to turn yet another cherished series into an open world full of nothing but I’m happy to report they didn’t. It’s a lighthearted platformer with lots of different environments to explore, a lot of collectables (there are over 200 capsule toys to collect in this game) and many interesting enemies to interact with. Also there are tons of minigames this time, a lot more than in any other Kirby title.

As far as difficulty goes, this game is not difficult but still can pose a challenge, especially on the several time attacks. Some of those I still can’t beat under the required time (it’s not necessary though, you just get a few extra coins for your effort just finishing them is enough). Since the platforming is not difficult, you’ll have plenty of time and peace of mind to wander around looking for the lost Waddle Dees. They’re scattered and lost all around the stages and it’s funny how some are hidden right under your nose and still you can’t find them. The plot is simple enough, and doesn't even need its own paragraph. One day, a vortex swapped the land and many Dees got sucked into another dimension. You go in in order to find and rescue them.

The music is fantastic. All the tracks are readily available on YT and you can check it for yourself. I particularly liked the music for the Wondaria stages, which are absolutely brilliant. They have that nostalgic Kirby tune to it but introduces something new and catchy as well. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHv3vWHbgPw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yq_8thBr98 and tell me if that doesn’t sound pretty good indeed. The Winter Horn world music is pretty good too, like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw_SIdt3vfE .

So all in all I’m very happy to see how well this Kirby game came out. It really stayed true to its nature and managed to add a lot to the series. I hope they make another one soon.

Princess Maker 5

In Princess Maker 5 you are  the legal guardian of a ten-year-old girl. She’s the only daughter of a royal bloodline and the center of a political dispute that quickly escalated into open war. Surrounded by enemies and fearing for her safety, you take her far away, into another dimension, to the land of early 2000s Japan, in order to give her a safe and decent upbringing. Cube, your loyal servant and friend, is there with you. You bond as family. Your new life begins.
 
I just finished my very first run of this game. This is the first PM I played and the first raising sim game I played as well. I’ll say the most important thing right away. This title needs your complete devotion. It plays like a casual game but it needs your complete emotional investment in order for it to work. I think this is why it’s a rather niche sort of game. I don’t think many people could play this to the end and the reason is simple; Gameplay is pretty much looking at stat numbers slowly rising while the same sequence of short animations play over and over again. It is repetitive, slow and mostly uneventful. Yet, this is one of the best games I’ve ever played. How is that possible?

Like I said, it all depends on your emotional investment. For the past several days I did nothing but play this. I would close the game and think about my decisions and how to make the life of this girl under my custody better. A lot better. In fact I was aiming for a beautiful childhood. This was the point that appealed the most to me and what made me enjoy this game so much; the possibility to provide someone with a meaningful, wonderful childhood.

As such, my gameplay was guided completely by roleplay. I didn’t look up any guides or tips on how to improve this or that stat or what to do in order to get this or that ending, I didn’t care about the numbers so much. I wanted to experience this game in a completely organic manner, mistakes and all. For example, I allowed my protégé to continue to attend music classes long after she mastered the skill, just because her best friend also attended there. I figured that’s what she would like, given the fact she only had that single friend during that time. This is how I made every choice in this game and it was completely worth it. I was completely invested in the task of raising this girl and it made every consequence very meaningful to me personally as a player.

If this is the type of thing that sounds appealing to you, then there’s only one problem to overcome with Princess Maker 5 and that is the gameplay. It’s a raising sim and that means creating a routine for your daughter is fundamental to her upbringing. This game will make you feel what a routine is like. You’ll watch every single week of an eight years period, as she goes to class, attends extracurricular activities, extra courses, cram school, do tests, club activities and later, part time jobs and everything else in between. You’ll help her pick birthday presents for her friends year after year and you better remember which friend is which. It is repetitive and I even feel asleep a few times (if you watch my streams, on rare occasions you’ll see the mouse cursor running offscreen. That’s because I dozed off for a few seconds) but the repetitiveness of it gives it the proper weight of reality and gives you the time to actually care about the game and with some luck, you’ll end caring a lot and having a fascinating experience with it.

Graphics are beautiful. I love the character design and the animations. It has that appeal of early 2000s anime like Toradora, Soul Eater and Haruhi Suzumiya. It has a sort of quiet charm about it, can’t really explain it but the visuals add a lot to this game. The music is so good I consider it to be a good enough reason to at least play a couple hours of PM5. It’s relaxing, engaging and quite beautiful in its own right. In fact I predict I’ll continue to listen to some of those BGM for years to come.

Only one thing bothered me while playing this game and it’s the lack of character development for many of the characters, particularly the students. There’s just not enough events in there for everybody. The few that there are are really nice to follow and read about, but it’s too little. It took me about 50 hours to finish this, I completed the entire ‘arc’ of several students and there’s just not enough text for them, they deserve a lot more dialogue, a lot more things going on in their lives. I can well imagine a Princess Maker game being enhanced this way by adopting a little bit of VN gameplay. It would be absolutely perfect. In my opinion it’s the only thing missing really.

I think that summons up my experience with PM5. A beautiful, precious gem of a game that maybe requires a very specific type of player to really enjoy it, but if you’re one of the lucky few, man, you’re in for some very good times with it.

ヤンキーショタとオタクおねえさん / Yankee Shota to Otaku Oneesan

 

 

There's a fair amount of titles running on Gangan right now that have otaku characters filled with inside jokes about the tropes of the industry. Yankee Shota to Otaku Oneesan is, in my opinion, the best of the bunch right now. This is the tale of a fujoshi and shotacon (2D only of course) woman called Kazuko and her neighbor, Ryuou, a 3D shota (from her perspective) that starts to follow her around for reasons she doesn't understand.

It's a very light and fun comedy and Kazuko in particular is quite a hilarious character with her mannerisms and excessive inhibitions. There's a balance here between the funny moments that centers around the interactions between the main characters, and the more drama-like aspects of the story, centered around Ryuou relationship with his parents. They're good people but maybe not the best parents in the world. Don't worry though, it never reaches the point of tragedy, so you can read it always hoping to finish the volume in a good, uplifting mood.

