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Mars Terra

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  1. Mars Terra
    Beatless is based upon the light novel of the same name. With the introduction of an ultra-advanced AI that surpasses human intelligence, beings that mankind has yet to fully comprehend have begun coming into being. These are sold to companies to replace otherwise human workers.
    The series opens with a sequence that makes no sense and you are likely to even forget it even happened. Afterwards, we are introduced to our protagonist, Arato Endou, and his two friends, Ryou Taidai and Kengo Suguri, who are both shown to have prejudice against hIEs and think of them as just tools. But Arato is different and even goes out of his way to help one cross the street, which isn't to say that the other two are just bad people, they're just robotists which is emphasized more by when Arato discovers the arm of a hIE down a alley, to which he sees it as no different than finding a person's limb, while they just see it as part of a product.
    After calling the police to report it, Arato gets a call from his little sister Yuka, and, *sigh* ... but it's not just him, the other two have little sisters as well and just as the three of them are friends, their little sisters are all friends with each other as well and were just coincidentally walking down this specific street together.
    Some other scene happens where a military unit is sent via helicopter to terminate 5 rogue advanced hIEs called Interface Elements that are converging at a facility, they're all female, and in fact I didn't see a single male hIE in this episode, they use other robots and drones to attack one of them, Kouka, but she manages to destroy everything they send at her, especially after a EMP is charged from the ground which is caused by flowers--wait, what--and she manages to complete her objective--I think--and the flower rain begins.
    Night has fallen, and Arato and Yuka are back home, and Yuka seems to behave like a normal kid would to be honest. So he has to go to the store because his sister ate all the food he was preparing and then has the nerve to ask for ice cream. The store itself has the checkout where you just put your items in a machine and it scans it and then tells you how much you owe, makes me wonder a bit why every place hasn't incorporated this kind of paying system into it. Well outside he talks to some random robot lady--his teacher, I guess--and we discover that his father is never home just before the flower rain ensues, the pedal falling turn out to be little bug-like robots that overwrite the coding of machines and so he gets attacked by his teacher and a car as well since they're automated now, before being saved by Lucia, who is one of the Interface Elements herself and she asks him to make himself her owner and, *sigh* ... after he accepts the contract, he'll be responsible for all her actions, we then see another of her kind, Snowdrop, for a second. I find her outfit to be bizarre, since she is dressed similarly to how a fairy looks while Lucia and the others all have little clothing on because, *sigh* ... but the preview shows that she'll likely wear more casual clothing.
    Well, Arato takes her home and Yuka doesn't really seem to care about the details as long as she'll cook her food. Anyways, for some reason the show decides that the last scene needed to take place after the credits and depicts how even Lucia doesn't think of herself as anything more than a machine.
    I heard once that in order for japan to face it's underpopulation which contributes to lack of people to fulfill jobs, some places actually have robots in place of actual employees, so this show touches a bit on that. It seems this show will focus more on the story than the characters. There is some promise with the premise, it's just hidden behind the harem that persists in this show. So you probably won't enjoy this show if you don't like harems. That's it for now, please be sure to check out my look at Killing Bites . Thank you for reading, and have yourself a wonderful day.
  2. Mars Terra
    Killing Bites is based off of the manga of the same name. People have created human-animal hybrids called jujin, and powerful businesses bet on the outcome of their duels.
    The show wastes no time explaining things and I could wrap up the first half of the episode pretty fast. Hitomi Uzaki, while walking down a street late at night, is forced into a car so that the passengers can have their way with her, but she kills everyone but the driver, Yuuya Nomoto, who didn't know that this was what his friends wanted him to do. He is then told to drive her to a place that turns out to be a graveyard of human bodies, which causes him to flee in terror but he accidentally stumbles upon a open arena for the Killing Bites death matches, here he meets a man by the name of Leo and doesn't question what he might be doing here, but tells him what happened as he pleas for help. Leo tells him that Hitomi is likely a jujin and explains what that is.
    After Yuuya calls him stupid, he transforms into one himself, but Hitomi comes to his rescue and transform himself. The thing about jujin is that male ones are fully covered in fur while female ones only have their limbs and ears change, another thing to note is that she only has her bra and underwear on at this point. In other words, fanservice.
    Now the fight itself is pretty well animated, but apparently their bodies are made out of steel since they can withstand being thrown into cars multiple times but still rip off eachother's appendages with ease. Yuuya is grateful of Hitomi and wants to take her to a hospital so as to get her wounds treated, but she tells him that she can't go there and ends up treating her wounds himself.
    The next day, they go out for pancakes because she wanted some and that is where we are properly introduced to Reiichi Shidoh, who Hitomi has been calling since after they arrived at the graveyard because he wanted her to protect Yuuya, and now says to be his bodyguard. He recites all the information he has about Yuuya, I wonder if he how long it took for him to get it memorized? So Reiichi is the director of Killing Bites and tells him that there are four zaibatsu that still have dominion over japan's economy and they use this death match as a proxy war with each having their own representative, and he further states that he wants him to be the investor for Hitomi and that's why she has to protect him, otherwise she won't be able to participate in any more matches.
    Hitomi acts pretty moe and not like herself at all around Reiichi, she adores him pretty much. After getting into his limo, Reiichi's secretary states how it doesn't make any sense to entrust some random guy with their money and I agree, can't these type of shows come up with better reasons for a character's harem existing?
    When they get back and Yuuya counts the money he received until night falls, Hitomi tells him to go out and buy her some stuff. I'm not sure why she told him to do this when she's supposed to be protecting him, but maybe she realized this and that is why she appeared later.
    On his way back, another jujin appears and flashes him in order to gain the upper hand and force him to talk, do you really expect this show to give a reason why she would need to do this when he didn't even notice her before? And do you expect it to give a reason why she didn't notice Hitomi even though she was right not to her the whole time she was lying in wait to ambush him?
    All in all, this show doesn't have a very good plot, it might not even have very good characters. The action is well animated, but will simply be fast paced and not contain too much logic. This anime is clearly geared towards people who like adult content though, so it won't be enjoyable by people who don't. That's it for now, please be sure to check out my look at Beatless. I will return in a week on february the 4th for my last two impressions, I promised to do Clear Card-hen but unless I can find it somewhere online, I'll likely have to give my impressions on the manga instead unfortunately. Thank you for reading, and have yourself a wonderful day.
  3. Mars Terra
    Darling in the FranXX is a original anime by studios A-1 Picture and Trigger. The story is set in the distant future. The land is ruined, and humanity establishes the mobile fort city Plantation. Children pilot robots called Franxx to face off against them, their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as Kyouryuu.
    The show opens with a beautifully written and captivating scene, explaining the jian bird and how such a creature needs to rely on another member of it's species to survive. This helps to set up the premise, where two pilots, male and female, must work together to pilot their Franxx. However, this beauty is quickly undermined by the first actual dialogue, spoken by 002, complaining about not having bathed in a while, which only comes off as a joke and destroys the atmosphere. So 002 is one of two pilots arriving at Plantation 13 in order to attend the graduation ceremony of several cadets.
    One of these cadets is Hiro, who has failed the testing needed in order to graduate. While grieving, he wanders around a preserved forest and stumbles across 002, who snuck off while those accompanying her weren't looking and is now taking a bath inside a lake. He stares for a bit due to the horns that are growing out of her head before covering his eyes, then, upon opening them again, believes her to be drowning and rushes in to save her only to find she went under to catch a fish and catches him off guard. Even though she's naked in front of him, she doesn't seem to care in the least and even pokes fun at him for being embarrassed about it himself. She even tackles him and licks him. And you know that when Hiro says "my first-ever look at a naked female body left me transfixed, unable to take my eyes off her" in retrospect, that it's not love that draws these two together, but that's as far as they're allowed to take it as 002's accompanying party arrives to retrieve her.
    Naomi, who is Hiro's partner, or was before they failed the exam, is unable to stay at the base while Hiro is for some reason, not that it matters if he is or isn't since he decided to leave and go back to the orphanage they once came from. This implies that his feelings for her are romantic and so it's a bit strange when tossed together with his monologue earlier. While this is happening, the graduation ceremony is taking place and also they have a quick flashback explaining what happened during the test. All of this happening at the same time creates confusion as to when each event takes place and is something that could of been explained earlier either before or during his grieving.
