Watch or Drop Archives | 100 Word Anime

Watch or Drop? Is Build Divide: Code Black Worth Watching?

Posted on October 28, 2021October 24, 2021 by Karandi

Build Divide: Code Black weirdly already has a second season more or less confirmed despite its current very low rating on MAL and the general lack of people seemingly talking about this anime. It’s one of those weird cases where you wonder how an anime title got a second season when other shows that are just crying out for a sequel disappear and are forgotten.

Anyway, Build Divide is pretty much a tournament of challengers playing a card game and if they win enough they’ll get to fight a king. Reasons why vary and are pretty vague in the early episodes but if you enjoy watching people play Magic the Gathering or similar style games this anime might work for you.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Build Divide

I’ve never been in to watching other people play a game. I can’t even really stand watching people play sport. I like games and there are some sports I enjoy but the passive act of watching someone else has never really appealed. And so it is with Build Divide. While the first episode is an excellent explanation of the mechanics of the game at the core of this anime, you are essentially watching a tutorial for playing a card game.

Whether that level of detail elevates the experience of watching something like Build Divide over the less coherent card game based anime from the WIXOSS franchise where rules seemingly get dropped into the mix and plays don’t always follow established norms will really depend on what it is you look for in an anime based on a card game.

Let’s just say though, that outside of the match played in episode one and the match in episode two, there’s little else that is given much detail and one moment that makes me wonder if the story is going to make sense in Build divide.

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Build Divide Series Positives:

If you were looking for an anime that has attention to detail as its core mechanic, Build Divide will have you covered. Each move the players make is explained aloud and in episode two we even get an external observer to the match to provide some commentary just in case we’re really not following.

Admittedly, for those not used to these sorts of games it will be kind of like being given a random deck of Magic cards and told to play a round (as in you’ll be pretty lost). For those used to standard card mechanics there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the game being played here other than it seems functional and you get cool holographic characters to play out the card attacks.

Outside of a pretty decent introduction to the game, and some reasonable visuals though I’m struggling for much that was distinctly good about these opening episodes (watched the first two). While nothing is overly broken, I also wasn’t exactly getting drawn into the characters and the plot is still too vague with the ‘beat the king’ being the only real goal established and the reasons for that are clouded over by yet another amnesiac protagonist.

Build Divide Series Negatives:

I have a few negatives for Build Divide, though overall this is pretty watchable if not all that interesting.

For instance in the first episode when Sakura runs into Teruto and he chases off her pursuer by drawing out a card and using it to slice his knife that looked pretty cool. But nowhere else in these first two episodes is it indicated that characters can use their cards outside of matches within the little barrier thing. More than that, how did his card effect something real like a knife?

It doesn’t make logical sense and there’s no explanation or even hint that this is going to be a thing in this story outside of this moment. So perhaps they just thought it looked cool but it makes the rules of the world much less clear because outside of this moment every time the characters use their cards they call one of the little floating ball things, erect a barrier and have an actual card match. No one seems to be just waving magic cards around in their every-day life.

Naturally there is still time for the anime to fill in that gap and explain it but it just stuck out so much to me in these first couple of episodes as not fitting with the rest of what I understood about what was going on.

It did look really cool though.

Then we have Sakura and Teruto, our main characters so far who between them still manage not to stumble upon an actual personality. In Teruto’s case he’s lost his memories (or something) but Sakura seems to exist just to explain stuff. She is given the motive of wanting to beat the king, knows she can’t so she decides to help Teruto, but outside of that she’s got nothing else going on.

Then, I’m putting that attention to detail in the matches as an overall negative because while it is interesting learning about the game, it just eats up episode time and while the first episode could get away with it because it was the audience’s introduction to the game as well, when episode two does it again you are kind of left with the impression that each episode is going to have about five minutes of thin set-up to give a reason to spend the rest of the episode playing a card game.

Verdict?

Honestly, I’m out. While Build Divide is not horrible and for some viewers may actually be pretty fun, I’ve found more than enough other anime in this Fall 2021 season that I don’t really feel compelled to sit through all the card rounds here. Maybe in a slower season I’ll come back to this but for now I’m just done.

As always though I’d love to know your thoughts so if you checked out Build Divide be sure to leave a comment below.

Images from: Blue Period. Dir. K. Masunari. Seven Arcs. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Blue Period Worth Watching?

Posted on October 21, 2021October 16, 2021 by Karandi

Blue Period is the story of second-year high school student Yatora Yaguchi who is studies hard but spends a lot of time playing around with his friends but he’s really just jaded with life. And then he sees an artwork by one of the art club members, has a chance conversation, and has his own first attempt at using art to convey an idea.

He’s discovered a real love of art but still isn’t sure what he can do with it in the future and he knows his parents aren’t necessarily going to understand his sudden desire to go to art school. These first two episodes have him really discovering art, starting to learn how much hard work and study is needed, connecting with the art club and really trying to speak with his mother about his future.