If you like to watch socially inept women forced into social interaction, and you want the comedic aspect of those interactions expressed, then you'll certainly enjoy this title, because that's what this is at its core. Liking meta jokes about the anime and manga industry tropes will also help you out here. Like I said, there are several titles like this running right now, but to me, what makes this one the best is Kazuko and how likable she can be without trying too hard. There aren't any absurd moments purely for comedy (like with Watamote), her reactions seem more genuine and this adds a certain tenderness to it that really gives this title the edge.

祟りバイト / Curse part-time job

 

This one has an interesting premise. Two college students hear about this part-time job being offered at a small rural community. They don't know much about it but assume it must be related to the harvest. The village is in an archipelago that can only be reached by plane. The job is only for a few weeks and expenses are covered, including food and shelter. Since they don't have anything better to do and money is money, they decide to accept the offer and check this whole thing out.

Already you can see this is sorta the Wicker Man situation and the first part of the novel plays a little bit like it, where the main characters go around getting to know more about this weird village in the middle of nowhere. The village elder explains to them that they will be performing pranks that look like hauntings around to scare people a little bit and put them in the mood for the Repose of the Soul festival that is coming up. If it were me I would catch a plane right back because that sounds quite illegal. Of course this can't happen, otherwise we wouldn't have a story, so they accept.

The second part becomes a monster story, a mix of big-foot thing with a touch of supernatural but we never get to see the monster. In fact we know very little about it and much of its nature is left to the reader's imagination. Some times it looks like it's a new type of animal, other times it looks like it's a demonic thing. There's a couple subplots in there involving monks, another student and the real intentions of the village elder but none of those are really explored. I guess the author might have planned this as a series but it never caught enough interest. This was released in 2016 and yet I have not found a single review of this LN anywhere. Sure it's your average horror pulp, not an amazing read but it doesn't deserve to be completely ignored, either. It could use some illustrations, too.

幽談 - Ghost Stories

 

A collection of horror short stories by Mr. Natsuhiko. I'm sorry to say I quit after the second story. They're not bad stories,  just not horror for the most part and horror is what I was looking when I picked this one up. The stories here are very sparing of fantastical and horror elements.

Take the first story for example, 手首を拾う (Picking up a wrist). Most of it is the main character reminescing about his wife and talking about the trail to the inn he'll be staying. The fantastical element happens in 4 sentences and it's over. It feels tangential at times.

There's a lot of build up through environment description and reminiscencing of characters that maybe are not that reliable. I didn't feel like the fantastical twists and the horror crunch was enough to give this stories enough dread. Again, not bad, but the horror is few and far between and not particularly imaginative. I'll have to come back in the right mood for it.

キミはキメラ 隠遁者の夜明け / Ur Chimeric - Hermit's Dawn

 

The story is about a hiki that one day gets an offer to work at a biolab doing pretty much everything, from cleaning to bringing coffee. His main task though is taking care of a chimera. Right there I have a problem with this book. The very first pages are illustrations of all characters and their names, including the monsters. I know most LN do this but in this case, with a plot that's supposed to be a mystery, this is really ill-advised. They literally give away one of the key mysteries of the plot on the first page of the book. I kept thinking maybe there was going to be a twist and the thing that's supposed to be inside the box we saw earlier and that the main character spends half the book wondering about is not going to actually be the creature the first page shows but nope, it was exactly that. I don't get this but what do I know.

The story itself is nice for the most part, there's a couple of twists there I didn't see it coming. The story is mostly divided between the internal monologues of the main character, Haruhara, and his daily work of taking care of a supposedly highly intelligent chimera creature. His monologues are pretty much him being extremely thankful to have a job now and how the person who hired him saved his life from being a hiki forever. This excessive gratitude plays on later into the plot but it's still not that interesting. His work with the chimera was more entertaining and somehow it didn't get repetitive while I was reading it but in retrospect I guess it is.

Still, an overall enjoyable read for those looking for a quick modern fantasy fix.

寺ガール / Tera Girl

 

Tera Girl or Temple Girl if you want a literal translation, is about three sisters whose father is a Buddhist priest. The family lives in the temple and each one has their own view of that sort of life and responsability. The only one really invested in the whole thing is the middle sister, Hikari, so everyone in the family has a lot of hope on her inheriting the grounds and continue the family tradition.

Hikari is actually OK with it until she falls in love with a boy in her school. This new situation brings all sorts of conflicting emotions in her life and what we get to follow in this short work by famous author Mizusawa Megumi is how she deals with it and how it affects those around her.

There's a solid premise here and the characters are filled with life. They all possess that emotional sensitivity that makes them a joy to know more about. Really the only problem is how short this is, only three volumes long, which I think was not enough time to develop the full potential of this plot and characters. 

The art is really, really good and if you're into the shoujo style of the later 80s and 90s, you'll love it. This is one of the best examples of that way to draw manga. The characters look endearing and adorable, all of them. Mizusawa Megumi is really good at drawing portraits and making them alive and emotional.

This is a good introduction to her works. It's nice, it's short and a very enjoyable read. If you don't feel like going through Hime-chan's Ribbon just yet, this little title here is the perfect start for this author's oeuvre.

日常 / Everyday

 

Nichijou is a sol with a lot of over-the-top humor. There's a lot of insane stuff going on here, all of it combined with a soothing atmosphere. I feel like the best material however is used in the first half of the episodes and the other half feels a little bit repetitive, though the Nano's story having some closure about her wish to go to school and be more human was really nice to watch and wrapped things up great.

The show is mostly a set of sketches divided between Hakase, Sakamato and Nano in one side and  Mio, Yuuko and Mai on the other. There's also lots of other supporting characters that have their own little stories here and there which is always amusing.

There's a lot of Buddhism references here and lots and lots of wordplay, so if you're watching this with English subs on you'll be missing a good number of jokes but you don't actually need to get all the jokes to really enjoy this. The characters are adorable and fun to follow around. All in all a very entertaining show.

