MAYONAKA PUNCH ep1: Another show about streamers, this time featuring a traditional YouTuber who gets cancelled and fired when she assaults her co-hosts (who are, awkwardly, also her housemates). She's a bit of a narcissist so she immediately tries to strike out on her own without so much as an acknowledgement of her past mistakes, but when she finds herself struggling she ends up crossing paths with a thirsty vampire. Which in turn leads to an unlikely team-up to give her new channel a boost in popularity. The vampire girl is good fun but the lead is quite annoying, so I couldn't really get into the story as long as I was supposed to be rooting for her. It's a very lively, dynamic show, though, with a good set of opening credits. My partner is going to continue with it so I guess I'll find out what happens next whether I want to or not!
Plus-Sized Elf ep1: This is exactly the kind of show that all of the promotional materials promised, for better or worse. It's super dumb and it doesn't care. I'm not into this kind of fetishisation or the nascent relationship dynamic so I'm out, but it's honest about what it is and I guess shame-fuelled weight gain comedy is a step above some of the toxic awfulness the isekai genre often falls back upon. Though it's sad that it is.
Pseudo Harem ep1: I don't have any strong feelings about this. It did not hold up well at all against Shoshimin (for being a school series about a boy/girl combo) or Twilight out of Focus (for being a school series with acting themes), and I felt quite bored watching it in spite of how hard one of my favourite female seiyuu was working to carry the story. It always breaks my immersion when a romantic comedy (or regular romance show) has one character who is the perfect fantasy - in this case, it's the female lead, who is an aspiring actress who bounces between archetypal roles to delight her new buddy - while the other is a bland nobody, which is very much the case here. It's really hard to see why she's putting in so much effort for him but at least their dynamic is relatively healthy, with both characters comfortable enough to say no to one another and nothing weird going on. There's no actual plot so the series relies on the central dynamic for its appeal, and unfortunately that isn't really doing anything for me.
The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies ep1: I watched this right after Pseudo Harem and the central dynamic works so much better; everyone is attractive and the stupid plot is pitched just right to tickle me. It's a parody in a long line of similar shows exploring the idea of a villain falling for one of their enemies; while the magical girl theme is very 'classic Sailor Moon' there are nods to other genres and magical girl tropes along the way. The lovely designs, dorky humour and short runtime (it's a half-length episode) make this a fun diversion rather than a slog so I think I'll keep watching as it airs.
No Longer Allowed in Another World ep1: Another parody, this time of the oversaturated isekai genre - and this one doesn't hold back in some of its snarkier genre commentary. I have mixed feelings about framing all of the jokes around suicide when the central character is an actual person who died in (some people's) living memory; Bungo Stray Dogs has the same schtick but this feels a lot darker because the entire story revolves around the lead's depression. At the same time, having a lead who is intelligent, accomplished, independent - and most of all has actually lived a little - really does wonders for the tired isekai formula, even if he's essentially just a grouch for the bulk of his screentime. The cynicism feels more earned when the lead is older and genuinely world-weary, and I was surprised by how watchable this ended up being.
R
Plus-Sized Elf ep1: This is exactly the kind of show that all of the promotional materials promised, for better or worse. It's super dumb and it doesn't care. I'm not into this kind of fetishisation or the nascent relationship dynamic so I'm out, but it's honest about what it is and I guess shame-fuelled weight gain comedy is a step above some of the toxic awfulness the isekai genre often falls back upon. Though it's sad that it is.
Pseudo Harem ep1: I don't have any strong feelings about this. It did not hold up well at all against Shoshimin (for being a school series about a boy/girl combo) or Twilight out of Focus (for being a school series with acting themes), and I felt quite bored watching it in spite of how hard one of my favourite female seiyuu was working to carry the story. It always breaks my immersion when a romantic comedy (or regular romance show) has one character who is the perfect fantasy - in this case, it's the female lead, who is an aspiring actress who bounces between archetypal roles to delight her new buddy - while the other is a bland nobody, which is very much the case here. It's really hard to see why she's putting in so much effort for him but at least their dynamic is relatively healthy, with both characters comfortable enough to say no to one another and nothing weird going on. There's no actual plot so the series relies on the central dynamic for its appeal, and unfortunately that isn't really doing anything for me.
The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies ep1: I watched this right after Pseudo Harem and the central dynamic works so much better; everyone is attractive and the stupid plot is pitched just right to tickle me. It's a parody in a long line of similar shows exploring the idea of a villain falling for one of their enemies; while the magical girl theme is very 'classic Sailor Moon' there are nods to other genres and magical girl tropes along the way. The lovely designs, dorky humour and short runtime (it's a half-length episode) make this a fun diversion rather than a slog so I think I'll keep watching as it airs.
No Longer Allowed in Another World ep1: Another parody, this time of the oversaturated isekai genre - and this one doesn't hold back in some of its snarkier genre commentary. I have mixed feelings about framing all of the jokes around suicide when the central character is an actual person who died in (some people's) living memory; Bungo Stray Dogs has the same schtick but this feels a lot darker because the entire story revolves around the lead's depression. At the same time, having a lead who is intelligent, accomplished, independent - and most of all has actually lived a little - really does wonders for the tired isekai formula, even if he's essentially just a grouch for the bulk of his screentime. The cynicism feels more earned when the lead is older and genuinely world-weary, and I was surprised by how watchable this ended up being.
R