    After Naomi boards a plant, a mode of transportation, alone, a kyouryuu shows up shortly after and right below it, her plant is then buried under rubber. This scene doesn't emphasize the emotion that Hiro should be feeling for the friend he seemed to care so much about. She didn't have much screen time before being killed but her death deserved a bit more time before jumping to the kyouryuu heading straight for Plantation 13.
    Even though it hits the platform he was on, Hiro somehow survives this even though I know that this monster is supposed to be much more powerful. But I must give this scene praise for at least being incredibly well animated, as a fight scene should. 002 and her partner scoop in and attack the giant lifeform before being knocked back, causing her partner to die since he had wounds already from before, and 002 to be bleeding all over. This is where they agree to work together as she decides that Hiro is as dead as she is inside. Then the robot oddly enough morphs because apparently that's just how they work, then they takes down the kyouryuu and save the base.
    The other cadets were characters as well, but none of them received a particularly large amount of establishment, however they do seem to have their own stories and they will likely receive character development somewhere down the line. The way this show is set up allows for a equal amount of male and female characters and because of that I can assume that this won't turn into a harem down the road. I can see that they were going for, but the adult content in this show fails to be as tactful as it wants to be, perhaps if there were more build-up to it then it would of worked a lot better. The action is superb though, but what else do you expect from Trigger? So not terrible, but it hasn't done anything to impress me yet either, so for now I can only say it's good for what it is. That's it for now, please be sure to check out my look at Miira no Kaikata. Thank you for reading, and have yourself a wonderful day.
  4. Mars Terra
    Miira no Kaikata or How to keep a mummy, is based upon the webmanga of the same name. When high school student Sora Kashiwagi finds himself staring down a mysterious oversized package, the last thing he expected is for it to contain a mummy so small it can fit in the palm of his hand.
    So the beginning establishes that Sora takes care of all the shopping and chores himself, while his mother, Kaede, is doing work on her computer in her room all day. The door bell rings and outside is a package delivery woman, she gives Sora a wrapped coffin that was sent to him by his father who hasn't been home for months, and he reads the note attached that states he discovered a mummy while exploring the egyptian desert and decided to let Sora take care of it. I guess I can't blame him for not being there for Sora, I mean if he isn't capable of taking care of this tiny mummy--then of course his son would be too big of a responsibility for him, but that's not all--the show goes on to explain that his father has sent him many dangerous in the past, so it would seem his father is also trying to kill his son.
    Then the mummy, who Sora later name Mii-kun since miira is japanese for mummy, opens the coffin from the inside and comes out. After confirming that it isn't dangerous, Sora attempts and succeeds at putting him back in to the coffin to send back to egypt to which Mii-kun starts crying over, and I don't blame him considering that the father is a murderous psychopath, but this brings up one of my complaints about this show. Mii-kun cries multiple times throughout the first episode, it's not good to have one of your characters cry more than once or twice in the first episode because it makes them out to be weak, and it seems to not only cry to express sorrow, but to express discomfort as well.
    After attempting to read a 100-page long guide written by his father, which is pretty funny once you see this for yourself, we are introduced to Sora's pet, Mochi. It's a pretty adorable dog until it starts getting into a argument with Mii-kun by way of barking at each other, which apparently Mii-kun is also capable of doing.
    So after giving it the name, Sora tries to figure out what to feed it by trying everything and having it shake it's hand if it doesn't like it. At least it isn't crying. After tomorrow comes, Sora tells his friend, Tazuki Kamira, about what his dad sent him and has him come over and see, but due to Tazuki's intimidating expression it becomes scared of him, to which he starts getting the thought in his head that he should use this to tease the little thing.
    I might of overstated how often Mii-kun cries or barks, it does do a variety of gestures to try to communicate as well, but they need to come up with better ways for it to do so. There are other creatures that haven't shown up yet, so that might take the ease off of Mii-kun's spineless personality along with Tazuki teasing the poor thing. It's a cute series, and is reminiscence of some older anime which feature kids keeping monsters as pets. Recommended for fans of light-hearted anime. That's it for now, please be sure to check out my look at Darling in the FranXX. Thank you for reading, and have yourself a wonderful day.
  5. Mars Terra
    Hakyuu Houshin Engi is the second time the manga series Houshin Engi has received a anime adaptation. The plot involves Taikoubou taking up the Houshin Project, which task him with defeating 365 immortals living in the human world and seal them away forever.
    Taikoubou was taken in by Genshitenson at a young age after his village was destroyed. Genshitenson is the headmaster of the realm of the deities and assigns him the task I mentioned before. The world has been taken over by Dakki So, a demoness who uses the power of temptation to make people do her bidding. And so Taikoubou is given a paopei, basically a weapon, his is the Dashinben that allows him to control wind. He also gains a spirit beast, flying and talking animals, Suupuushan, to ride on. And with that he is essentially sent to his doom.
    Meanwhile, Shinkouhyou asks Dakki So to allow him a look at Taikoubou to see how powerful he is, for some reason he knows about him. Also, while Taikoubou and Suupuushan are discussing the first immortal on the list, Shinkouhyou, he suddenly appears! So Genshintenson isn't trustworthy as we first thought he was? The way this encounter happens is pretty funny, the show has come off as silly for the most part so far. As Shinkoukyou almost kills Taikoubou, he receives a scratch from his opponent's weapon and decides the he will be his rival from now on and leaves, Taikoubou lies on the ground and him and his spirit beast decide that to change their plan to attacking Dakki So directly. He arrives in the capital of the Yin kingdom to execute his plans, but after talking to Suupuushan, he decides to kidnap the emperor of Yin, Chuu Ou, and get him away from the control of Dakki. Thanks to a chance encounter with a man named Kou Hiko, he is given a audience with the emperor. But his plans fails since he has a terrible poker face, well, it's not as if it had much hope of succeeding anyways.
    He is sentenced to be killed by a giant serpent, Dakki also decides to punish some members of the same clan as him alongside him just for what he did, to which one of them state that it's all his fault for being so naive. After a short resistance from them, they are all instantly and brutally slaughtered. This show suddenly took a very dark turn from it happy-go-lucky tone of the rest of the episode. Maybe this is what the show is actually going to be like?
    After being saved by Kou Hiko in the confusion, Taikoubou realizes it's impossible for him to do this alone and the episode ends with him going to seek help.
    So I thought that this was a pretty fun series, at first it seemed to be going in a very generic manner, but it actually has a lot of twists and turns. It was light-hearted towards the beginning, but I would say that it'll take itself seriously when need be. My main concern is how many seasons they intend to do of this so as to cover the whole manga--If they even intend more than one. I would recommend this series to fans of the action genre. That's it for now, please be sure to check out my look at Hakumei to Mikochi. Thank you for reading, and have yourself a wonderful day.
  6. Mars Terra
    Hakumei to Mikochi, or Hakumei and Mikochi, is a seinen anime based on the manga of the same name, though to be honest, it could of easily have been aimed at a much younger audience. The premise revolves around the titular characters, who are tiny girls that live in a tiny house in the woods. Hakumei is reminiscence of Nagisa Misumi from Pretty Cure, with her having a more masculine appearance with orange hair and her being a bit brash, while Mikochi is like Honoka Yukishiro, also from Pretty Cure, with black hair and a more gentle, kind personality.
    The first half of the episode has Mikochi carrying a drawer through the woods back to their house while Hakumei states she is too hungry to help. After getting back to their house, they find that they can't get the drawer through the door but it looks as if they didn't even try to carry it up the stairway leading to the door, but whatever. While Hakumei is reading the newspaper, she discovers that a Evening Kite has been spotted, which, according to legend, is a red bird that will grant a wish to anyone who sees it during dawn. With that, they decide to set off to the summit of the mountain in order to find it. Despite not eating, Hakumei seems perfectly energetic while cutting down grass and of course Mikochi is exhausted, but it is revealed that while she was carrying the drawer, her friend was cutting her a path. I guess she's not one to explain what's she doing, but even with that her friend still recognizes what she does do.
    They encounter spiders that Hakumei insists they ride to their destination, due to a comment she makes, her friend is reminded of a white bird that used to feed every morning before it suddenly stop coming, to which Hakumei makes a bit of a rude reply which I guess turns out to be right. Still...
    After climbing a bit, they arrive at the top just before dawn and surely the bird arrives, eating what reminds of Mikochi's cooking and then knocks them onto it's back. With the light now shining she is able to see that it is in fact the bird she thought abandoned her, they use their wish to make it home and she decides to cook a ton of food for it like Hakumei said. So I guess they understand each other's needs.