地獄少女 / Hell Girl

 

There's a website you can access at midnight. It's a connection to the underworld. In there, one will find but a single prompt where you can write down someone's name to be quickly dragged to hell. The entity in charge of actually taking the person there is Enma Ai, a high school girl in beautiful kimono sets. That's the premise. Each story we follow a different revenge plot where a person is bullied or have something terrible done to her and that drives him or her to ask for hell girl's assistance.

Hell Girl has a very odd thing about it. The supposedly main character is actually just a minor character that receives no development whatsoever until the very end. On the entire run of this manga, Enma is featured as the main character in maybe 2 or 3 stories. All the other ones she just appears briefly to do the same thing over and over again; drag people into hell. This is rather frustrating given she's the only character connecting all this stories together and someone reading Hell Girl will probably want to know more about Hell Girl. We get some development and resolution for her but it's just not enough in my opinion.

Then there's the problem with many of the stories themselves. They can get very, very formulaic. Student is bullied, contacts Hell Girl, bully is sent to hell. Perhaps that's half the stories here. A few here and there really stands out as being interesting but you really have to be the patient type to reach them all. Hell Girl's friends also get pretty much no exposition even though they should be really important as well. 

I'm glad I read it but I feel I won't be revisiting this title anytime soon nor did it inspire me to pick up the other ones that came after it. The art has its own thing going and might not be to everyone but it certainly has a particular charm to it. I just wish Hell Girl was more about Hell Girl.

千と万 / Sen to Man

 

This is sol at its finest. It's hard to believe this is the only title by the author that is not hentai. He has a lot of insight to offer through his characters. I wonder why he doesn't want to do more in this genre. 

So, Sen to Men is about a single dad, Chihiro, taking care of his teenage daughter, called Shima. Each story is more or less self-contained where we get to see the daily life of this family.

The heart and soul of a sol title is its hability to turn daily life into an interesting story and this is exactly what we get here. Going shopping, going to school, hanging out with friends. This is a very soothing collection of every day life activities and thoughts told in a very entertaining manner. 

The art is amazing and fits perfectly. It's a very elegant, charming style that makes you stop several times to admire a panel or a page or a character's facial reaction. It's a pity it's only 3 volumes long. This could easily go on, there is a lot in this characters that would render a lot more interesting stuff to read. Here's is hoping this author tries something similar again some day.

コタローは１人暮らし / Kotarou wa Hitorigurashi

 

Kotarou wa Hitorigurashi tells the heartwarming every day life of Kotarou, a mysterious kid living completely alone in an apartment complex. His past is shrouded in mystery. How he can afford to live alone? How is it even possible for him to pull this off, since he's only four years old? Little by little we get to know more about Kotarou and his rather unusual circumstances.

Most of the stories is not about Kotarou's past however, but his daily life and the relationship he develops with his neighbors, in particular with struggling manga artist Karino, Mizuki, a hostess at a pub and Tamaru, a rather eccentric individual that really like kids. This is one of those stories where the adults are trying to take care of this child but little by little realize it's Kotarou who are fixing their lives in one way or the other, and it's a delight to watch it happening.

The chapters tell stories that are usually self-contained and they're usually funny or emotive. There are many chapters out there showing Kotarou struggling with the fact he's an orphan. I think the hardest thing to get used here is the art. It's... unique. In fact there's a chapter where Karino is getting flak over his rather unique art and I'm pretty sure that's based on the author's personal experience. Once you get used to it though, this is a really nice read. I feel this manga is like Yotsuba's crazy ugly cousin.

ReLIFE

 

Another anime about high school students. What an anime can possibly offer that's new with this setting? Seems like it's impossible, yet ReLIFE manages to do it. Imagine a school romance that is not developed by a series of misunderstandings, students that can actually express themselves and accurately describe and have conversations about their feelings and problems. That's what we get to watch here.

Kaizaki Arata is a guy down on his luck. After facing serious trouble in his job, he quits and becomes sort of a recluse. One night he meets Yoake, a mysterious character that offers him a lifetime opportunity; an one year contract where he gets to be a high school student again with everything paid and the chance of having getting a full time job if everything goes well at the end. Looks shady but Kaizaki is so drunk and desperate he accepts. Good thing Yoake was actually speaking the truth there.

And thus begin a series of nice character studies that are both interesting and fun to watch. Little by little Kaizaki goes around helping everyone around him. He finds himself in a odd, advantageous position, being 10 years older than everyone. He tries very hard to keep balance between lecturing people and just being friends with them. Fortunately he uses his insight and experience with great sensitivity and care.

It's all the more interesting when we know, and Kaizaki knows, his ReLIFE is only for a year. This rather fleeting moment in his life both makes him feel dejected and the necessity to appreciate and use the little time he has the best way possible. ReLIFE has a very interesting mix of teenage problems and more mature concerns about life in general.

A very wholesome watch. Engaging plot, interesting characters and a nice positive, soothing atmosphere. I'll make sure to read the manga soon.

Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!

 

This Art Club Has a Problem! is not a romance show exactly. A love interest show more like it. Usami likes Uchimaki, but Uchimaki only likes 2D girls. They both meet at the art club and after Uchimaki helps a lost girl on their way back home, Usami begins to like him. Problem is, like I mentioned, he doesn't like 3DPD. Comedy ensue. 

Along with this ride we have the club's president, a senior highschool student that really enjoys sleeping at the club's sofa. I think he might be homeless. We also get Collette, a vibrant, energy-filled girl that we're not sure why she's there but she's pretty funny so they keep her around, and Imari, an otaku and transfer student that is kinda crazy.

It's hard to point exactly why this show is such a nice watch. The art is pretty good and the characters are really endearing. Even minor characters like the Kaori, Sayaka and Ryouko bring a lot to the little moments they come up. You could easily have entire episodes based on the minor characters alone. Same goes to Tachibana, the teacher appointed to be the club's supervisor. 

The show manages to keep up pace and juggle really well all its parts. The comedy, the love interest moments, crazy and nonsense scenes and so on. It's charming and quite entertaining. All characters manage to be quite likable and necessary in their own way. No wonder the manga is going strong for almost 10 years now.

