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Days with My Stepsister ep1: 90s anime has a lot to answer for as the title of this show, coupled with its cute bishoujo lead, immediately made me worry that it was another horny romantic comedy. So far it isn't, though, and I have mixed feelings about how well it's achieving what it's actually trying to do. The series is (at the moment, at least) a deep dive into the actual feelings experienced by a pair of new step-siblings thrust together suddenly in their teens, which should be really interesting, except that it's loaded with so much overwrought, one-sided internal drama set to intrusive piano melodies that I couldn't help but tune out. The male lead seems completely disinterested and while I see what they were trying to do with the awkward, stilted attempts to communicate, it isn't all that enjoyable to watch it all play out. Perhaps it will find its stride later on?
MONOGATARI: OFF & MONSTER Season ep1: It's been a while! This first episode kicked off with Yotsugi telling the story and even though it was a little longer than normal, the dense monologues laced with wordplay and whimsy kept me engaged throughout. The series' moment has largely passed by now so I'm not sure how many newer fans would still find its commentaries on genre conventions especially relevant, but I still enjoy it just as much as when I first started Bakemonogatari. The great thing about Monogatari is that it's largely spoiler-proof too, since so much of the entertainment comes from how the story is told rather than the actual events. I have no idea what this season has in store, so I guess this is another addition to my weekly schedule.
My Deer Friend Nokotan ep1: A reformed thug (who desperately wants to hide her dark past from her teachers and classmates) crosses paths with a bizarre humanoid deer girl one day on the way to school, and her life is (probably) forever transformed. This is a high energy gag show with uncanny CG deer (who actually, weirdly, don't look that bad compared to that wretched horse from Spice and Wolf), endless floods of deer crackers, goofy wordplay and stupid physical humour; if you like those things it will be exactly what you want and if you hate them, it will be a nightmare from start to finish. I quite liked it, though I'm not convinced that the energy is going to hold up for a full series of full length episodes. Probably not one I'm going to watch each week but if I'm ever at a loose end it's a decent diversion.
Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools ep1: I feel a little cheated by the Crunchyroll summary as it promised a bunch of melodramatic events, none of which happened in the first episode! Instead, we get to see a slow-paced story from the lead's childhood living with her magic-tool-inventor father, which is normal in every way except for the memories of modern day Japan that she's unwittingly inherited from her past life (which otherwise has no bearing on anything). She gets into scrapes but her knowledge of advanced futuristic technology gives her an edge in her chosen career path of magical toolmaking. It's relaxed and quite dull, and it also looks weirdly crummy because while Dahlia's own design is lovely, the world she inhabits is made up of clunky CG rendered stills with a blurry filter over them, and the supporting cast hasn't been given the same pretty aesthetic. It feels as though this show could have been quite good with a better budget and some rearranging of the plot to introduce the promised drama early enough to hold my interest, but as-is it's an easy skip.
R
MONOGATARI: OFF & MONSTER Season ep1: It's been a while! This first episode kicked off with Yotsugi telling the story and even though it was a little longer than normal, the dense monologues laced with wordplay and whimsy kept me engaged throughout. The series' moment has largely passed by now so I'm not sure how many newer fans would still find its commentaries on genre conventions especially relevant, but I still enjoy it just as much as when I first started Bakemonogatari. The great thing about Monogatari is that it's largely spoiler-proof too, since so much of the entertainment comes from how the story is told rather than the actual events. I have no idea what this season has in store, so I guess this is another addition to my weekly schedule.
My Deer Friend Nokotan ep1: A reformed thug (who desperately wants to hide her dark past from her teachers and classmates) crosses paths with a bizarre humanoid deer girl one day on the way to school, and her life is (probably) forever transformed. This is a high energy gag show with uncanny CG deer (who actually, weirdly, don't look that bad compared to that wretched horse from Spice and Wolf), endless floods of deer crackers, goofy wordplay and stupid physical humour; if you like those things it will be exactly what you want and if you hate them, it will be a nightmare from start to finish. I quite liked it, though I'm not convinced that the energy is going to hold up for a full series of full length episodes. Probably not one I'm going to watch each week but if I'm ever at a loose end it's a decent diversion.
Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools ep1: I feel a little cheated by the Crunchyroll summary as it promised a bunch of melodramatic events, none of which happened in the first episode! Instead, we get to see a slow-paced story from the lead's childhood living with her magic-tool-inventor father, which is normal in every way except for the memories of modern day Japan that she's unwittingly inherited from her past life (which otherwise has no bearing on anything). She gets into scrapes but her knowledge of advanced futuristic technology gives her an edge in her chosen career path of magical toolmaking. It's relaxed and quite dull, and it also looks weirdly crummy because while Dahlia's own design is lovely, the world she inhabits is made up of clunky CG rendered stills with a blurry filter over them, and the supporting cast hasn't been given the same pretty aesthetic. It feels as though this show could have been quite good with a better budget and some rearranging of the plot to introduce the promised drama early enough to hold my interest, but as-is it's an easy skip.
R
Lucky_Deity
Pokémon Master
Dragon Ball (English) - Episode 1 - 4 (re-watch)
Fancy re-watching the entirety of DB / Z / GT / Super + Movies & TV Specials so this'll be a long one but it's nice going back to the original, has always been my favourite part of the series.
Kaiju No. 8 (English) - Episode 11
My Hero Academia (Season 7) (Japanese) - Episode 147
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (Japanese) - Episode 11 - 12 (Complete)
This was a good series with a twist on the Super Sentai genre (not that I've watched any Super Sentai before mind you). Didn't grab me as much as I was hoping but I'm still looking forward to S2.
Fancy re-watching the entirety of DB / Z / GT / Super + Movies & TV Specials so this'll be a long one but it's nice going back to the original, has always been my favourite part of the series.
Kaiju No. 8 (English) - Episode 11
My Hero Academia (Season 7) (Japanese) - Episode 147
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (Japanese) - Episode 11 - 12 (Complete)
This was a good series with a twist on the Super Sentai genre (not that I've watched any Super Sentai before mind you). Didn't grab me as much as I was hoping but I'm still looking forward to S2.
adamclark83
Kiznaiver
Last night:
Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent - Episode 3
Hensuki - Re-watched first two episodes.
Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent - Episode 3
Hensuki - Re-watched first two episodes.
The way they're telling the story is already rearrangement. The original LN just jumps into the content that's in the summary, with the flashbacks to Dahlia's childhood largely being side stories that close off a volume (usually as they tie in thematically). As a fan of the books I'm not best pleased about this direction because it's going to take 3~ episodes to get to the heart of what Dahlia actually is, and I doubt we'll meet the male lead until then either
The way they're telling the story is already rearrangement. The original LN just jumps into the content that's in the summary, with the flashbacks to Dahlia's childhood largely being side stories that close off a volume (usually as they tie in thematically). As a fan of the books I'm not best pleased about this direction because it's going to take 3~ episodes to get to the heart of what Dahlia actually is, and I doubt we'll meet the male lead until then either
It sounds as though the promoters weren't aware of this either, then! Thank you for the explanation; I think this one would have really benefited from retaining the LN's structure because the way they've done it makes it blend in with other, similar series much more without offering much reason to keep going (unless you're already a fan of 'slow life reincarnation' shows, but I personally like a bit more meat on those bones).
R
Otomo
Thousand Master
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
Episodes 1+2
Seems fine so far.
I was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince
Episodes 2-4
I'm finding this very funny. Liking the familiar, nutty maid and Lloyds general outlook.
Seirei Gensouki
Episodes 2-4
5 years in 2 episodes. Brilliant.
My brain works in funny ways.
Episodes 1+2
Seems fine so far.
I was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince
Episodes 2-4
I'm finding this very funny. Liking the familiar, nutty maid and Lloyds general outlook.
Seirei Gensouki
Episodes 2-4
5 years in 2 episodes. Brilliant.
My brain works in funny ways.