    The next part has the two traveling into the city. But there is a serious problem with this, it looks like a normal city that normal people would live in, which diminishes the idea that these two are small. The fish they sell there are as big as it should be, but there's also a tree that looks about as big as one would expect it to look IF they were normal human size.
    While showing Hakumei a pub which she visits often, Mikochi realizes that she lost her wallet somewhere. Since she's friends with the owner, she is told to go show her friend around town and is even given some lunch for them to eat later. Then the rest of the episode depicts just how popular she is amongst everyone, with everyone giving her presents and asking her to try out recipes they're developing. We also learn that Mikochi studied how to design clothes for a bit, but she wasn't very good at it. Then they make it to the harbor, which is where Hakumei decided she wanted to see, there, they hear the shanties sung by sailors to which Mikochi sings along. She has a very nice voice. If they haven't already cast her seiyuu in a idol anime, then they totally should!
    After spending the whole day and not finding their wallet, it turns out one of the shopkeepers picked it up for safekeeping, giving it to her as they return into town. So Mikochi is able to buy that replacement cup for Hakumei, since it broke in the first half of the episode.
    The characters in this show have great chemistry and make for a pretty good duo, but hopefully we see more of Hakumei's backstory at some point. The episode had a adventure segment, then a more slice of life segment later on, hopefully it gears towards the former. But going by some of the other shows this season, the show might use the same formula for every episode, which I wouldn't mind either. This show should also give a consistent impression that the characters are as small as it says they are. Overall, I think this title will be a great selection for someone with a more light-hearted taste.That's it for now, please be sure to check out my look at Hakyuu Houshin Engi. Thank you for reading, and have yourself a wonderful day.
  7. Mars Terra
    Takunomi is about 20-year-old Michiru Amatsuki, who moves to Tokyo due to a change of career. She decides to live in a woman-only share house "Stella House Haruno" with three other people.
    The first scene depict Michiru arriving at one of tokyo's subway stations, and, while determining which train she needs to take next, one of her bags is snatched but the thief is tripped by Makoto Kiriyama, who happens to be a resident of the place she'll be living, not that either one of them realizes who each other are. This seems a bit pointless, she could of easily just have been there to pick Michiru up. Perhaps they needed a reason not to include her from the majority of the rest of the episode, but then they should of made her absent until her proper introduction later on.
    After she gets a little lost, she meets up with Kae Midorikawa who is the owner of Stella House Haruno, she has big boobs to which Michiru says to herself that she "has her work cut out for her" yet this comment makes no sense, apparently the writers forgot that she is a grown woman and therefore she can't obtain any larger boobs than she already has, so it comes off as nothing more than a cheap way to insert a ecchi joke into the scene.
    When they arrive home, we are introduced to Nao Kiriyama, who is sleeping on the couch after having drunk a considerate amount of alcohol. Then it's just the ladies drinking for a while, this show offers some advice regarding drinking such as keeping your afternoon drinking to a minimal or how you should eat something soft so as to compliment your hard drink. Also, apparently this can has a pocket dimensions inside of it since the glasses that Nao pours the beer into is simply too large to possibly be able to fill with just one can, which is made even more absurd by how Nao pours glass after glass from the same exact can.
    While discussing their jobs, Kae and Nao both seem to be in melancholy about how their work, Nao says some things about how terrible it is, but then she says that she was able to get a glint of hope when the character on the beer bottle she was drinking once spoke to her, though it didn't say anything encouraging, but if that's what makes you happy I guess.
    This anime reminds me a lot of Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara, which was another slice of life anime about alcohol. Overall, the characters don't have very much depth and the show doesn't seem to take itself very seriously either. I think slice of life should have a air of sweetness to them, one which this show doesn't provide. But if pure comedy is your thing, then this show will appeal to you. That's it for today, but if you haven't already, please check out my take on Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens. Thank you very much for reading, and have a wonderful day.
  8. Mars Terra
    Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens is based off of the lightnovel of the same name. It is very much similar to Durarara, taking place largely in a urban setting, with a large number of colorful and diverse characters with intertwining stories.
    The main character is Zenji Banba, a badass detective, or maybe witty would be more appropriate terminology. He has been called to the park by another detective, Shigematsu, who tells him about the death of his own college, Takeda. The death was deemed a suidice, but a photo shows bruises that indicate it was made to look as such. Once they're on the same page, Shigematsu says the he've received a unmarked letter that he believes to be from Takeda. Inside is a photo of the mayor, who is making a speech here today, and a woman named Asakura Reiko, who is also present. To determine whether or not she's involved, Zenji uses something to create a fake gunshot noise and she reacts by searching vigilantly for the source, the reaction of a hit man but due to her long nails it doesn't seem like she was Takeda's murderer. Zenji seeks the help of Enokida, a hacker and inventor, and with his help he is able to gain access to information regarding Asakura and find out she worked for a company named Red Rum up until five year ago. Red Rum of course being murder spelled backwards, and with such a obvious name they might as well as have the slogan "We'll knock them dead!" and they also get information regarding a possible suspect, Ivanov Hisashi.
    Ling Xianming is a hit man who likes to crossdress, he is a bit psychotic but also easy to anger. At the beginning he kills a man who stole from a company named Miroir. He works as a hit man to pay off the debt he owes and see his big brother again, this reason doesn't justify his actions, but it does help to give his character depth. After that job he is then sent to kill Takeda, but the man is already dead by the time he arrives. He doesn't receive a very large amount since the person who hired him who knows someone else is responsible, after complaining, Ling is given a job to kill Zenji but later, when they meet, he says that he intends to work with him instead.
    After the incident at the park, Asakura and Ivanov have to deal with the son of the mayor, whose name I didn't catch, bringing a girl back to his hotel room and killing her, the type of thing he seems to do quite often and enjoy doing. The guy also had members of his club attack some random people as part of a game. All of this causes Asakura grieves as she is the one who has to clean it up.
    Saitou is also a member of Red Rum who doesn't seem to have killed anyone yet, the fact he works as a hit man is stated but I feel it could of been made more clear anyways. After transferring to another branch he is given the task to kill Maruse Jun. Maruse is a member from the club of the mayor's son. Now, at the same time some people were hired by one of the victims of that attack I mentioned to target Maruse. One of which is a little girl assassin, a great idea, I mean who would suspect her of doing something like murder? Of course she is assisted by a adult male, and, by circumstances, they nab Saitou by mistake.
    It's interesting to see a mystery story in a anime, we don't get too many of those. It's outside of the norm to see adult characters take front but it's welcome, the story takes itself seriously, but all of the characters have quirks about them to help give the show some flare. I would recommend this series to fans of the mystery genre or those who like a good story. That's it for now, but if you haven't already, please check out my take on Takunomi. Thank you very much for reading, and have a wonderful day.
  9. Mars Terra
    Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, which means Love is Like after the Rain, makes my last entity for the night. The series follows Akira Tachibana, who is love with the manager of the family restaurant she is employed part time at, Masami Kondou.
    The first scene shows how unsocial Akira is, she is sitting at her desk with her earphones on to listen to music, when one of her classmates, Takashi Yoshizawa, asks for her contact information she simply disappears. As she walks outside the school premises we are shown the track and field team, while this scene doesn't seem like much, it does well at hinting the things to come.
    The next scene shows Akira at her workplace, and after some brief insight into the people that work there she takes her lunchbreak. She walks into the break room to find a little boy there, this is revealed to be the son of the manager, Yuuto, this surprises Akira to think that Masami is married and causes her to drop her plate. This is one of many times where Akira glares angrily at the manager and causes him to think she's mad at him, but it's more because she's embarrassed, not that she realizes how she appears to other people at these moments. She then quietly enjoys her lunch before Yuuto pulls out a flute to practice with, but after being scolded by his father not to do that in the restaurant, Akira takes him out behind the store and teaches him how to play a little, she's happy he was able to play the notes he was learning.
    Later, she learns another shocking thing about the manager which would be that his wife left him, causing a repeat of what happened earlier, it was kind of awkward for her to do the same thing twice, or at least that's how I felt. Once she returns to school the next day, her interaction with the other girls in her class doesn't go very well, but later she talks with a member of the track team, Kyan Haruka, who she seems to be on good terms with. It is revealed that Akira used to be on the track team herself but a leg injury slowed her significantly and had no choice but to quit. The rain reminds her of her injury, though it's not clear why.