Gabriel DropOut

 

Gabriel DropOut is one of those shows to make your brain go to standby mode. The stories are pretty self-contained and you could watch every episode in any order you like. You have a beach episode, a new year episode, a few school episodes, some dedicated to a particular character and so on, take your pick

Gabriel is an angel that goes to Earth but instead of learning more about humans get lost in an endless session of gaming, slacking and eating crap. Vignette, a very nice demon tries to help her in anyway she can but Gabu is quite a slacker. Satania just wants to beat every angel she meets and acts as the more comedic part of the group. Raphiel is just there to see the world burn and enjoys every second of it.

It's interesting to notice how there are quite a few shows where you have a slacker, hopeless character that is actually very well adjusted. Same happens on Himouto!. You have a character that cares about nothing but ramen and gaming, and yet has friends, a job and goes pretty well in school. Of course this is entertainment and not a critical assessment of anything, but I like how the industry want to depict NEETs and hikikomori people but don't want to follow any of the consequences. Nothing wrong with that though, serious. It's all fantasy, besides, one should NOT be thinking about this, it's a show to make your brain stantby.

It's fun, colorful, silly. I really enjoyed all the characters and most of the situations they find themselves in. Endearing and soothing. 大西さん does a great job playing Vignette here, easily my favorite character. The manga is still ongoing, I might check that out, too.

High Score Girl

 

It's 1992, arcades are booming and Haruo really, really likes Street Fighter 2. His entire life revolves around him waiting to get the chance to go to the arcades and play a whole lot of Street Fighter. One day he's defeated by Oono, the genius, beautiful, perfect student from his class. As they continue to play games together a relationship develops but since this is an anime, neither can fully acknowledge their feelings, nor they can properly express it. You seen this before I'm sure.

High Score Girl has three fronts to speak. It's a slapstick comedy, which I didn't particularly like or dislike, it's just there. Then you have the games. There's a lot of talking about gaming here, which is nice. I happen to be old enough to have visited arcades a lot in the mid 90s so there's a lot of content here for someone like me. 

Then there's the romance part, which starts really well but it gets quite repetitive fairly soon into the series. Oono is kinda of an one-note character. Actually more like a no-note character. She never speakers. I'm pretty sure that's the main reason they introduced Hidaka into the mix, so Haruo has someone to talk to. Oono is the weakest link in this plot. She's not very captivating. In fact she's gone for a few episodes and there's absolutely no loss. If anything, it's better when she's not in it. It's just that when she's around the whole thing becomes very formulaic.

My favorite character is probably Namie, Haruo's mother. She's the only funny character in this and whenever she appears the enjoyment factor goes way up. Overall a nice series and I plan to watch the second season, but I'm glad it's not 12 episodes long this time.

Shinigami no Ballad

 

 

Shinigami no Ballad is a short series of six self-contained stories about Momo, the god of death, her cat Daniel, and their ventures in the human world. All stories involve young people having to deal with the loss in some way or another. This might sound like heavy drama but Shinigami no Ballad manages to tell stories in a fairly lighthearted, soothing way. 

All stories are very well written and have a point to make, which is really refreshing when most anime have a tendency to have scattered plotlines just in case the show gets renewed for a new season. Watching stories that have clean and nice resolutions feels almost like a privilege and I really appreciate it. This is an older anime and it has that early 2000s charm to it. 

The innocent yet brave way these young students deal with loss and receiving a visit from Momo gives  a dreamlike quality to this show that is very appealing and fun to watch. The original material is in fact an series of visual novels but I can't find it anywhere. Hopefully I'll be able to check that material soon.

Girlish Number

 

The main character in this is the cheeky Chitose, an aspiring voice actor. She's a breath of fresh air in this genre where the leads tend to be very wholesome characters. It's not that Chitose is a bad person at all, but she's quite the arrogant, self-centered, brash individual. Her conversations with her brother, Gojou, is by far the most interesting thing in this anime because we get to see how far Chitose can go on thinking very highly of herself.

Girlish Number is a show about a group of voice actors, most of them just getting into the business. We get to see a little bit of their daily lives, talking with the producers, the recordings sessions and the conventions. The characters are interesting enough and the plot gives ample space for character development so it's always fun to follow this people around. 

There's this one scene where the girls meet the author whose's work is the base for the anime they're recording and they do their very best to avoid him. I wonder if this particular scene comes from personal experience or was just a moment of brilliant inspiration. I wish there could be more awkward moments like that between authors and actors.

Gosick

 

It feels like Gosick tries to have everything in there somewhere. This is a 24 episodes long and for half of it it manages to keep its pace. There's a lot to know about the country of Sauville, in particular the Saint Marguerite academy, an elite school that our leads Kujo Kazuya, a Japanese student, and Victorique, the daughter of a cultist (yes there's a lot going on here) attend. Well, Kujo does attend, Victorique is a prisoner there because of her family's involvement in Sauville's political life. She also happens to be a little genius girl with beyond human mistery solving powers. And a pipe that she never actually lights it.

There's also colorful and interesting side characters populating Sauville. Grevil, the police investigator and Cecile, a teacher at the academy are my favorites and always welcome when they show up. Despite having a lot of things to solve, the story here has a tendency to forget about itself. A lot. Many episodes are self-contained tales  but many of them are not particularly interesting, though a couple are really good. Kujo and Victorique go around solving misteries out and about, though the mysteries here are not the type that invites the viewers to solve it. We just get to see Victorique putting random things together that happens to be right because she's the main character. That's her on the cover of course. 

The characters are interesting enough and you do care for them but not even that can conceal the fact that the plot here is spread too thin. That's the biggest fault of Gosick. This would be very good if it had half the episodes so Kujo wouldn't need to go screaming for Victorique up and down for so long. It does get exhausting at certain point. Then the last two episodes come in and solve everything very, very fast and ads a 10 years gap on top of it on its way out. Because it's one of those. There's a good story and good character development here somewhere. This anime is based on a visual novel, maybe it's worth checking that out instead.

New Game!!