Attachments
RaeDra
Straw Hat Pirate
Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture [English Audio] - Episode 4:
Turns out as expected from last week, C.C. and L.L. do indeed appear here, but very much a cameo for the time being, not getting involved, besides giving the lead a geass in the past elsewhere the arms are being raised, some further explaination of back story and some more appearances from series characters. spoilers pretty bold to just introduce the Damocles again and then just have Nina have something that stops its F.L.E.I.J.A. weapon, will see next episode
Turns out as expected from last week, C.C. and L.L. do indeed appear here, but very much a cameo for the time being, not getting involved, besides giving the lead a geass in the past elsewhere the arms are being raised, some further explaination of back story and some more appearances from series characters. spoilers pretty bold to just introduce the Damocles again and then just have Nina have something that stops its F.L.E.I.J.A. weapon, will see next episode
RonJB
Vampire Ninja
High School DxD New season 2: halfway through the season and I'm about to abandon it. The random shouts of Boobs! from the lead character and the dodgy heaven/hell storyline (not to mention the rather unsexy sexy scenes and general shoutiness) is sapping my will to watch. I'm sure I can find a new owner for the discs, and I have too much good stuff waiting to be watched.
Dragon Slayer
The Wildcard
2.5 Dimensional Seduction Episode 2
Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells Episode 2
I Will Parry Everything Episode 2
Pseudo Harem Episode 2
Senpai is an Otokonoko Episode 2
The Café Terrace and It's Goddesses Season 2 Episode 14
Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything with Low-Level Spells Episode 2
I Will Parry Everything Episode 2
Pseudo Harem Episode 2
Senpai is an Otokonoko Episode 2
The Café Terrace and It's Goddesses Season 2 Episode 14
Lucky_Deity
Pokémon Master
Dragon Ball (English) - Episode 5 - 8 (re-watch)
One Piece (Japanese) - Episode 99 - 100
One Piece (Japanese) - Episode 99 - 100
Gemsy-chan
Shrine Maiden
Ep 1 of Tower of God season 2
Ep 1 of Twilight Out of Focus
Ep 1 of Twilight Out of Focus
RonJB
Vampire Ninja
Heaven's Lost Property Forte (season 2): There was a story in there, buried under all the stupid. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but at least the action was a change from the rest of the episodes. Also, how is it possible that a boy as stupid and perverted as Tomoke can get all the girls to fall in love with him by just spending 30 seconds a day talking to them like they are not just walking boob carriers?
I probably shouldn't have watched this immediately after abandoning High School DxD.
I probably shouldn't have watched this immediately after abandoning High School DxD.
RonJB
Vampire Ninja
Cutie Honey Universe: Rather bleak story, and another couple of sex pests in the house. One of whom looked (and acted) alarmingly like Happosai from Ranma 1/2. Good visuals, but the emotional load laid on poor Honey was a bit intense.
Time for something relaxing, I think.
Time for something relaxing, I think.
AgeOfBoredom
Great Teacher
I’m hoping to watch this soon. I really enjoyed Re and New Cutie Honey.
Not the best batch of episodes. Onwards and upwards!
A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring ep1: A snoozefest about a lackadaisical nobody who is reincarnated by an apologetic god and sent off to live in another world, which is the usual knock-off fantasy copy-paste with an adventuring guild and pop-up RPG menus and a walled city and forests which are graded for how high level a person needs to be in order to hunt there. Along his way to the aforementioned city he finds two powerful, silent children roaming the forest, instantly assumes that they are his for the taking (?!) and kind of adopts them on the spot, without so much as calling out to see whether they had any family nearby. The lead has no discernible traits other than 'talks like a know-it-all' so I don't really care what happens to him, and 'his' children are so mindlessly perfect that they feel more like well-trained pets than people. There is absolutely no emotional impact shown from anything that happens. We paused it less than halfway through to do something and my partner exclaimed that it already felt as though we'd been watching for an hour because everything felt so pointless. Argh.