    We are also given a look at how she met Masami, it was raining and she went into the restaurant she now works at to dry off. He gave her a cup of coffee despite not ordering one but he's nice and wanted to warm her up, he also does a magic trick, so with that a better memory of rain also arose. After that flashback, and later, she attempts to obtain Masami's contact information, but with no success, then Takashi shows up again and finds out that she works here and tries to get her contact information again, but she disappears yet again.
    So I felt like it was a bit on the simple side, however, this time it wasn't a bad thing. It has a sweet and cute little concept that the writers know what to do with. There's room for more character growth and hopefully we can see some of the other characters' stories in the future. I quite enjoyed it, it was simplistic but relaxing. Thank you very much for reading, look forward to my look at Violet Evergarden, Death March and Märchen Mädchen. Please have yourself a wonderful day.
  10. Mars Terra
    Märchen Mädchen, also known as Fairy Tale Girls, is the adaptation of the seinen fantasy light novel series of the same name. The premise is of a highschool girl, Hazuki Kagimura, who encounters a fantasy world where girls are chosen by magical books to become magicians.
    The story starts with Hazuki telling the audience about herself and how she has no friends whatsoever, in fact she really doesn't say much at all, not even attempting to answer a question the teacher asks her. Her being so shy is a good setup, but expect it to be dropped by the end of the episode. Well, since she doesn't talk the teachers are concerned about her future, and she gets called into their office once per week, which her stepsister confronts her about, which causes Haruki to run away. We learn that she doesn't really get along with her new family, but her sister wasn't trying to be mean, she was just worried. They could show this plot point a little better then they do.
    Haruki says that she always runs away and goes to read a book when something uncomfortable happens to her, this time see runs out of school and all the way to the book school to purchase several books. She reads a little on the side of the building, a person passing by sees her and pities her. This is a nice touch, but like I said, she isn't going to act very shy later on. She gets about halfway and, after a talk with her mom, she sees finds a book in her bag that she didn't purchase, when she tries to open it the whole world goes white making itself out to be magic, but it doesn't open ... instead she sees a person in a cloak, Shizuka Tsuchimikado, that she identifies as a mage and this peaks her interest, she follows her all the way to the library. As she enters this building it is apparent that this is the same scene at very beginning of the episode but with different audio. They recycle animation often, between this scene, the opening repeating scenes from the episodes, including this one, and scene later on, this happens a bit too often.
    After seeing Shizuka go into a portal, she tries to do so herself and succeeds with the help of the book. After being forced into the portal and finding herself face first on the ground on the other side, this is cute, except not. She heads to a castle which actually turns out to be a school, and encounters another girl, Yumilia Qazan, who she assumes to be a bad person and runs away yet again.
    This time she finds herself at a house, she is greeted by the principal of the school that she was just at, no that she knows that or this woman tries to explain this to her, and she is offered a bath in the hot springs, afterwards though, Hazuki somehow still knows that the principal is talking about her book despite them not even being able to see one another. Then she is attacked in the bath by Yumilia and it becomes ever so obvious how this is simply intended as fanservice with Hazuki of course having her clothes stolen by the principal. She is then chased naked throughout the complex until the book causes a door to open that leads back to the castle so every student there can see her naked body as well. After Yumilia makes it back, she tells her that the book she is holding is called a Original and that she is a Mädchen who can use the book. She also says the book can give her a new outfit, which she demostrates by changing her own but whatever.
    The first episode establishes the show as a comedy, it does offer a few emotional moments, but it doesn't seem like it'll take itself very seriously beyond that. This show has a heavy amount of fanservice, and it seems like there is going to be a lot of yuri as well, if the ending is anything to go by. I thought that this would be a good adventure series, but it hasn't convince me of that and have little reason it will reach my expectations. Thank you very much for reading, look forward to my look at Violet Evergarden, Death March and Koi wa Ameagari no You ni. Please have yourself a wonderful day.
  11. Mars Terra
    Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody or Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku, is based on a japanese light novel and in case you can't tell, it's a isekai anime. The story centers around Ichirou Suzuki, a 29-year old programmer for a company called orbital, who falls asleep the day before the game he was working on, Freedom Fantasy Life, and then gets stuck inside of it.
    The story begins with showing us how Ichirou thinks ahead in his train schedule but forgets that sunday is when the train schedule changes, which doesn't really matter because it just means that the train departs a couple of minutes sooner. He doesn't miss the train, so this scene was pointless. Then he arrives and talks with one of his co-workers about how someone quit right before Freedom Fantasy is set to launch and all of the responsibility is shifted to him but he says he can handle it. So they talk a little about things relating to actual game programming, which is a nice touch and makes it so we don't just jump right into the fantasy world, there is at least one thing that it contributes to later as well, which I'll get through in a little bit.
    What is pointless is how many times they state that the main character doesn't have a girlfriend, that is essentially the default assumption when going into a anime and considering that this guy will gain a harem later on, it makes it even more clear that he would like one. It shows a shot of a maid cafe and then later he makes a comment about how he should make one of his co-workers take him out to a place with a lot of cute girls on staff, which works well together, but there is a entire scene that could of been removed and they could use that time to show more of the fantasy world.
    So on the day before the game is set to release, he falls asleep and enters the world of Freedom, actually Freedom and another game they were working on, War World, combined into one and not only that, he is also now 15-years old again, oh well seeing a anime about a working adult was nice while it lasted, but for some reason it has to be a teenage boy when there is a male protagonist. After he gets his bearings he sees a lizardmen army coming his way and then they start raining arrows down on him. This is when some of the game talk from earlier comes into play with him being able to use just three meteor showers and does so on the lizardmen, killing all 300 of them, I mean I know that they were attacking him and all but that's still 300 intelligent beings he just massacred, but I guess the bigger problem would be that just that many lizardmen, or enemies in general, would earn him over 300 levels and I know enough that I can say that there is no RPG in the world that would let you level up that fast.
    But then he gains the ability to use meteor shower whenever he wants even though it was just supposed to be a item, luckily the next time he uses it he destroys the entire canyon that he spawned in so he deems it too dangerous to use, though it's kind of strange that a moblie phone game would have destructible terrain, then again, this game lets you level up to level 300 after defeating the same number of enemies, so I'll let this slide.
    So after escaping into a different area, which apparently is actually just a different map and the area he WAS heading to was just the background, after that he goes to sleep, goes to a ruin, encounters a wyvern and then has to go save a army after it runs in their direction, or so he thinks but they can handle themselves and do, actually. But he does save one of the heroines after she gets launched 100 meters into the air, which is nothing considering Ichirou can jump that high, and one of the other mages used a fall damage resistance spell anyways so there was really no point.
    It's about what you'd expect from a isekai anime, the main character gets sent to another world and is incredibly strong there, a number of girls that are all in love with him. It hasn't really done anything to set itself apart. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy and especially isekai, but not very much towards people who aren't very into those. Thank you very much for reading, look forward to my look at Violet Evergarden, Märchen Mädchen and Koi wa Ameagari no You ni. Please have yourself a wonderful day.
  12. Mars Terra
    The first title of the day is Violet Evergarden, based on the light novel series of the same name. It follows the story of Violet Evergarden, who has served in the military until becoming hospitalized, she has been called inhuman, nothing more than a weapon, by everyone.
    The episode begins with the titular character traveling down a street with who we later find out is her major, Gilbert Bougainvillea. She stops to look at a emerald brooch that she says remind her of his eyes, she asks what this feeling is. This is a riveting scene, it gives the feeling that something is about to happen and helps to captivate Violet's emotions.
    Time then jumps forward and we see Violet in her hospital bed, writing a letter that she intends to send to Gilbert but never gets the chance to. Claudia Hodgins, a former lieutenant colonel that served alongside her, comes to pick her up as she is to be discharged today. Another riveting bit occurs for a few second, but the meaning is not clear and it gave me the impression that this would be a horror series, which it is not. It's not long before Violet questions Claudia about the major's whereabouts to which, after some dodging, he gives in and tells her that Gilbert sent him to pick her up and that she needs to come with him. It's clear what actually happened to the major, but no one can bring them self to say it.