 

The second season for New Game!! is pretty much the first season again with a couple of new characters and a little bit more drama. Aoba has a rival now, Momizi, who is also aiming to become the best character designer in the company. Nene is now hired as a part-time programmer. The pairings here change a little bit. Nene is around Ahagon a lot now, since they work on the same booth.

Hifumi is promoted and has to try to overcome her shyness even more. Yun and Hajime get an episode focused on their past but that's pretty much it. The focus here really is around the newcomers, Momizi and her friend, the programmer Tsubame and how they relate to Nene and Aoba. As you might expect, despite some intial friction, they quickly become friends because it's impossible for that not to happen.

There's even less talk about gaming this time. One's enjoyment here really depends on how much you like the new girls. I felt like there was much we could go about the existing characters, particularly Yun and Hifumi, but I guess they weren't popular enough and the author decided to introduce new characters instead. If you liked the first season, the odds are you'll also enjoy the second.

New Game!

 

New Game! is a lighthearted series that follows Suzukaze Aoba, an aspiring character designer as she gets the chance to work on her favorite video game franchise, Fairies Story, a medieval Europe themed (nobody gets tired of those, ever) action adventure RPG. New Game! is one of those shows where everything the characters ever do appears to be cozy, fun, very soothing indeed. Doing overtime for 4 days in a row? Looks fun and cozy. Sleeping under your work desk because you did overtime until 3 AM and have to continue to work from 6 AM on next day to meet deadline? Looks fun and cozy. 

You have your characters here like you usually would have them with this flavor; Aoba is reliable, always happy, sensitive and adorable. Hifumi is reserved, shy and adorable. Yun is friendly, hard working and adorable, Hajime is tomboyish, energetic and adorable... you know. Those types of characters. You know what you're getting yourself into as soon as OP begins. 

You don't have to like video games to enjoy this, but you do need to enjoy cute girls doing cute things because it's one of those and it's pretty good at what it sets out to do. Now, there is a plot here, but much of it goes through the ropes of showcasing the ever evolving relationship between these characters. 

If you're tired of cute girls doing cute things at school but still want to see cute girls doing cute things somewhere else, say, in an office, then this is definitely for you. There's even a second season called New Game!! (notice the extra ! there) because apparently a lot of people can't get enough this crew.

Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!

 

If you like odd duck characters like Tsukimi in Kuragehime and Tomoko in WataMote, then you'll definitely enjoy Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!. This show is centered around Miyako, a social phobia ridden, cosplayer obsessed,  deviant university student. She skips class as much as she can (I assume so, we only see her going to school once), hates going out,  can't go to stores because she can't handle eye contact with the cashier and to make matters worse, she becomes very infatuated with Hana, an 11 years old student, a friend of her young sister, Hinata. Don't worry though, this is one of those pure and wholesome Shoujo Ai shows.

We get to follow Miyako, Hinata and friends as they go around the house playing games, cooking and dressing cosplays made by Miyako. There are very funny moments in there but this is one of those feel-good shows more than it is a comedy. The feeling of progression and story is presented through Miyako trying to (more like being pushed to) become an adult while getting incredibly insightful help and support from a bunch of kids. Hana in particular is very much an adult despite being in a kid's body. Well, at least when it comes to anything else that is not sweets. Give her a cookie and her brain shuts down.

The balance between Miyako weirdness and the moe characters is a great combo. It keeps everything interesting and going forward. This is the perfect anime for people who kinda like moe but can't take too much sweetness without a break. Miyako offers perfectly embarrassing moments to keep you interested. She goes from bribing kids with cookies to almost getting arrested by acting like a complete creep during the summer festival. It's all good though, the kids vouch for her and she's let go. I'm sure it's a memory that will come back to torment her from time to time for all eternity.

It's nice to see how Miyako slowly improves thanks to her sister and friends. She even starts to get popular... not in university of course, but the elementary school students from Hinata's class are convinced she must be the best person ever! I'm not sure about the best ever but you can see she has the potential to become a very sensible, dependable adult. Sometime soon. For now she's pretty much a wreck though, which is fun and cringy to watch. And that's why you would sit through this in the first place.

All the characters are very colorful and bubbly, which is perfect for the tone of the show. Music is nice and equally bubbly. I hope they make a second season soon.

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

 

It's hard to find a more enticing title than Dusk Maiden of Amnesia. It's the perfect title for an anime telling a horror ghost story. However, this show, much like the main character, Yuuko, seems to be suffering from some form of amnesia. It's been a while I've seen a story told in such a scattered, poorly organized manner. Yet you keep watching because the characters looks so nice and the premise is great, too.

The story is about Yuuko, a ghost haunting the grounds of a private school. Niiya and Kanoe, two students attenting the school, are able to actually see Yuuko and interact with her. They then decide to form an unofficial, paranormal investigation club to try and shed some light on Yuuko's mysterious past. This is actually a classic ghost love story. A human falling in love with a being from the Beyond and their love can never be... kinda. You see, it's not always a love story because like I said, the plot suffers from amnesia. 

This show has 12 episodes and we spend over half of it running around witnessing uninteresting tangents, receiving plot points like water slowly dripping from the tap. Again, this is really weird because there's a potentially very interesting story here, so why anyone would do this to us, the viewers? There's an excessive amount of fan service that ends up being annoying because it keep kicking the story down. It drags it to the mud and leave there for 6 or 7 episodes. Then, like Yuuko, the show decides it wants to tell a story again. What I'm saying is the pacing here could be better.

There are very nice moments in there so you stay with it. You can sense there's more to it, and the characters look so good. It has that nice Gangan feel to it. Maybe the problem is Tasogare Otome x Amnesia wants to be too many things. It has a little bit of everything. It goes from horror to comedy and harem, then it wants to be tragic but a stream of comedic moments comes trampling everything down. It gives you a nice ending and then it takes it back again. This show does that a lot, it slaps you in the face on every episode.

Maybe this is one of those cases where the anime wants to cover too much ground to give you a fair idea about the original material. The manga is 10 volumes long, so not a small tale by any means. It's funny, I really wanted to like this more than I did for some reason. I think it's because of the title. The words Dusk Maiden of Amnesia should be reserved just for the best ghost stories out there. This is a decent one and it could be really good with better passing and a less scattered plot.

Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku

 

Wotakoi is a situational comedy for people who enjoy the anime flavor of things. We get to follow two couples around as they work, go have a drink and attend comicon events. The main protagonists in this tale are Nifuji and Momose. Nifuji is an inconspicuous and self-contained gamer. Momose is a fujoshi and manga artist. They start a relationship, seemly out of convenience at first. Despite what the titles implies, their relationship is not hard on them by any means. In fact they get along pretty well. 

The same cannot be said about the second couple, formed by Konayagi, a cosplayer fanatic and Kabakura, a YuriYuri fan and apparently a figure collector (he talks about it a couple of times but we never get to see his collection, which is a bummer to be honest). They often have theatrical arguments over non-life-threatening things like Kabakura not wanting to cosplay as a girl or his refusal to read BL manga. Of course they always manage to overcome their differences and everything ends up being fine, because this is a feel good show.

Talking about feeling good, the comedic sketches here are rarely funny, they're mostly amusing, built for 'feel good' purposes, though occasionally there's a chuckle here and there to be taken. Unlike with the manga, the show doesn't have that many references to otaku culture as the title might suggest. The show revolves a lot more around Momose and Nifuji getting used to be in a relationship on one side, and Konayagi and Kabakura fighting and making amends, on the other. A couple episodes have a lot of references to gaming, a couple others have some manga and anime references but it's mostly a superficial thing that doesn't have to be there for the stories to work out.

This is the perfect palat cleanser for when you finish watching something with a lot of earth threatening monsters, androids fighting aliens, mechas, and teenagers that can fly and destroy buildings with a single punch. The romance is subtle and sparingly used, the characters are likable, distinct and wholesome. I just wish there was more otaku things on Wotakoi. I still can't get over the fact we never get to see the figures hoarded by Kabakura.

Sakamoto desu ga

 

Sakamoto desu ga is a comedy of mostly 10 minute sketches where the main character, Sakamoto, is shown existing as the perfect being to ever grace the planet. He's cool, cooler, the coolest, as the intro suggests. There's nothing he can't do and no situation he can't get out of. His perfection is the running gimmick but there's more going on here than meets the eye.

At certain point, one of students wants to know if it's true that Fukase, one of the bad guys in the show, have lived a thousand human lives before. I believe they should be asking this about Sakamoto as well. It's like he lived every single one of those situations and knows exactly what to do every single time. Sometimes all it takes is bringing an umbrella to the bathroom, but if the situation requires more, like say, riding a typhoon to save a little bird, no problem, he has powers that goes far beyond that of an ordinary human.

I'm convinced Sakamoto is a bodhisattva that have lived a million highschool students' lives before. That's why he can do everything perfectly. That's why he shows perfect compassion and understanding of the human soul. His solutions are not always obvious but it always lead to the best conclusion. For example, at one point, he witness one of his schoolmates, Kubota, having money stolen by a group of hooligans. Later Kubota asks for Sakamoto's help because he's getting mugged so often he's running out of money. Sakamoto doesn't confront the hooligans. Instead, he and Kubota start working at Wcdonald's. He figured if the problem is Kubota is running out of money... This turns out to be the right move for everyone involved.

His perfect loving-kindness means that he actually doesn't have any enemies, just people that doesn't know yet that they want to be friends with him.  This is also a running theme on the show. It's interesting to see how Sakamoto manages to get on everybody's good side acting in inventive, sometimes even tangential ways that ends up making absolutely everything right. 

It's a feel good type of show. It's about friendship, unexpected situations and lots gags. It's about the greatest student who've ever lived, Sakamoto.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

There's a few important aspects I look for when picking a magical girl manga or anime. I believe those aspects are what make the genre special. Is is why it's a genre in the first place. First, the world the story is set in is a world of hope. This means the world has a lot more kindness and goodness than evil and cruelty. Essencially the world is one worth saving and fighting for. Second, the magical girls and their allies are the embodiment of humbleness, selflessness, charity and purity. They may have doubts about several things but their morality, purity of heart and conduct are firmly established. Third, the evil is a temporary state of madness or the temporary result of an injustice to be corrected by the heroes. Basically, evil in the world is a mistake and the result of ignorance, rather than active malignant will.

Shows like Sakura Cardcaptor and Sailor Moon are excellent examples of magical girl shows done right. Endearing, heartwarming, hopeful. The positivity and the restauration of faith in humanity is what magical girl stories is all about. It's no wonder why characters like Sakura and Serena are such popular characters, even after all this time.

Then there is this show called Madoka Magica, the complete and spetacular ruination of all the tenets of the genre. This is on purpose of course. If you're looking for a magical girl anime here, keep looking, this is not it. Madoka Magica sets out to present the precise opposite of all the corner stones of the genre. The only thing they kept positive here is the friendship in between some of the characters and the pure intentions of Madoka, the main character. This is done however so they can suffer more. It's sort of a trap. The rest is all over the walls like splatter of blood from dead magical girls. Because they go there, they kill magical girls. You probably know about this already, this is a very famous show.

What they do is to subvert the three important aspects of the genre as I described above. First, the world this characters live in is not a world of hope. In fact it's pretty bleak and target of even bleaker intentions from outer space. In fact hopelessness is an important part of the plot. Second, the magical girls can be corrupt, uncaring, selfish and even evil. The opposite of what magical girls suppose to be. Third, evil is the result of a calculated risk, not ignorance, in fact, it might be even brought about by pure intelligence.

This is a really interesting show but not because it's a different take on the genre. The story stands on its own and the fact it's a magical girl show on the surface is just for flavor purposes. This story could work even if you removed all the magical girls and replaced them with dogs. Of course there's the plot hole that all stories with time travel have, but really, this is to be expected, and it doesn't detract anything from the story.