Blue Period is on Netflix and as of writing only two episodes were available.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Blue Period

Blue Period kind of caught me by surprise. The opening sequence with Yaguchi and his friends watching a soccer game before spending the night out didn’t do much to grab me but I kind of felt we were supposed to feel disconnected as the character they kept focussing on didn’t seem to excited by what was happening either. Watching more, the opening episode does an excellent job of establishing Yaguchi as a character and where he currently is in life through a range of visual choices as well as his expression and language.

By the end of that first episode I was thoroughly hooked and watched straight on to episode two. This ended up being far more emotional than expected and honestly my biggest disappointment is that there isn’t another episode already available to watch.

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Blue Period Series Positives:

Pretty much everything about Blue Period could fit into a positive. Each scene and sequence so far has served a purpose for either fleshing out the characters or progressing the story (though given the slice-of-life nature this is more just exploring the character and his choices rather than any kind of driving plot).

Nothing has outstayed its welcome as we’ve moved between Yaguchi with his friends, trying art, conversations with the art teacher, interactions with the art club, sequences at home, images of Yaguchi working hard on his art, and so on. That every scene seems beautifully put together and has some purpose has just made it a delight to be immersed in.

I think one of the best things in Blue Period is Yaguchi isn’t instantly brilliant at art. Sure he is decent but he doesn’t have the knowledge or techniques and isn’t necessarily familiar with all the tools so he’s really having to work for every improvement. It fits in nicely with both his complaint (and Mori’s) when he was called a genius in episode one for getting good grades at school when in fact he’s studying hard. Mori, the third year art student who inspires Yaguchi inadvertently, also has an issue with being called talented when she’s also working so hard at her art.

Equally the scene where Yaguchi really talks with his mother about art and why he wants to do it is just emotionally moving and I hadn’t actually expected him to speak with her so honestly.

But pretty much everything in these first two episodes is solid so picking a favourite moment or scene would be really quite hard.

Blue Period Series Negatives:

There really aren’t any clear negatives to Blue Period other than perhaps the slow pace (which it is a slice-of-life so viewers had to be expecting).

Yaguchi’s ‘friends’ at the start are probably a low point in that they don’t really seem to connect with much else that is happening, but I think that was kind of the point. They aren’t really supposed to.

It’s kind of clear I’m stretching for bad things to say as Blue Period has given us a pretty well executed opening.

Verdict?

Blue Period is definitely one I will continue with this season though given it is on Netflix it will be a wait for a few episodes and then binge rather than a weekly watch. That will also probably help me stay hooked given I know my own impatience for slice-of-life stories when I watch them episodically.

Still, Blue Period is perhaps one of the better series I’ve tried in the Autumn 2021 season so far.

Images from: Blue Period. Dir. K. Masunari. Seven Arcs. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Visual Prison Worth Watching?

Posted on October 9, 2021October 9, 2021 by Karandi

You wouldn’t really think that singing vampires in visual kei inspired costumes could go too far wrong. The visual spectacle alone should be entertaining and if they actually managed to create a half-decent story to hold it together, it would make Visual Prison worth watching. Throw in my love of vampires in fiction and I was definitely checking this anime out.

But did they manage to make me want to keep watching.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Visual Prison

Okay, ten minutes into the first episode and we’ve had a character catch a train and walk a bit and in between we’ve had him listening to music with cut-aways to a music video, then a band literally drop out of the sky and sing, then another band kind of show up and sing as well.

And for some reason they have swords with microphones on the pommels.

Problem is, once you stop looking at the interesting costumes you realise there’s pretty much nothing happening here other than singing and the performances aren’t interesting enough to make you want to stick around and listen to yet another vampire sing.

Honestly, this first episode of Visual Prison was definitely even less enthused about narrative than I suspected from the write up.

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Visual Prison Series Positives:

If you are after a wide range of hot vampire designs with extremely overdone wardrobes than you’ll probably find exactly what you are looking for here. The character designs are by far the most interesting, if perhaps only interesting, thing going on in this episode.

Now I’ll admit, I did bow out before I got to the end of episode one but that was only because having already determined I was not continuing with this anime my brain went into hyper-critical mode and ultimately it just wasn’t worth spending any longer on it.

So positives for Visual Prison? I’m sure the art-book will end up looking amazing.

Visual Prison Series Negatives:

Um…

Okay let’s just focus in on the swords that are microphones and how awkward and ridiculous that looks. Not to mention, for what purpose?

That anime episodes only have twenty minutes in which to convey anything and half of this episode is gone and I actually couldn’t tell you the main character’s name. Actually about the only name I really got was the front man of the band he liked.

More than that, I was struggling at times to understand how sequences were supposed to fit together. We have these two vampires show up in a helicopter and they are seemingly talking to the crowd but there’s no helicopter noise or excessive wind as there should be if they actually opened a helicopter door and stood there.

They then go through this elaborate ritual where they kind of pay homage to the moon but they clearly aren’t in the helicopter at that point. If anything it was like that nebulous space where Sailor Moon transformation sequences occur, only there was no transformation. Though they did get their sword/microphones. Anyway, after that we’re back in the helicopter and leap out.

I think they then perform on the stage which might be the pop-up one that appeared on the back of a truck but while they are performing it looks way larger.

