Dai
Pokémon Master
Heaven's Memo Pad
This was a decent mystery series, but it stumbled in a couple of key places. For starters, some of the mysteries were too easy to figure out. The ideal time for the viewer to figure out a mystery is a few seconds before the protagonist, not two episodes before. The other problem was the characters. The protagonist is bland, passive too much of the time, and suffers from that annoying trope where everyone he meets uses him as their personal manservant, while insulting and abusing him all the while. Alice the NEET detective girl reminded me of a much less endearing version of Victorique from Gosick. On paper I can't quite point to the difference between them, but in practice I like Victorique and find Alice insufferable; maybe it's because Victorique didn't choose her circumstances, while Alice revels in them. All that aside, it did have some reasonable story arcs, and the mandatory baseball episode was pretty good.
6/10
Koikimo (It's Disgusting to Call this Love)
This age-gap romantic comedy has three things I particularly value in a story: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Though based on an ongoing manga, these 12 episodes have a good self-contained arc and resolve all of the conflicts they raise. It handles the issue of a man in his late 20s chasing after a 16-year old girl quite deftly. Though Ryo has a history of being seen as a playboy, he falls for Ichika precisely because his charisma doesn't work on her and she won't put up with any of his bull. Moreover, it's hinted early on that, rather than him being a womaniser, he was used more as a bored plaything for women who wanted him for his looks, and Ichika is the first person he's actively pursued. Though Ryo is very forward in making his feelings known (many, many times), it ends up being a surprisingly innocent and endearing story rather than the creepy grooming fantasy that you might fear by looking at the concept.
The show's main weakness was the mediocre art and direction, which couldn't quite pull off some of the most important moments. The voice acting is good, but the recording quality has that made-during-a-pandemic sound to it; Ryo's seiyu sounds like he's recording in his wardrobe for the whole series. Fortunately the characters are likeable enough to power through any technical problems.
7/10
This was a decent mystery series, but it stumbled in a couple of key places. For starters, some of the mysteries were too easy to figure out. The ideal time for the viewer to figure out a mystery is a few seconds before the protagonist, not two episodes before. The other problem was the characters. The protagonist is bland, passive too much of the time, and suffers from that annoying trope where everyone he meets uses him as their personal manservant, while insulting and abusing him all the while. Alice the NEET detective girl reminded me of a much less endearing version of Victorique from Gosick. On paper I can't quite point to the difference between them, but in practice I like Victorique and find Alice insufferable; maybe it's because Victorique didn't choose her circumstances, while Alice revels in them. All that aside, it did have some reasonable story arcs, and the mandatory baseball episode was pretty good.
6/10
Koikimo (It's Disgusting to Call this Love)
This age-gap romantic comedy has three things I particularly value in a story: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Though based on an ongoing manga, these 12 episodes have a good self-contained arc and resolve all of the conflicts they raise. It handles the issue of a man in his late 20s chasing after a 16-year old girl quite deftly. Though Ryo has a history of being seen as a playboy, he falls for Ichika precisely because his charisma doesn't work on her and she won't put up with any of his bull. Moreover, it's hinted early on that, rather than him being a womaniser, he was used more as a bored plaything for women who wanted him for his looks, and Ichika is the first person he's actively pursued. Though Ryo is very forward in making his feelings known (many, many times), it ends up being a surprisingly innocent and endearing story rather than the creepy grooming fantasy that you might fear by looking at the concept.
The show's main weakness was the mediocre art and direction, which couldn't quite pull off some of the most important moments. The voice acting is good, but the recording quality has that made-during-a-pandemic sound to it; Ryo's seiyu sounds like he's recording in his wardrobe for the whole series. Fortunately the characters are likeable enough to power through any technical problems.
7/10