    Claudia takes Violet to the Evergarden household, which is apparently Gilbert's relatives instead of her own, but whatever. He tells her to stay her with them, he says that Gilbert wanted her to lead a happy and peaceful life with them, but she is quick is refuse and doesn't accept this, instead she wants to continue her service in the war, but that isn't possible since the war has already ended. She then says to throw her away, she has no place in the world anymore so she should just be dismembered. A lot of what she says is about how she isn't anything more than a tool of war, a slow but gradual feeling of sympathy grows in me with each remark.
    And with that, he tell her that she isn't useless and tells her to come work for him. Now that he has been relieved of duty, he started a postal service for civilians, since a service like that hasn't existed before and as such a lot of people don't even know how to write and so instead they write letters for them. After working there for a day, a customer comes in that requests a letter to be written to his childhood friend, with the words "I love you" at the end. This inspires her to serve as a person who writes letters for customers, called Auto Memory Doll, to find out what those words mean, since that is the last words she ever heard uttered by Gilbert.
    The anime has stunning visuals which works with the plot, which comes off as a movie. This is one of the few times, if not the only time, where I could buy that the story originated in a light novel. The tone of the show is established from the very start, and it maintains that atmosphere for the majority of it's duration. The story is very well thought out, a person who has seen battle since a very early age trying to find their place in society, it's not the type of plot that you find often in anime, nor do you find a title with adult characters as opposed to teenagers and because of that. It is further original to set one in a postal office, which is pretty interesting. I enjoyed the first episode very much, it has a ton of potential and it taps into it right away, I look forward to see where they take it. Thank you very much for reading, look forward to my look at Death March, Märchen Mädchen and Koi wa Ameagari no You ni. Please have yourself a wonderful day.
  13. Mars Terra
    The last title I will be looking at today is Dame x Prince Anime Caravan. The story is about the princess of Inako, Ani Inako, it begins with her going to sign a treaty of peace in the country of Selenfare, which is the median between her country and Mildonia, the kingdom that threatens hers.
    The story begins with Ani riding with Theo Colton, who is her knight on this journey. When they arrive, they take notice of how Selenfare's garden and castle is bigger than their own, and how Mildonia's army is much larger then the own. It is explained later that Inako is a small country, and it faces the threat of being eaten up by bigger, stronger countries. Really the only reason they make note of those things is to emphasize how much of country bumpkins these two are, as the show says. Ani herself is nice, she is also smarter than this show depicts her as, there is just a lot of absurdity that ensues so she is constantly confused.
    So after she heads into the meeting, she encounters Luze Selen El Philizar, the prince of Selenfare. Luze is a boy who looks very much like a girl, he comes off as kind, but everything he says, he tells Ani that his country's prime minister had to tell him, making him seem like he would be incapable of making any decisions without the prime minister by his side, he probably couldn't make it through the day without him. It is shown later that the prime minister is just using him as a puppet and doesn't actually care about him.
    Then there's the prince of Mildonia, Narek Ishru de Mildonia, who makes a incredibly dramatic entrance by way of blowing up the door and making various poses as he emerges from the smoke. Every sentence is about himself, he especially likes to talk about how handsome he himself is and even postpones the treaty meeting just to go have himself painted so he can give the portrait to Ani, since apparently, he can't take a hint. Luckily, the plot moves forward when 3 other representative of Mildonia enter the room.
    After nothing else particularly interesting happens, Ani and Theo return to Inako and tell her parents that the mission was a success. The next day, her mother tells her that she wants her to go to Mildonia as a spy. But she's her daughter and the princess. Actually, it is stated earlier in the episode that Theo is the only knight their country has, and there doesn't seem to be any civilians in their nation either. Maybe they just neglected to show them?
    It was possible to make this show about a princess who befriends the princes of the neighboring kingdoms and them going on adventures and such, which could of made for a cute concept if they were all pretty small, but the threat of war doesn't allow for that. But while this does have a few good jokes, it's a bit too silly in nature. I feel like this might of worked better as the visual novel it was based off of, and maybe the game just didn't translate into animation very well. It would of been nice of this were more of a action-adventure feel to it, and the story was more structured with that in mind, Ani design inspires that sort of feel as well. But what we get instead is a reverse harem that has too much emphasis on comedy, it could of been more but it falls short of that. That is it for now, but be sure to also read my impressions on Poputepipikku and IDOLISH7, and I will return tomorrow with more first impressions, until then, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
  14. Mars Terra
    Today, I look at Poputepipikku, also known as Pop Team Epic. The premise is that there are two girls with Popuko being easy to anger and Pipimi never being irritated, and that's about as much plot as you're going to get.
    So the show starts out with a guy named Daichi seeing his parents off on their trip, before being told not to give some girl named Sosogu a hard time. Then the opening plays, which shows the title as Hoshiiro Girldrop and with the show so vastly different when what I had imagined I thought maybe I clicked on the wrong show, but no, this is actually part of the episode. However, while Hoshiiro Girldrop doesn't come off as a good show in of itself, the 90 seconds it has before they switch to the real show will likely seem like a masterpiece to many when compared to the rest of the runtime.
    The remaining time is essentially a series of very short and random scenes that don't connect with each other other then having the same two characters. There is little substance, sometimes there isn't any context at all, leading me to believe that the author of the original manga just wrote down whatever happened to come to mind and didn't try to expand upon those ideas in the least. One thing that happens frequently in them, though, is that one of the girls dies at the end with the one who dies usually being Popuko. The cuts between the sequences often depict the video being distorted which they eventually decide to delve into horror territory with, however, even that is short lived.
    The artstyle for the fake anime at the start looks the much befitting of a anime, while the first few scenes after that appear as if they were drawn in mircosoft paint, thankfully this whole anime isn't drawn like that and switches to a style that is more decent, though only to the degree of being minimally passable. This is clearly a intentional decision, as these poor depiction extends over to the character design. Popuko and Pipimi are given pupils that don't fit and are leading out of their eye, and their mouths are nothing more than 3s and don't even open, they just bend and turn upside down. So the author of the manga doesn't seem to like how cute the art in every anime tends to be, which would be understandable since cuteness isn't for everyone, people are entitled to their own opinion.
    Well, if you don't mind turning off your brain to watch something, then you could find this sort of thing to be enjoyable, but if that doesn't sound like you, then you're better off finding something else to watch. That is it for now, but be sure to also read my impressions on IDOLISH7 and Dame x Prince Anime Caravan, and I will return tomorrow with more first impressions, until then, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
  15. Mars Terra
    IDOLISH7 is what it sounds like, a idol anime. It's about a young woman, Tsumugi Takanashi, whose starts at her father's talent agency company and is tasked with managing a newly formed idol group, IDOLISH7, helping them down the road to stardom. I wrote another script for this post but I didn't like it and decided to scrap it, so I'm apologize if this is not very long and I'm sorry if the other posts come out later as a result.
    The first scene depicts the 7 members bonding over a game of basketball and implying they were talking before Tsumugi walked in the room, this is a good set-up but it takes this plot point to the extreme later when one of them tries to leave after Tsumugi is informed by her father that only three of them will actually make the cut and then everyone tries to stop him, this turns out to be a way to get Tsumugi to evaluate all of the boys for their different qualities later, but the boys don't know this.
    Tsumugi herself is nice and she feels a sense of responsibility towards helping IDOLISH7 make it in the business and providing mortal supporting when they need it. She tries her hardest to do her job, but she doesn't always succeed. It's good that the characters don't always get their way, it adds to their believability and lets the audience relate to them that much more.
    Iori Izumi is the one hero that stood out the most to me, he can be a bit of a kuudere, with him acting coldly towards his co-workers and even towards Tsumugi, but these are for realistic reasons. On the other hand, he can come off as more of a tsundere, since they were all told that only three of them would make the cut, he makes the comment that she's earned his trust back, but o-only a little. And when the guys tell Tsumugi that he was worried about her working so hard, he says that he just thought something bad might happen to her, i-it's not like he l-likes her or anything.
    The rest of the boys often act with regard towards Tsumugi more like she's their equal, instead of their manager, I find this a bit strange. But they are showing restraint as far as hitting on her goes, which makes sense in the setting and they should instead keep their feelings towards her to themselves, or at least to each other. This makes the show have a advantage over other reverse harems. The way the show balances the focus being on the protagonist and the heroes is welldone, but they need to focus on the individual heroes instead of them as a group in future episodes. Furthermore, the boys seem content on comforting Tsumugi more then anything else, they let their own feelings show, but I feel like they should be a little less dismissive.