And wow I’ve listened to three edgy songs excessively laden down with the type of imagery one expects from a high school poet and care not even a little bit about anything going on here in Visual Prison.

Verdict?

I’ll be blunt… No. If I had a choice of watching the rest of this first episode or watching the first episode of Tesla Note on repeat five times, I would not choose to finish watching this episode.

Visual Prison seemed like an apt title. The visuals drew me in but then I felt trapped until I remember I can just close the player.

Images from: Visual Prison. Dir. J. Furuta. A-1 Pictures. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Night Head 2041 Worth Watching?

Posted on August 20, 2021August 20, 2021 by Karandi

There’s a lot of tags attached to Night Head 2041 that made this one I was curious to watch, but the CGI visuals were definitely putting me off starting. Still, unlike the romance and apparently comedy driven Duke of Death where everything just ended up looking creepy, here with the darker aesthetic and more action focused visuals, it isn’t quite the distraction. So is Night Head 2041 worth watching?

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Night Head 2041

So is this like The Matrix crossed with V for Vendetta with just a whole bunch of anime weird thrown in?

Night Head 2041 visually takes some getting used to as the CGI characters all have that slightly to smooth movement and slightly rubbery appearance when they speak that is slowly becoming more and more common but otherwise these first three episodes set up a dystopian future with excessive government control, kids with psychic powers on the run and lots of gunfire.

Actually when the action kicks off it looks pretty good it is more the slower scenes of characters talking that are a little hindered by the visuals. Plus, whoever designed the aesthetics of this show really loves the look of LEDs given literally everything comes complete with glowing lights attached in this show (why would your enforcers glow like that when trying to infiltrate a base).

Anyway, logical gaps aside, the first three episodes were watchable though not overly engrossing.

That said, episode 3 really steps up the violence with some suicide and some genuine blood splatter so if that’s a trigger for you this probably isn’t your anime.

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Night Head 2041 Series Positives:

Probably the biggest positive for Night Head 2041 is that it ticks all the boxes for the kind of story I’m happy to indulge even when it turns out to not be very good. Given I own a DVD copy of Ultraviolet it should be clear that when it comes to futuristic worlds with corrupt and overly powerful governments and people with superpowers I’m not all that picky as long as the action keeps going and the characters are even mildly engaging.

That so far this anime has managed to also tick off my sense of curiosity by presenting a weird time-gap for the two psychic brothers who had thought only 15 years had passed but find out they’ve been gone longer and a whole war has happened in the interim, is more or less a guarantee that whether this was any good or not I was going to watch.

However, the one clear positive for Night Head 2041 so far is that it gets pacing for this type of story. While there has been exposition this has mostly been done during transition scenes, outside of the info-dump at the start. Otherwise we kind of learn things as the characters do on the fly and so far we’ve had enough information so that we know what is happening in the moment but there’s a lot of unanswered questions to keep us going.

In the meantime, there’s been a lot of shooting, running around, people getting thrown against walls using psychic powers and generally a visual feast even if it doesn’t always make a huge amount of sense.

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Night Head Series Negatives:

I suspect, that much like the previous Night Head anime that I had literally completely forgotten about prior to reading the synopsis for this one, that even if I finish this story, I won’t remember much of Night Head 2041 once it is done. It is decidedly pop-corn viewing and doesn’t really stick with you after the episode has ended. Which is a bit of a shame because it feels like it wants to have a grander narrative or social commentary but it really isn’t up to the task.

Likewise, so far none of the characters have left all that much impression outside of all being a bit broody. I mean, that can’t actually be the defining character trait of a whole cast, and yet it kind of is.

Also, I suspect they are attempting to connect the brothers in the military with the brothers on the run, somehow, and I suspect this story is biting off more than it can chew. However they do it will probably feel a bit lame and tacked on and honestly none of these characters feel complete enough to need that convoluted a back-story.

I guess time will tell on that note.

Still, it would be nice if there was a little more logic behind the actions here. The banning of all works of imagination seems quite impossible to enforce in practical terms and given how openly some people seem to be displaying contraband material (one character just sitting in a diner reading a manga), it doesn’t seem overly effective. The banning of psychics and belief in gods makes more sense and seems easier to define and enforce, but even then, good luck in practical terms given how attached to religion human beings kind of are.

However, if we suspend disbelief and buy into the premise, so far these first three episodes have more or less worked though I am curious about where they are going with this.

Verdict?

As I said before, while this one may not end up being good, it ticks all the right boxes that I’m certainly going to give it a try. I’m curious enough to know where they are going and even if the plot falls over entirely there’s a good amount of popcorn worthy action in this story so far so a binge watch seems to be in order.

Let me know what you think of Night Head 2041 in the comments below.

Images from: Night Head 2041 Dir. T Hirakawa. Shirogumi. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is The Duke of Death and His Maid Worth Watching?

Posted on August 17, 2021August 9, 2021 by Karandi

The Duke of Death and His Maid - Watch or Drop?

A change away from isekai, death matches and sequel series, The Duke of Death and His Maid was an anime I was quite curious about given I do enjoy a good supernatural romance and rom-coms are usually quite enjoyable. So how did I find Shinigami Bocchan to Kuro Maid?