Love Is Indivisible by Twins ep1: An odd romantic(?) series about a pair of twins who have feelings for the nerdy boy next door. It's another one which takes its concept relatively seriously, not bothering with any sleazy pandering at all (so far). The sporty twin - who has quite a few issues with obsessing over how people see her, and no real intellectual connection with the lead - asks him out first, insists on keeping their relationship secret and later unceremoniously dumps him, then we get to see the same events from her cleverer, less neurotic sister's perspective. The twins are quite different from one another (which is good) and they're not identical, so a lot of this would have been the same if they were non-twins. However, while I understand that Sporty Twin's actions are heavily informed by misplaced guilt, she comes across as so manipulative and selfish in all of her interactions with the lead that it's hard to emphasise with her at all. I think this series needed to convince me to like the characters more before making them do stupid stuff; I can't imagine how a full season of this will entertain me.
ATRI -My Dear Moments- ep1: When the story begins, much of modern civilisation as we know it has been swallowed up by the rising sea and our hero is still haunted by a traumatic event from his past which left him with an amputated leg. He's working on salvaging sunken treasure from the city with a money-hungry partner, and while his missing leg is a strong personal motivation - he wants a better prosthetic - the lingering psychological effects of his accident seem even worse than the physical injury it left him with. The pair end up finding a cheerful, capable robot girl under the water who clearly has a few mysteries up her voluminous sleeves. Obvious slavery elements aside (the robot girl has to call him 'Master', because of course she does) I quite like the scenario and Atri herself is very cute. However, the other characters seem pretty flat and nothing has really captured my imagination enough to inspire me to keep watching. Not one that I'll keep up with myself but it's not terrible.
R
A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring ep1: A snoozefest about a lackadaisical nobody who is reincarnated by an apologetic god and sent off to live in another world, which is the usual knock-off fantasy copy-paste with an adventuring guild and pop-up RPG menus and a walled city and forests which are graded for how high level a person needs to be in order to hunt there. Along his way to the aforementioned city he finds two powerful, silent children roaming the forest, instantly assumes that they are his for the taking (?!) and kind of adopts them on the spot, without so much as calling out to see whether they had any family nearby. The lead has no discernible traits other than 'talks like a know-it-all' so I don't really care what happens to him, and 'his' children are so mindlessly perfect that they feel more like well-trained pets than people. There is absolutely no emotional impact shown from anything that happens. We paused it less than halfway through to do something and my partner exclaimed that it already felt as though we'd been watching for an hour because everything felt so pointless. Argh.
Love Is Indivisible by Twins ep1: An odd romantic(?) series about a pair of twins who have feelings for the nerdy boy next door. It's another one which takes its concept relatively seriously, not bothering with any sleazy pandering at all (so far). The sporty twin - who has quite a few issues with obsessing over how people see her, and no real intellectual connection with the lead - asks him out first, insists on keeping their relationship secret and later unceremoniously dumps him, then we get to see the same events from her cleverer, less neurotic sister's perspective. The twins are quite different from one another (which is good) and they're not identical, so a lot of this would have been the same if they were non-twins. However, while I understand that Sporty Twin's actions are heavily informed by misplaced guilt, she comes across as so manipulative and selfish in all of her interactions with the lead that it's hard to emphasise with her at all. I think this series needed to convince me to like the characters more before making them do stupid stuff; I can't imagine how a full season of this will entertain me.
ATRI -My Dear Moments- ep1: When the story begins, much of modern civilisation as we know it has been swallowed up by the rising sea and our hero is still haunted by a traumatic event from his past which left him with an amputated leg. He's working on salvaging sunken treasure from the city with a money-hungry partner, and while his missing leg is a strong personal motivation - he wants a better prosthetic - the lingering psychological effects of his accident seem even worse than the physical injury it left him with. The pair end up finding a cheerful, capable robot girl under the water who clearly has a few mysteries up her voluminous sleeves. Obvious slavery elements aside (the robot girl has to call him 'Master', because of course she does) I quite like the scenario and Atri herself is very cute. However, the other characters seem pretty flat and nothing has really captured my imagination enough to inspire me to keep watching. Not one that I'll keep up with myself but it's not terrible.
R