    I feel it's a interesting concept and has pontental. It's one of the better reverse harems I've taken a look at, and I feel adding this element helps to make the show more interesting as a whole. That is it for now, but be sure to also read my other impressions on Poputepipikku and Dame x Prince Anime Caravan, and I will return tomorrow with more first impressions, until then, thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
  16. Mars Terra
    Record of Grancrest War, japanese title Grancrest Senki, is actually one of the anime that I was most looking forward to this season, it being a fantasy anime based on a lightnovel that doesn't involve the main character being sent to another world, called isekai, so it was nice to see a return to a more traditional formula. The story takes place on the fictional Atlata continent, there exists two country that have been at constant war, the Factory Federation and Fantasy Alliance.
    The lead character is Siluca Meletes, who we see running through a tunnel urgently, talking to someone via her wand, which comes off as a bit silly since it works just like a phone and I assume it was to save time trying to explain to the audience, as most people will get it right away. After that she begins walking through a crowd and expresses grief at being chosen as the student who will give a speech at some event, this comes across as a joke and likely is, but considering it seemed like she was running towards battle and how this is the first scene this doesn't help to establish the tone of the show. The event turns out to be the wedding of the prince and princess of two different countries, one that will unite them together at long last, however, chaos convergence occurs via a orb that is present in the room and a demon appears, while trying the repeal the demon the fathers of the bride and groom are killed, thus ending the treaty before it even begins. What the orb is and what it is there for is not properly explained, only until after the incident can you piece together what any of it means. In this world there are crests that can be obtained by humans for strength which rests on their hand, these crest are birth from things known as chaos cores that rest inside of demons and can be obtained once one is defeated.
    Siluca is later chosen by a lord, who are crest bearers and as the name implies they rule over a small land, to enter into a contract with him, being his mage, much to her dismay. After being ambushed, she is saved by Theo Cornaro, a crest bearer, who is on a journey to liberate his hometown and end the war and chaos that persists in this world. The end of the first episode shows Siluca's group overtaking a lord's domain and her telling Theo to become part of the alliance, which would make the land they just acquired surrounded by Federation.
    The action sequences are well directed but are a bit blurry, the premise seems to heading to where the main characters wage all-out war on opposing factions which could be interesting if executed properly, but the show needs to explain more about the world and how it works, if my description of the fantasy elements sounded a bit ridiculous it's probably because they are. This show has potential but I'm not sure it can live up to my expectations. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already be sure to check out my impressions on Hataraku Onii-san!, Citrus and Sanrio Danshi.  Tomorrow I will take a look at Gakuen Babysitters, Mitsuboshi Colors and Slow Start. Have a wonderful day.
  17. Mars Terra
    The anime today is called Gakuen Babysitters, english School Babysitters. The story is that Ryuuichi Kashima's parents died, but him and his little brother Kotarou are taken in by a chairwoman of a private academy with whom they have never met, also being able to study there in exchange for Ryuuicihi helping out at the daycare club.
    Ryuuichi Kashima is the male protagonist and he has the personality that you would expect of one. He is essentially left in the dark about the daycare club until he arrives, though everyone else to whom it may have concerned seems to be aware, it's essentially a club that takes care of the female teachers' children created by the chairwoman herself who I will talk about in just a bit. Considering Ryuuichi had this basically thrown at him, he handles the situation pretty well.
    Youko Morinomiya has probably the most ridiculous hairstyle I have ever seen in a anime, but I guess that's just common for elderly woman look in anime. She is shown to care quite a lot about people. She created a club so that the teachers can work without having to worry about their kids, She takes Ryuuichi and seems to care a lot about him and his brother.
    The caretaker before Ryuuichi showed up is Yoshihito Usaida, he seems to be more of the cool guy, but he also seems kind which is evident by the fact that he takes care of the kids and would of stayed with Ryuuichi if he asked even after his shift is up.
    So with Ryuuichi on the job, he has multiple kids to focus on and there is a lot of chaos, it goes like about what you'd expect and may come across as awkward for some. Now to talk about about the kids of the daycare, the main focus of the episode is Kotarou who starts to feel lonely when his big brother's attention is shifted to everyone else, which was presented a minute after he started playing with them, which is too early to present the problem and they should of waited until later. Taka Kamitani is pretty aggressive and it would be easy to label him a brat, Kazuma Mamizuka is the shyest kid and it looks like he's about to burst into tears at any moment, I know he's supposed to be a crybaby but I find this to be overkill, Takuma Mamizuka is his twin brother and he seems to be kindhearted. And Kirin Kumazuka seems to be rude to her peers but nice to Ryuuichi.
    After most of the kids go home, Ryuuichi finds out that Kotarou has a fever and with the help of Hayato Kamitani, the older brother of Taka, he takes him to a hospital. It turns out that it's caused by stress to a new environment, Ryuuichi goes to call his parents and this is when it finally sinks in that his parents are dead, perhaps because he didn't want to accept it but he was acting pretty cheery for most of the episode. He realizes that Kotarou needs him and the two cry together as Youko comes to take them home, them falling asleep after she does.
    It has a pretty light-hearted tone, and although the first episode had some emotional moments, I don't think it will break too far from this. The episode ends with Ryuuichi introducing himself to his new classmates, so although a large focus will likely be on the kids, there will also be some more characters his own age. I think this will add more complex storytelling that would likely not be present if it were just about the kids, but while I don't think it will be bad, I don't think it's going to impress me either. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already please check out my impressions on Mitsuboshi Colors and Slow Start. On tuesday, I will return with more impressions. So with that, have a wonderful day.
  18. Mars Terra
    Mitsuboshi Colors is another series I was looking forward to, it seemed similar to Ichigo Mashimaro which is one of my more prefered slice of life titles, but it's premise has a bit more complexity. It follows the Colors, three little girls who are the self-proclaimed defenders of the town, they investigate crimes and solve puzzles together.
    The very first scene shows the main character, Yui, running through a train station, the shot is unique but is too close and comes off as a bit jarring. There are several shots of random places and people, but it is essentially her just running through the cityscrape until after the opening plays. The next scene shows the Colors' hideout and Yui comes in to tell them about a cat who has been stealing various things from around town and this gives them their first case to solve. The scene wastes little time getting cutting to the chase and does little to establish the characters but you can probably figure out their personalities as you go along.
    Yui is a deredere, sweet and innocent, however, I couldn't help but notice she is a bit inconsistent. Ignoring Saichi when he is in pain, yet somehow still kind enough not to get mad at her friend when she does something unacceptable.
    Sacchan is more of a tsundere, she is outgoing but has little regard to others' feelings.
    Kotoha seems to be a yandere, quite the sadist and comes across as the most dangerous.
    Saichi, a police officer with whom the Colors visit often, comes off as mature but he doesn't mind playing along with their pretend investigations.
    So with their objective decided, they set out to find the cat. This scene is a bit boring, and once again there is a jarring shot where Sacchan crawls about on the ground and this makes me realize why these types of shots don't work, they don't feel natural, the first time the camera should be shaking and the second time the character's movement is not realistic which is emphasized by how fast she is going. After this things do start to pick up, but the case is over before long but establishes the cat, who they name Colonel Monochrome, as a permanent character.
    After a scene involving them trying to blow up Saichi with a rocket launcher they happened to come across, don't worry, it wasn't real, the next case is presented. This one is presented by Pops, who is shown throughout the episode as the owner of a shop that the Colors visit frequently, it sends the Colors out on a scavenger's hunt to find a code that will open a safe. But at this point I start to question if Saichi actually does any police work at all, since he is seen in the same location every time they see him and he never seems to be doing anything when they do, he even has time to stick around to try to crack the safe himself. Other than that, there isn't anything particularly bad about this case.
    Overall I would say that the concept is interesting, but the show doesn't always utilize it. The show also seems to be more interested in comical elements then giving the show a feeling of mystery, which is wasted pontential. What you get instead is a show about little girls doing cute things in cute ways, which isn't bad and I think it makes more sense for moe anime to be about children then highschool girls, but it would of been nice to see the concept taken further as some other anime have. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already please check out my impressions on Gakuen Babysitters and Slow Start. On tuesday, I will return with more impressions. So with that, have a wonderful day.