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of The Duke of Death and His Maid

The Duke of Death and His Maid makes a definite first impression, though whether you like it or not will entirely depend upon your personal tastes. See, this is a CGI anime and the characters have a weird rubbery/plastic kind of look and their movements are quite odd (just watch the OP where the two main characters sing to one another and look like two goldfish gasping for air after you tossed them out of the bowl).

It isn’t a deal breaker on its own (hardly in the same realm as Hand Shakers), but I suspect some viewers will be quite put off. I do find it odd though how textured and lovely the backgrounds and settings are while the characters look like they’ve been pasted over the top.

Anyway, once you get over the visuals, the characters and story seem to swing between super adorable and sweet and so incredibly lame and cliché and sometimes do it in the space of half-a-conversation. I’d be ready to quit watching in one scene and the next I’d be totally hooked back in.

The basic and tragic tale of the boy cursed by a witch to kill any living thing he touches is a pretty effective premise and focusing in on the relationship between the boy and his maid really personalises this.

So let’s look a bit more closely at what works and what doesn’t in The Duke of Death and His Maid.

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The Duke of Death and His Maid Series Positives:

Part of me wonders why they aren’t playing this as a more serious romantic drama rather than a rom-com given the tragic nature of the cursed duke living with his maid. When the two are allowed to be real people, The Duke of Death and His Maid shines and you are completely drawn into this narrative.

Whether this is when we see the duke alone in the garden or the touching scene where the two dance in the moonlight without actual physical contact, or even the duke composing Alice a ballad and playing it for her on the piano, it is ridiculously sweet and just makes me want to hug both of these characters and wish them happiness (which considering visually they creep me out is saying something).

The Duke of Death and His Maid - under the moonlight

Equally, the music has so far been gorgeous. This includes character songs within the anime, the duke playing the piano, or even the upbeat OP (again, ignore the visuals and just listen to the two voice actors singing). The sound is so incredibly on-point and engaging that regardless of how anything else turns out, The Duke of Death and His Maid will be my pick for best soundtrack this season.

And finally, I love how beautiful the backgrounds are. There’s been a number of night scenes and all of them have been truly beautiful, but even just seeing the duke in his library with the rich texture behind him is glorious. There was one screen cap I tried to get but didn’t (and wasn’t going to go back to it) that was just a shot of the duke’s feet. His shoes weren’t that interesting but I loved the textures in the background of that shot.

So there’s a lot of positives here.

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The Duke of Death and His Maid Series Negatives:

Rom-Com shouldn’t mean girl with big boobs continually thrusts them in face of male protagonist. Alice and the duke have a real connection and Alice’s antics make so little sense and seemingly come out of nowhere, often totally derailing what otherwise might be a sweet moment between the pair. That she’ll die if he accidentally moves forward even an inch sometimes just adds a whole other level to why this really isn’t funny because I just keep imagining how devastated he’ll be if he accidentally kills her.

It doesn’t help that her breasts are the ridiculously shiny kind with the ugly red splotches and the CGI makes the movement of them absolutely unappealing. This isn’t good fan-service. Nor is it good fan-service where she just randomly flashes her fish-nets at the duke.

The justification The Duke of Death and His Maid makes for these intrusive and fairly unfunny moments is that Alice likes his reactions, but she gets just as much reaction from licking an ice-cream or taking a bite from his cookie and then telling him it is an indirect kill so it is largely unnecessary.

Also, the other characters have so far been of the not great variety. The excellent butler Rob, who keeps putting out his back, apparently has such poor eye-sight he can’t tell the young duke and a stray cat apart and the duke’s sister who comes to visit is most definitely a one-note kind of character. There’s potential for these characters to be fleshed out later but given the overall tone and the focus on the central duo it seems unlikely they’ll rise about being one trick ponies.

Verdict?

The Duke of Death and His Maid has some real charm in places and I admit I mostly like the main pair and the romance between them. I just wish that not so much screen time was taken up by ugly shots of Alice thrusting her over-sized chest about.

I’ll probably finish this because there’s some seriously cute moments in these first three episodes but my expectations are fairly ordinary because it will be anyone’s guess as to whether this anime focuses in on the parts that work or whether it doubles down on the poor fan-service that rely on visuals that aren’t up to the task.

Let me know what you think of The Duke of Death and his Maid in the comments below.

Images from: The Duke of Death and His Maid. Dir. Y Yamakawa. J.C. Staff. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Battle Game in 5 Seconds Worth Watching?

Posted on August 14, 2021October 8, 2021 by Karandi

Battle Game in 5 Seconds - Watch or Drop?

Here we have Battle Game in 5 Seconds which is pretty much as it sounds. Characters have been kidnapped, given super powers and are now being matched off against one another for purposes as yet unknown. But, is it worth watching?