My only complaint is that maybe there are 2 or 3 episodes in there that is clearly just gloating about how the show is bleak and sad while adding nothing to the plot itself. The ending is pretty good, though anyone who stops and think about it for a second can see that Madoka is not the smartest girl when it comes to making wishes. This is actually not my cup of tea, but I give credit where credit is due. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is a very good show for what it is and I can see why so many people like it.

Rozen Maiden

Dollfie Dream. Azone. Parabox. If you know exactly what I'm talking about, then this anime is definitely for you. Truth is though, there's something for everyone in Rozen Maiden. I don't remember a show succeeding at so many different things all at once. And with such class and charm, too. It's a show about ball-jointed dolls that come to life thanks to little pieces of a gem called Rosa Mystica. Each doll has a piece of the gem and they battle each other in a competition called Alice Game to collect all the pieces and have a chance to meet their dad, Rozen, the fabled doll maker.

Yet this synopsis barely covers the basics of all the things you'll witness in Rozen Maiden. You have time travel, dimension shifts, hungry little doll ghost, a hikikomori, suicidal girls, a mysterious bunny and everything in between. Of course you also get dolls fighting by waves of rose petals, feathers, watering can and scissors. A lot of sibling rivalry and little dolls drinking tea in tiny tea cups.

The Alice game is not the focus here, however. The heart and soul of this show is the relationship in between the dolls themselves and their relationship with Sakurada Jun, a hikikomori as a kid and a depressed university dropout, bookshop employee as an adult. Jun has a special connection to Shinku, one of the dolls, and watching how their friendship develop is quite interesting and filled with endearing moments.

Now, if you have any actual interest in ball-jointed dolls (Dollfie Dream, Azone and Parabox are bjd brands in case you're still wondering) then you'll get an extra kick out of this show. Every kid out there at least once imaged their toys coming to life. For those who still think about that stuff as an adult, and in fact know a thing or to about dolls, you'll love to watch the quiet moments of this show, like Jun serving Shinku tea, Shinku trying to read the newspaper or dolls silently going back inside their briefcase for a nap. Lots of scenes of Jun cleaning and putting dolls together will certainly strike a cord for you as well.

Then again, that doesn't even begin to cover all the soothing moments we get in between these characters. Shinku and Suingintou's rivalry is another major aspect of the show and it goes from quite serious, tense moments to completely hilarious. There are seven little dolls by the way, all of them sisters, made by the aforementioned Rozen, the doll maker.

This anime manages to tell a story involving so many different things, I'm still amazed everything came out so well. It manages a lot of different tropes, has interesting, endearing and appealing characters and lots of soothing, sad and happy moments. The music is also very, very good. I'll definitely check out the manga and the other anime iterations. I'm really glad I picked this one up.

Amaama to Inazuma

 

Kouhei is a single dad struggling to take care of his daughter, Tsumugi. He has a very busy schedule as a teacher and it's hard for him to keep up with all the necessary domestic tasks. He's particularly bad at cooking, but one surprising invitation from one of his students, Kotori Iida, to bring his daughter to have dinner at her mom's restaurant, takes them into a cooking journey, from burger to okonomiyaki.

Each episode is a self-contained story that surrounds around Tsumugi wanting to eat something, then Kouhei and Kotori rushing to prepare it using a nice restaurant kitchen and appliances. We get to see Kouhei trying his very best to be a good parent and following his successes and shortcomings is really interesting and engaging most times. He's really an endearing guy and you can't hope but cheer for everything to go his way. Kotori is also a lovely person that is always ready to try her best to bring joy into Kouhei's and Tsumugi's day.

By episode 4 or 5 however, it feels like we got to see everything those character have to offer. Their emotional range is spent, as well as their personalities. Part of the problem is how formulaic each episode is. Very few have something that stands out. Tsumugi wants to eat something, Kouhei and Kotori do their best to prepare it. Tsumugi throws a tantrum, Kouhei and Kotori manages to calm her down, she apologizes and feels happy again. Rinse repeat.

Amaama to Inazuma fails to make use of their side-characters to alleviate the loop. You have Kouhei's friend, Yagi, who seems to be a very interesting guy to follow around for a bit but for some reason he's barely used and so we never get to know him. He has a restaurant and he shows up a few times. That's it. It could be so much more than that. The same problem happens with Shinobu, Kotori's fiery friend. She has a large family and little brothers so she's really good with kids... or so that one 15 seconds scene suppose to convince us that that is the case. Like Yagi, she barely comes up to the story that really needs a shift in focus from time to time.

This is a very sweet parenting and cooking anime that should either be an OVA 4 episodes long or make better use of its characters. There are good moments in there but it's recycled too many times just to reach the 12 episodes mark. If only the plots would let Tsumugi in the school for a little bit longer and focus on something else for a little while, this would have more balance and be a lot more entertaining.

Natsume Yuujinchou

 

Everyone has their favorite yokai show. For a lot of people is InuYasha, a bunch of other people like Mushishi and there's also a fair number of xxxHolic fans. I myself am very fond of Gegege no Kitarou. Right now though, Natsume Yuujinchou is definitely my favorite yokai show and I think it's going to stay that way for a long time.

Long story short, Takashi Natsume can see yokais. He's the grandson of Reiko Natsume, a very powerful human who bound several yokais to her command by having their names written in a book. Takashi inherits this book and that causes a lot of problems for him. You see, a book that grants you commanding powers over a legion of demons and spirits is something a lot of yokais covet. One of these, to Takashi's luck, is Madara, a powerful creature that likes to walk around shaped as a fat and adorable cat. He calls himself Nyanko-sensei and end up serving as a much needed bodyguard for Takashi.

That's the setup. You sure have watched the story about a boy who can see spirits. Takashi Natsume is a different type of kid, however, which gives the show a very special atmosphere. Instead of using the book for going into some awesome run-of-the-mill adventure, he decides instead to liberate the bound creatures by giving back their names. Takashi Natsume is also the most compassive and kind mc to ever grace a supernatural drama show. I would even say he's a bodhisattva. Not only toward humans but toward the yokais themselves, many of which are hostile, some irredeemably so. There's a very tricky power struggle going on here, where Natsume's compassion can only be upheld by the power of Madara a lot of times.