  19. Mars Terra
    Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san, which translates into Skilled Teaser Takagi-san, is another title I was looking forward to this winter season after some having some praise from fans of the manga, let me say right now, it doesn't disappoint. It follows the story of Nishikata, who is always trying to outprank the person he sits next to in class, Takagi, who always seems to be one step ahead of him.
    I won't go into much detail about the different events that take place, since it would be difficult to describe them in a way that would do them justice. But there are four scenarios that happen involving the main premise. The show starts out by showing Nishikata attempting to create a jack-in-the-box out of folded paper, but is distracted by Takagi struggling to open her pencil box, he decides to open it for her but it is revealed that she has made her own version of what Nishikata was creating. It's a simple enough scenario, but it's a good introduction to the show. The second one involves a myth that exists in japan where if one writes the name of their crush on their eraser and then uses it until there is nothing left, then their feelings will be returned. The third situation involves Nishikata, despite seeing Takagi in the window of the school, is unable to find her in the classroom even after searching for her. The last one is about Nishikata making funny faces to try to make Takagi laugh so she'll get in trouble, which obviously doesn't work but the anime does use this to set something else up.
    The concept is basic, but it allows for a variety of different situations and this show takes full advantage of that, you might think you know where the show is going with them, but it keeps twisting and turning them so that you get a completely unexpected result. It almost reminds me of Tonari no Seki which also takes place for the mostpart during class, but this one comes off as way sweeter. While Takagi constantly pulls pranks on Nishikata and teases him, but she always has a air of innocence around her so it's hard to hate her, and it's clear that the two actually like each other, even if they don't like to show it. It's a cute show, it's light-hearted in nature and none of what happens feels forced, a nice change of pace from other comedy anime. There isn't much else I can say about it, it's just something you have to experience for yourself before deciding whether to watch it or not. That is all for this post, but be sure to check out my take on Kokkoku and Ryuuou no Oshigoto if you haven't previously, and I will return on thursday to give some more first impressions. Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day.
  20. Mars Terra
    Next, I'll be looking at Kokkoku: Moment by Moment, or simply Kokkoku. The premise is about the Yukawa family, which consists of three siblings, their father, grandfather and one of the daughter's nephew. When the brother and nephew are kidnapped for ransom, and with no time to make to meet the kidnappers' demands, the grandfather uses a stone that allows them to enter Stasis, a world where time does not move.
    Juri, one of the sisters, is our lead. The show starts with her having just graduated college and looking for jobs. Once back home she tells her grandfather she is sure that she'll get none of the jobs she applied. She seems overly critical of her brother and father, this is understandable and she does blame herself for what happens to her brother and nephew later. The tone in this scene comes off as a bit comical, and that continues into the next one.
    After being asked by her sister, Sanae, to put up her nephew, Makoto, she tries to gets her brother to do it. Her brother is Tsubasa, who is in his thirties and still has no job, if this were a different anime then he would likely have been the protagonist. It doesn't seem like Tsubasa gets out much so it would be understandable if he's a bit hesitant. But while it is made out that he isn't going to, he does goes to pick Makoto up afterall but I've already told you what happened.
    Takafumi is the father, he has a pretty bad attitude and has recently lost his job.
    Jiisan is the grandfather, he is retired. He can be stern at times but it's not hard to tell that he cares about the rest of them. After Tsubasa and Makoto are kidnapped, he is the one who reveals the power of the stone, which has been passed down through their family for generations. The lack of information makes it seem like nothing more than a plot device. As they head to where the kidnappers are holding their family members while time remains frozen, Jiisan also says that other people who entered this world have all fallen for the temptation to use it to commit crimes, though he has never confirmed this for himself.
    As the they are rescuing their family members, what appears to be a phantom briefly appears and fades from the air, Jiisan dodges the questions Juri asks about it, clearly hiding something. While they're taking their family away and back home, another bunch of thugs shows up, some of them seem very capable while others seem less adept, though the capable ones don't seem at all concerned with the others when a giant creature appears, which paints them as two-dimensional. These ones want to take Jiisan for some reason but while it doesn't seem to be the same one as the other thugs, that's still two peoples kidnapping the same family on the same day.
    There is no fanservice in the episode itself, but apparently no one informed the ending animation team, since there is a considerable amount in the ending sequence. If there's no fanservice in the rest of the show then this is a pretty odd choice, it wouldn't be the first anime to do something like this but still.
    All in all, it failed to sell me on the concept it presented which I already had doubts about, with the tone being comical towards the beginning, it doesn't set the proper atmosphere that a supernatural show should have, even if it changes to a more serious one later on. The show does have some interesting ideas but the first episode should of been played out differently. From what I can tell, this show won't focus too much on character development and will have several supernatural elements for it to explain. I can't say I'm too interested in where this will head, so I  can't say I recommend this title. That is all for this post, but be sure to check out my take on Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san and Ryuuou no Oshigoto if you haven't previously, and I will return on thursday to give some more first impressions. Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day.
  21. Mars Terra
    Back in summer of 2017, there was a anime called Tenshi no 3P that was about a teenage boy who made music in FL Studio and found himself in a harem involving little girls because of it, and like most harem titles, sexual humor persisted. For that reason I went into Ryuuou no Oshigoto, The Ryuo's Work is Never Done, expecting a repeat.
    The anime starts out with a teenged boy named Yaichi Kuzuryuu becoming the Ryuo, basically the shogi champion, three months earlier. Yaichi himself seems like a pretty nice guy to be honest, and I would like to see more male characters like him in the future. He's really just the unfortunate main character of a harem anime.
    One day, Ai Hinatsuru, who was saw his match at her family's inns that just so happen to hold the tournament that declared Yaichi as Ryuo, breaks into his house. She says that it's so no one who be suspicious of him doing weird things and that's thoughtful of her and also dumb of her, but either way she still broke into his house. So the interesting thing about Ai is that she herself is a shogi prodigy of sorts, even though she's only been training for three months she is already really good, maybe even better than Yaichi, that is a refreshing to see considering that teenage boys usually excel at whatever they do way more than anyone else because. That's the end of the sentence, people just write these story like that.
    So after playing a match with her, he feels more alive then he felt in the last three month. So he takes her wanting to be his disciple seriously. So after she cooks him breakfast she enters the shower, and you can forget about how considerate she was. So not only does she enter the entry with no clothes on and continues to stand as if nothing is wrong, but the peer of Yaichi, who trained alongside him, Ginko Sora, is at the door and she has the key to his apartment so he tries not to let her in but of course Ai pulls him back, he falls on top of her, and then Ginko misunderstands the situation.
    So after Ginko tries to kill Yaichi and the two girls get into a argument with one another, they decided to go to their sensei's, whose name I don't even care enough about this anime to look up, dojo to settle what should happen next. So it turns out that their sensei actually received a call from the Shogi Association about how her parents thought that Ai might end up going to Yaichi's house and didn't bother to tell him about it, because how else would this anime have it's perverted shenanigans?
    Sensei asks why Ai didn't just go learn from someone who lives in her hometown, because she lives a few cities away apparently, and she says it's because Yaichi was so cool. Wouldn't it had made more sense for her to learn how to play shogi BEFORE you go after the guy she likes? So apparantly the sensei refers to his disciples like their children and Yaichi keeps referring to Ginko as sis, weird.
    So they go to the Shogi Association so Ai can learn to play shogi proper, Yaichi has to go to a match and that is when we're introduced to Ayumu Kannabe who is a chuunibyou, a person with delusions of grandeur, and has a alternate "knight" persona. Even though Yaichi finds this lame, Ai thinks this is cool but instead of falling for him she just pledges her loyalty to Yaichi, because we can't have two love interests for someone who isn't the main character because harem anime.
    So once they go to the classroom and I see the friends that Ai will undoubtedly make, I immediately think that this would of been better as a shojo anime about a little girl who wanted to play shogi. That would of at least been watchable, and it would of made for a much better sports anime. If shogi counts as a sport, not that it matters because that won't happen. Oh well, personally I didn't enjoy it but I can't say I'm surprised about how it turned out, I'm sure some people out there will enjoy this title though, they can feel free to, just leave me out of it. That is all for this post, but be sure to check out my take on  Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san and Kokkoku if you haven't previously, and I will return on thursday to give some more first impressions. Thank you for reading, have a wonderful day.