Read the full review for Battle Game in 5 Seconds.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Battle Game in 5 Seconds

Battle Game in 5 Seconds has the unfortunate timing of coming out when I’m kind of over tournaments and death matches and the MAL synopsis more or less seems to indicate that this is what that is Darwin’s Game ended up being particularly disappointing and there’s been a range of other similar anime that haven’t really left much of an impression. So I really went into this one with low expectations.

Which probably helped because it isn’t great and even these first three episodes are loaded with tropes and clichés, and yet I will admit I was kind of drawn into these first three episodes. There’s the usual problems associated with this sort of story and I was getting serious BTOOOM vibes from the second episode where episode 3 had me more thinking High Rise Invasion so originality isn’t high on this series’ hit list. Also, the cat girl as the spokesperson (organiser?) of all of this I was getting a flash back to the llama headed guy in The One’s Within.

But none of that made me quit watching before episode 3. So now I just need to figure out if I’m going to continue watching Battle Game in 5 Seconds or not.

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Battle Game in 5 Seconds Series Positives:

It’s kind of hard to really go through series positives with an anime that aligns so closely with so many others. Mostly because I objectively know these sorts of stories are pretty bad and trashy relying on shock, gore, at times nudity, and often tie themselves into convoluted narrative knots that can never actually be sensibly resolved.

That said, I do find this kind of story fun, when done in a fun way. So while you could pick at the problematic content presented in these first three episodes, particularly in Yuuri’s first match up against the perverted middle-aged guy and be perfectly justified in pointing out that this is not a positive representation for teenage girls, I’m pretty sure Battle Game in 5 Seconds doesn’t care because it isn’t trying to be a message. It’s trying, and so far succeeding, at just being a ridiculous excuse for a bunch of weirdoes to be forced to fight one another with ridiculous and over-the-top powers.

Sure it would be lovely if one of the female characters is in a match where they aren’t objectified or use sexual appeal to overcome an opponent but I’m thinking Battle Game in 5 Seconds knows that even if they had brilliant female characters they probably aren’t appealing to the audience who would take note of that. Rather than getting bogged down in trying to sell a message to an audience that isn’t watching the show anyway, this story really is just delivering what it wants to do.

Equally, it’s managed to keep things moving along. About the slowest moment in the story came in episode 2 where we had an extended flashback of Yuuri prior to her arrival where-ever they are and her crappy home-life. It just dragged on and on and particular lines and images were repeated more than once. All in an effort to establish her character and personality but really could have been done faster.

But honestly, that’s the only dragging moment I’ve noticed as we go from meeting Akira to seeing him be ‘killed’ to waking up and being told he’s now part of this research. We then have a couple of rounds of one-on-one battles before episode 3 sets up a ‘team’ battle that then turns out not to really be a team competition at all. And basically you don’t really notice the time passing because everything is just paced well so it flows from one event to the next without feeling slow or rushed.

Visually it is also a cut above the likes of Darwin’s Game or The One’s Within (at least so far) and I’m kind of hoping it doesn’t drop in quality as the season progresses.

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Battle Game in 5 Seconds Series Negatives:

There’s plenty to critique if you aren’t a fan of what this anime is selling. Don’t like over the top and stylised violence with blood splatter? You will be out before the end of Akira’s first fight back before he even knew what was going on.

Battle Game in 5 Seconds - Blood splatter

Not liking a girl being put in the matches wearing a very skimpy outfit because that just happened to be what she was wearing when taken there? This one isn’t going to be for you. A middle aged guy stripping off his shorts while fighting a teenage girl? Yeah, you should pass.

It really depends on whether or not any of these staples of dark titles that try to be edgy (though most end up pretty funny) like to roll out. That isn’t necessarily a negative because some people will be relatively fine with all of the above (in a story at least) but it is worth noting that this anime won’t appeal to everyone.

Battle Game in 5 Seconds also currently has a problem with Akira as kind of the central focus. He works but he has such a generic and bland appearance remembering him is difficult and his personality is more thoughtful and considered as he weighs up options and plans strategy. It is effective within the story but makes him a less than dynamic main character. Hopefully the rest of the cast can keep picking up the scenes because Akira alone is not that compelling.

Verdict?

Battle Game in 5 Seconds fits a particular niche of story that I either like watching when done well or at least like to watch for a laugh when it goes horribly wrong so realistically now that I’ve started I’m definitely continuing.

On the bright side, this one has been far more compelling in its opening episodes than a lot of the other similar anime I mentioned so I might hope a little bit that this is one I end up enjoying just because it is enjoyable and not because it goes laughably wrong.

What did you think of Battle Game in 5 Seconds?

Images from: Battle Game in 5 Seconds. Dir. N Arai. SynergySP & Vega Entertainment. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Sonny Boy Worth Watching?

Posted on August 11, 2021August 7, 2021 by Karandi

Welcome to Sonny Boy the story of 36 teens who happen to be in their school when it drifts into another dimension. Or something like that. What are my initial thoughts?

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Sonny Boy

I will admit, I’m terribly confused by the title of this one. Sonny Boy? What is it in reference to? Not that it matters given anime has a distinct lack of care sometimes if the title means anything or nothing. Anyway, I think I’m going to take Jack’s approach and just put the name to one side for now and maybe it will all make sense when I get to the end of the anime.