It's very amusing to watch those Yokai scratching their heads in amazement by how nice and wholesome Natsume is. To the point that many of them end up liking him for it. He's such a kind, loving person that even those who are at first hostile or indifferent toward him are caught off-guard and can't help but end up respecting the guy, no matter how silly he may be. That's a major aspect of this show. Demons that end up aspiring to be something better by watching acts of compassion. It's Buddha enlightening hungry ghosts all over the place. Except Natsume is just trying to be a nice guy, he barely knows what he's doing half the time.

Of course, all the creatures in this show are equally interesting to follow around. A lot of them seem a little lost, like something about them has been dismantled and they lost their footing in the world. Characters like that have a great potential to be part of endearing, heartfelt tales, which is what this show is all about.

Sankarea

 

Sankarea starts really promising. The Furuya family have an uneventful, happy life. They live in a house adjacent to the Shinto temple where the head of the family, Don, serves as the priest. Everything is well and fine until the family cat, Babu, is hit by a truck and dies. Chihiro, the teenager of the family and protagonist of this tale, can't accept losing his pet cat and so tries to bring it back to life by following an ancient, mysterious manual that contains a recipe for a ressurection potion.

One night, while working the recipe with his mortar and pestle he spots a girl outside the building screaming down a well about the several nasty things her dad does to her. This turns out to be Rea Sanka, the richest girl in the land. They somehow find common ground for a friendship and Rea starts helping Chihiro with the ressurection potion. 

Rea's dad, Danichiro, is not at all pleased with her precious daughter running around with the local rabble and a thing leads to the other that leads to a chase that leads to Rea being mortally wounded and falling from a cliff. All is well, however when, as it turns out, Chihiro's ressurection potion actually works and she comes back to life. 

And that's when everything goes downhill, or rather, it goes nowhere for the rest of the show. All we get from this point on is testifying how dull Chihiro is as a character, how dull Rea is when all she can can think about is pleasing Chihiro and I keep wondering why this plot doesn't move when there are so many hooks and it could go anywhere it wanted. The impression I got is that the story is actually following the wrong characters. Chihiro and Rea are just too uninteresting.

This show would be so much better if we could follow Chihiro's younger sister, Mero. In fact we do for episode 9 and it's possibly the very best episode on the show. Another way more interesting character would be Jogoro, Chihiro and Mero's grandfather. A crazy little man who appears to have dementia but the short glimpses of sanity seem to hint he's possibly the character here with the most interesting background to explore (which, by checking the manga, turns out to be the case).

There was no good reason to have the plot stagnant for half the episodes of this show when there's so much to draw from the manga. It starts off really well but I guess it asked way too much of my patience for me to really like it. Better picking up the manga for this one.

Net-juu no Susume

 

Moriko has finally reached the limit with her job and decides to become a NEET. She comes back to a mostly empty home with a very clean carpet and a bobble head cat. She remembers playing some MMO games and enjoying it very much. You can be alone and still chat and have fun with other people. It's the perfect solution for the socially inept Moriko and after a quick search she starts playing Fruits de Mer, a high fantasy world with a medieval setting, because nobody ever gets tired of those, ever. She soon finds a partner, a healer nicknamed Lily and her party.

From that point on, an amazing sequence of coincidences have the players of Moriko's party finding each other in real life, including the player behind Lily, Sakurai, a very nice and extremely wholesome individual who falls in love with Moriko but can't bring himself to tell anyone about it. This is not, however, a case of romance that has to overcome a series or silly misunderstandings, though the premise might look perfect for that sort of thing.

This is where the beauty of this show happens. You're actually watching a reincarnation romance for modern audiences. You know the story, a love so strong that the two people involved keep falling in love through consecutive lives until they can finally be together. It's the whole Red Thread of Fate thing mixed in with Hindu rebirth mythology stories. Here however, instead of having actual rebirths, Moriko and Sakurai keep finding each other through several online MMO characters but for some reason or another the romance never happens. That's the real twist of Net-juu no Susume for me and what makes it interesting. 

Of course the characters are solid too, and I think there could easily be another season where we get to explore the lives of the other members of this MMO party. Unfortunately this series was cut short due to the author's illness, though I could not find anything about it outside Wikipedia. She never mentions any illness on her twitter account, so I don't know, but that besides the scope of this short review.

Tokyo Ghoul

 

Tokyo Ghoul is an invitation to the manga. A lot of anime is pretty much that, but Tokyo Ghoul is even more so. Every character here has a lot of backstory going on and we can see the people behind the show trying their hardest to cram everything in 12 little episodes. There are many interesting characters all around going through their own hardships and doubts. Even at the very end we're still getting introduced to a bunch of characters, situations and whole institutions we didn't even know existed 10 minutes to the end of the show. It is an expansive universe and the anime does a good job at giving you a brief tour to this world and the people living in it.

Tokyo Ghoul is like a dark fantasy slasher where no character is disposable. If I had to describe this show in a single sentence that would be it. Everyone has a good reason to be here, even if some of the characters a little tropey, it's always engaging. Each episode points to something that we would like to know more about. What training investigators get that they become as powerful as ghouls? What is the procedure to make a kuinke? Mado-san's family, Rize's business in the 11th ward? And so many other things. The response to all of those are the same: It's time for you to pick up the manga.

The anime will just give you the basics. It's the struggle of coexistence. Like with the X-Men, but here mutants are ghouls and have to eat people in order to survive. Some ghouls enjoy the predator life and live it to the fullest, while others believe in a peaceful coexistence. How they do that? By eating people who suicide, of course. It's a delicacy. All ghouls have to deal with the hunger and the human police force specialized on hunting ghouls. The setting is one messy Tokyo, which is perfect for this stories to develop. 

I mentioned there are no disposable characters and I mean it. It's sad to see some of these people's demise because there's always so much going on for them. We get to know their families, friends, what they believe and where they stand in this crazy, crazy ghoul world. Even when they're quite obviously evil, they have a good reason to have ended up that way. There's nothing without cause in Tokyo Ghoul, that much the anime managed to make clear. So what's next? Time to pick up the manga.