  22. Mars Terra
    Sanrio Boys, aka Sanrio Danshi, is about individual boys who all likes a certain character from Sanrio, a popular maker of toys that is probably best known for Hello Kitty, but one of the boys, Kouta, is too ashamed to admit it. I know what you're thinking, this sounds like a really mundane premise for a show, I honestly wasn't looking for to it myself, but I got a pleasant surprise.
    Kouta Hasegawa is your average do-gooder protagonist, and much like do-gooders there isn't anything particularly interesting about him, but that's kind of the point. He isn't a very interesting person, and it gets to him that he doesn't shine as much as a lot of the other boys he sees at school. One sunday, he hangs out with his friends to cheer up and decides to help a lost little girl, this leads to a couple of hilarious jokes. It also so happens that the little girl has a bag modeled after the character that he once liked, Pom Pom Purin, after heading home he reminiscences about when his grandmother first bought him the plush. He used to spend all of his time with his grandmother and the stuffed thing and they would encourage him. But one day he was picked on by other boys for having a stuffed animal and he disowned both it and his grandmother. According to him, this is when he entered his rebellious phase but we don't see him doing anything that would imply that but this is a wise decision, instead he seems to be regretful of breaking his ties with his grandmother but never gets the chance to apologize before she passes away. This was a decision was wise as it depict him as sympathetic instead of a heartless jerk like he would of.
    The next day he finds a My Melody keychain laying around and picks it up, he thought he saw the character on Yuu Mizuno the day before but this confirms it. He thinks to give it to him but hesitates because their peers are watching. Yuu seems to be a more laid back and carefree character, and doesn't mind chasing Kouta through the school once he realizes that he has his missing "lady" as he refers to it as.
    Once Kouta loses him he runs into Shunsuke Yoshino, who is friends with Yuu and has more of a bad boy persona as evident when he almost beats up Kouta when he thinks he did something to his friend. In the end, both Yuu and Shunsuke end up having their secrets revealed, but neither of them seem to mind before the credits roll.
    The episode seemed a bit shallow in terms of writing and this was more noticeable early on in the episode, but there were a few jokes that made me laugh. The plot was light overall but considering it's a slice of life anime that is to be expected. I'm not sure where they'll take this concept in sequential episodes, and this definitely isn't anything ground-breaking but it's good for what it is, a sweet and innocent anime. If slice of life is your thing then you'll want to give this one a try for yourself. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already be sure to check out my impressions on Hataraku Onii-san!, Grancrest Senki and Citrus. Tomorrow I will take a look at Gakuen Babysitters, Mitsuboshi Colors and Slow Start. Have a wonderful day.
  23. Mars Terra
    Citrus is a girl's love anime based on the manga of the same name. Yuzu cares more about living the high school dream then high school itself, when she tranfers to a new school due to her mother's remarriage, she's immediately at wits with the student council president. But a couple of surprises await Yuzu.
    So the episode begins with Yuzu Aihara talking with her friends about getting laid over the summer, however, despite that it is revealed shortly afterwards that Yuzu only puts up the act that she has done such things when really she has never even had a boyfriend but loves shojo manga and hopes to have a first kiss like in manga. Due to her blonde-dyed hair and the way she is dressed she gets into trouble with the student council, which leads to her meeting with the student council president who I will get to a bit later. When Yuzu meets her hot teacher she makes it her mission to get with him, but later she sees him going outside to the side of the building, kissing the student council president and from the audience's point of view it's clear that he forces himself onto her, but from Yuzu's point it looks like they were simply making out and she runs away. After she heads home, it is shown that she cares a lot about her mother and helps her unpack and go grocey shopping. That's when her mother drops the bomb on Yuzu that her new husband had a daughter, and that she'll now have a stepsister who is the president she butted heads with earlier.
    The president is Mei Aihara, it is revealed earlier in the episode that, since she is the granddaughter of the school chairman, it is already decided who she will marry. She ignores Yuzu for the mostpart of their new living situation, but this upsets her stepsister to the point that she decides to bring up her kissing the teacher, she goes on and on about such a topic that she fails to realize the senstivity of, one of the thing she says is asking her how it feels to kiss someone. The way Mei's response is writtten is worthy of praise, instead of explaining it with words she simply forces herself onto Yuzu and starts holding her lips to her's, to the point where Yuzu can't even breathes and then says that is how it's like before leaving the room. This is excellent from the a story telling standpoint as it shows the audience how bad it felt which has a much larger impact then if they described it. It also makes sense from the standpoint of the characters as anything Mei said would of been written off by Yuzu and it puts Yuzu in Mei's shoes.
    Overall, there is a moderate amount of fanservice so far that will appeal to fans of yuri, the sexual side of girl's love, and the sad moments are powerful and will appeal to fans of shoujo ai, the emotional side of girl's love. So it's safe to say that fans of either will be pleased. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already be sure to check out my impressions on Hataraku Onii-san!, Grancrest Senki, and Sanrio Danshi. Tomorrow I will take a look at Gakuen Babysitters, Mitsuboshi Colors and Slow Start. Have a wonderful day.
  24. Mars Terra
    The title this time is Working Buddies, otherwise known as Hataraku Onii-san. The episodes are not very long, therefore this post will not be very long either. The premise is basically about two guys who work together delivering packages throughout town, oh, and they're both cats.
    Tapio Chatarozawa is a overly cheery and hyperactive person who takes pride in his work, while Kuehiko Roshihara is more down to earth and is not as enthusiastic about his work. There's also Sukoyama, their higher up who neither of them can tell what he's thinking as he goes off into thought constantly, making it seem as if he's about to snap and murder the two of them violently. These quirks are nice and comical but I'm concerned they might lose their charm before very long even with only 4 minutes a episode.
    The art is worth talking about, as nothing is drawn very well which works well to comedic effect, the lines forming the characters shift slightly every frame, this is to emphasize the poor artstyle and overall comedic tone, but I think it will get old pretty fast.
    With such a short runtime and a some good jokes, it seems like a good anime to save for a rainy day when you aren't really in the mood for a full-on episode or want something more light-hearted, but if you're looking for something with a little more depth then I would recommend looking somewhere else. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already be sure to check out my impressions on Grancrest Senki, Citrus and Sanrio Danshi. Tomorrow I will take a look at Gakuen Babysitters, Mitsuboshi Colors and Slow Start. Have a wonderful day.
  25. Mars Terra
    Slow Start is a anime that I was skeptical going into. The premise is that Hana Ichinose is just starting her first year of highschool, but she has a secret, she has been held back for a year. My concern with this is this. If you are able to hide the fact that you've been held back by a year, then it doesn't make it seem like a problem.
    The first scene introduces us to Hana's cousin, Shion Kyouzuka, and the very first thing they do is show her boobs bouncing. When this happens immediately when someone is introduced, it makes a statement about what sort of show the anime is going to be. It isn't even 30 seconds into the show and they're already pushing this in my face, I wanted to drop this so bad but for the sake of this blog I grudgingly continued.
    So Hana comes off as a dandere, someone who doesn't say much, she seems very worried throughout the first episode. She is shy which I think compliments danderes very well, but to be honest she doesn't really make much of a presence for herself which might seem like a good idea consider her character archetype, but remember that Hana is the main character and therefore shouldn't leave a weak impression.
    Tamate Momochi is a very genki, or hyperactive, character who loves to talk and can come off as a bit brash.
    The other characters are Eiko Tokura who seems like the mature character who presents herself as kind but loves to tease others, and this is a good time to stop to talk about another flaw with the show, the character designs. More specifically, their height. Eiko is the tallest of the four girls, with Hana and Tamate being inbetween and Kamuri being the shortest and I will get to her in just a second. So not only does Hana looks like a first-year highschool, but Eiko looks like she is older than everyone else but remember that Hana is supposed to be the oldest.
    Anyways, Kamuri Sengoku resembles a child, she desires is to eat a ton and says a lot about food. She comes off as drowsy and expresses her desire to sleep.
    The show has a interesting concept but fails to utilize it. It has a sweet and innocent atmosphere but it needs to present less mundane problems, there was one scene which reminded me of Lucky Star in execution but that scene was the one which pushed Hana to the background so it's hard to say it was a good scene. Overall, it is disappointing because it could of been so much more, and yet again I have to say it's fine as a slice of life show. That's all for this post, but if you haven't already please check out my impressions on Gakuen Babysitters and Mitsuboshi Colors. On tuesday, I will return with more impressions. So with that, have a wonderful day.

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