That said, I wasn’t exactly going in with no information. I’ve been reading reviews and episode impressions of Sonny Boy since the start of the season and finally decided it was time to dive in. Though a number of reviewers had mentioned this had a Lord of the Flies feeling that isn’t really the impression I’m getting, though there’s definitely some comparable points.

Anyway, the first three episodes each present a different situation the kids are dealing with as well as the ongoing exploration to find out what is going on and whether they can get home. These episodes also show case an array of powers the kids have as well as introducing the ideas of rules that apply in each space.

So what works and what doesn’t so far in Sonny Boy?

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Sonny Boy Series Positives:

If nothing else, the first three episodes of Sonny Boy are intriguing and promise a potentially interesting reveal for a later time. What caused the school to start drifting and did the kids in fact have their powers before they crossed into a different dimension? This is yet to really be confirmed. I’m just hoping this isn’t like Lost which really felt like the plot was the only thing lost by the mid-way point.

Actually I’m kind of getting a The One’s Within vibe from this story so far though I am hoping the payoff is a little better than that one was.

The first three episodes of Sonny Boy have also each focused on one particular dilemma allowing us time to get to know a bit about the characters as they confront it. I suspect that the majority of the class will always remain a bit of a mystery, but by the end of the third episode the main players in the story have all had time to leave an impression.

Equally, each of the stories has followed naturally on from the previous one. At the end of episode one Nagara and Nozomi fall from the school and end up in an ocean. Episode two sees the characters adapting to the rules of the island and then episode 3 moves between both settings as Mizuho and Nagara try to figure out why some class mates are being frozen.

Visually, Sonny Boy works very well but I am finding the characters a little on the creepy side. Movements are very fluid and at times their smiles and expressions just kind of rub me the wrong way. That’s not a negative (which is why it is in the positive list) because the animation is very fluidly done and the settings have all been stunning. It does just take a bit to get used to.

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Sonny Boy Series Negatives:

I think if anything is really going to put someone off this anime it will be the characters. Sonny Boy has introduced a lot of personalities but very few of them are likeable and far too many of the characters are really just blending into the background at the moment (to the point where I probably wouldn’t be able to identify they were even in the anime if shown a picture).

Equally, there’s no one yet who I’ve really connected with as a main character or someone I really want to see succeed here. While unlikable characters have their place, it has made it hard to really be too concerned about the plight of these students. Nozomi has had one or two great moments but she’s too chaotic to really be someone you can rally behind. Mizuho is righteous to a fault and as a result is angry at the world. Nagara is so passive he’s really hard to back. And Asakaze is pretty much a jerk. Forget the student council members. They are all awful.

That said, they all have potential and as they endure the various events and trials and we learn more about them, there’s certainly time for them to grow on me or to be changed by the events in the plot for the better. Certainly, they aren’t unlikeable enough to be a reason not to watch the story.

And honestly, that’s all I have for negatives so far. These first three episodes were pretty engaging.

Verdict?

So yes, I will be watching Sonny Boy when it concludes (or maybe do a few short viewings throughout the season). I’m very curious as to where it will go and it feels a bit different from the other shows I’m watching this season.

I’m in. How about you? Are you watching Sonny Boy?

Images from: Sonny Boy. Dir. S Natsume. Madouse. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy Worth Watching?

Posted on July 28, 2021July 22, 2021 by Karandi

Tsukimichi - main character Makoto Misumi

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

First Impressions of Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy

Honestly, I was intrigued by the promotional image of Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy (or Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu) with the protagonist aiming a flaming arrow toward the audience, a busty samurai girl, the dark magic user and then the two glowing figures in the back. I also just loved the way the title was written but that’s one of the weird things I tend to notice about anime sometimes and doesn’t really indicate whether the story will be any good.

And MAL did have this Tsukimichi tagged as a comedy which usually makes me think twice.

With the Summer 2021 season already putting in a plethora of isekai titles and my already being committed to My Next Life as a Villainess, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Seirei Gensouki and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, I wasn’t entirely sure whether I needed another fantasy, isekai in my life.

Yet I still dove into this one as soon as there were 3 episodes to try.

While the humour for the comedy seems to be either of the overly-exaggerated or overly obvious type, the first three episodes of Tsukimichi were actually pretty charming and they seem to be doing a decent enough job of set-up even if there was nothing particularly remarkable about them.

There’s also been a nice mix of character introductions, attempts at humour, some actual world building and action sequences so far so again, while nothing is really standing out there’s little to really complain about.

Except perhaps that protagonist Makoto Misumi is a trained archer and he does at one or two points create a magical arrow but doesn’t use this ability anywhere near often enough. Though that is probably just me and my ongoing obsession with anime archers.

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Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Series Positives:

Honestly, if you like isekai stories and don’t mind if they aren’t taking themselves overly seriously, you could do worse than these opening episodes of Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy.

Each of the characters we’ve been introduced to so far has left enough of an impression so even if Makoto is really rocking standard isekai protagonist mode the god and goddess he met during his transition to the isekai world both made their personalities felt and the dragon girl and spider girl have so far proved a decent enough combination.

Tsukimichi - Misumi, Mio and Tomoe go to town.

The world building is pretty standard fantasy fare but I did like the fact that because the Goddess rejected Misumi based on his face we never really found out what the threat was that she was summoning heroes to beat. The usual exposition that explains what is happening in the world and what the threat is was entirely skipped over and instead Misumi is more or less just dealing with whatever comes his way.

Also, while Tsukimichi isn’t exactly a thrill ride to watch, nothing seems to be dragging as we swiftly move from summoning, to meeting characters, into a conflict, before we do some world building and then back into conflict and it all just kind of flows along nicely with no particularly sequence outstaying its welcome (at least not so far).

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Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy Series Negatives:

About the only absolute negative for Tsukimichi in the first three episodes is kind of the feeling of deja-vu that rolls over the viewer. Admittedly, I watch tons of isekai stories and one of the pitfalls is that they do all start looking a little similar after awhile, but Tsukimichi is really struggling to find its own identity right at the moment and yet it also feels like it might if given a little longer.

I particularly found the scene where the dragon girl and spider girl insisted that Misumi give them a name very much felt like I was back watching the early episodes of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and Misumi’s basic instruction that the various races don’t fight each other in his village that’s forming did little to break away from that impression.

While all of the characters work here and the combination is actually pretty solid, all of them feel like they could have been borrowed straight out of other isekai titles.

Tsukimichi will hopefully overcome this as it more firmly establishes its own story and world building but the opening act had little that really stood out. Of course if it is walking over familiar paths it is at least doing so competently so how much of a negative a lack of ordinality is will depend on individual viewers.

Verdict?

Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy is not going to be a super high-priority for me but I’ll probably enjoy it quite enough when it is finished and being able to binge the rest of this story.

My expectations aren’t high but I expect it will continue to be an enjoyable enough isekai story and all things considered it has so far been fun enough.

I’d love to know your thoughts on these opening episodes so if you’ve tried Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy be sure to leave me a comment below.

Images from: Tsukimichi – Moonlit Fantasy. Dir. S Ishihira. C2C. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Scarlet Nexus Worth Watching?

Posted on July 22, 2021July 17, 2021 by Karandi

Scarlet Nexus — *^{Kill a monster, get pretty petals.}*

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

Scarlet Nexus and split screen action — *^{I don’t know what the masks do other than make it hard to know which character is which.}*

First Impressions of Scarlet Nexus:

I didn’t go into Scarlet Nexus with particularly high hopes.

Another anime about an enemy referred to only as ‘others’ attacking cities and teams of super-powered soldiers, lots of which are teens, fighting them off just seemed like it was going to get lost in the crowd and the messy visuals used to promote Scarlet Nexus did nothing to change my mind on that.

That the source for the anime was a game also didn’t do much to inspire confidence.

And so I watched the first three episodes and ultimately this isn’t the worst introduction I’ve ever watched to a story but it also didn’t do a huge amount to win me over.

Scarlet Nexus is kind of hovering kind of perfectly on average with no particular elements being dreadful but not a lot to really celebrate about this anime either.

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Scarlet Nexus Series Positives:

I think so far I’ve appreciated that Scarlet Nexus hasn’t been in over-explanation mode. Despite Yuito and Nagi just finally entering the Other Suppression Force (OSF) we really don’t get a lot of exposition and so far only one joint training session between to platoons which seemed more about getting Kasane some additional screen time as she seems to be a main character.

While this does mean there are some things about the world and the powers and the rest that still haven’t really been explained, I can’t imagine the plot would make any more sense even if they were. Do I really care why some people have more magic power than others? I just need to know that Yuito apparently didn’t have much.

Now could this become a problem later in the series if nothing ever gets explained? Absolutely. But for now I was kind of happy that the story just kind of flowed right along.

Equally, while a few different characters are introduced, they did a good enough job of conveying their personalities through actions in the first three episodes that you have a sense of who they are. While it would be nice to see them fleshed out a bit more beyond these initial impressions, so far all of the characters kind of work and seem to have enough of their own personality to stand out.

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Scarlet Nexus Series Negatives:

Not so much a negative but visually this anime is hard to take seriously. Not just because the animation is kind of so-so but more because the ‘others’ largely look like overgrown pot-plants with legs and it is really hard to take a threat seriously when it looks that ridiculous. Larger enemies look even sillier and unwieldy and it is hard to imagine any government actually having to take this threat seriously.

Equally, while it is a positive they haven’t lectured at us and thrown so much jargon at you that you can’t even think straight, Scarlet Nexus has yet to explain why regular weapons wouldn’t solve the problem. Particularly when canons seemed to be used to bring down about 80% of the enemies at one point. So wouldn’t a soldier with a gun work as well as a psychic teen using a garbage bin?

We are lacking in context as in I don’t think it is clear when or where this is meant to be set or how we got to this situation. Not sure when the ‘others’ started showing up and why they became such a threat. Sure we might learn along the way but at this stage we just have to accept they are there.

Possibly the other negative is we’ve gone from joining the military to uncovering a vast conspiracy and being about to die in the space of three episodes. It might be nice if Scarlet Nexus slowed down a little and gave its own story a bit of room to breathe so that the audience could feel more like they knew where they were rather than feeling a little dragged along.

Verdict?

I don’t actually think Scarlet Nexus will end up being particularly good. But nor do I think it will be dreadful and Yuito and Kasane weren’t terrible characters so I’m kind of curious as to what ends up happening to them. There’s definite potential for this to fall apart but I think it is far more likely to end up being pretty unremarkable but watchable.

Then gain, it just might surprise me and turn out to be great. Guess I’ll find out at the end of the season.

Images from: Scarlet Nexus. Dir. H Nishimura. Sunrise. 2021

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Karandi James

Watch or Drop? Is Full Dive Worth Watching?

Posted on June 24, 2021June 19, 2021 by Karandi

Full Dive - How many people would actually want a game to reproduce pain? — *^{Why would anyone want a game}*^{that does that, Full dive?}

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
I’ll watch as much as it takes to make a decisionas to whether the anime will be added to the watch/review list or dropped and forgotten. For good.

The best friend and childhood friend - yet neither want to explain why he can't leave the city (at least not properly).
Full Dive gets off to a rocky start. — *^{And why can’t the friends simply explain their reasoning to Hiro? Communicate.}*

First Impressions of Full Dive:

Right off the bat the premise was always going to be a problem. That someone made a game that would reproduce real life, including pain, just strikes me as a terrible marketing decision and I’m sure two seconds of research would have convinced those who bank-rolled the game Kiwame Quest that it was a stupid idea.

More importantly, assuming the game did get made and assuming our protagonist was ‘tricked’ into purchasing the game, why would he log in again after the first experience. Full Dive seems to have wanted an excuse to put their protagonist through the wringer and they weren’t too picky about how they got to the point where they could torture the main character in episode 3.

Sure, they are overly exaggerating the reactions of characters and every character’s personality is way over the top in an attempt to play it as comedy, but realistically we’ve seen a teenager boy get beaten up for asking questions, accidentally kill someone, get pursued by guards, betrayed by another player, led in chains through the street and stoned before being haunted by a ghost and chained to a table and almost had his leg cut off.

Not entirely sure I’m getting the humour of it all.

That said, I also didn’t stop watching prior to the end of the first three episodes of Full Dive so there’s something about it.

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Full Dive Series Positives:

I’m actually struggling a little here.

So far we have awful characters who have either endured awful things or done awful things playing an awful game where so far only bad things have happened.

It doesn’t even really look that great.

Full Dive - Hiro's sister lets him know how she's feeling about his hobby. — *^{Ah, a supportive little sister.}*

On the other hand, an anime doesn’t need to be sunshine and rainbows to be enjoyable. I’m just not entirely sure what the appeal is here. Part of me wants to know what it will take before Hiro genuinely doesn’t log back into the game again. The end of episode 3 of Full Dive has him declaring he’s over the game, but that seems unlikely given where we are in the story.

The other part of me wants to see if these negative experiences ultimately lead to something worthwhile. Let’s be real, even before Hiroshi started playing the game his life wasn’t exactly going great. While I don’t need a happy ending, it would be kind of nice to see that through overcoming his current tribulations maybe he finds something better.

Or maybe Full Dive really is just about making the character as miserable as possible. I guess I won’t know if I don’t keep watching.

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Full Dive Series Negatives:

I kind of feel perhaps the biggest negative for me so far is that Full Dive: The Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG is Even Shittier Than Real Life! is labelled as a comedy and while I can kind of see some exaggeration for comedic effect, I’m not exactly seeing this as funny.

That’s naturally a subjective point of view but without this actually landing in the funny category, mostly it is just depressing and a little bit morbid. Then again, others who have reviewed Full Dive found it delivered on laughs so maybe this will work for you.

Full Dive - Really knows how to make you pay for your mistakes. — *^{It isn’t like he did it on purpose. I doubt he could have done it on purpose.}*

That said, I am kind of curious still about where they will take the premise. It is nice to see a character in a video game who doesn’t get instantly stronger and isn’t automatically recognised as a hero. In an over-saturated genre of being trapped in a video game, Full Dive has taken the path of Bofuri in that the character isn’t technically trapped, but then has dialled up the difficulty to Aincrad SAO levels if it had an insane mode that also made pain a thing.

Still, what it might be isn’t what it has done and in three episodes this one has been visually dull, the voice acting consists of a lot of shouting and whining, and so far I haven’t found a single character that I actually sympathise with, care about, or really want to spend time with.

I think I like the idea of Full Dive far more than I am liking the anime.

Verdict?

I actually don’t know just yet if I am going to finish Full Dive or not. I probably will because it made me curious and that’s perhaps my greatest weakness. That said, after trying three episodes, I wouldn’t exactly be telling anyone else they should be checking this one out. There’s plenty of anime out there with similar ideas that have been done better.

Maybe Full Dive will change my mind before the end but I’m not that optimistic.

Images from: Full Dive. Dir. K Miura. ENGI. 2021.

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Karandi James

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