Watch or Drop? The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Dungeon
The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter Episode 2 - Two episodes in and sparks are flying between the would-be love interests.
Childhood friend vs random guild advisor who has known guy for 5 minutes. Yep, this is a harem anime.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.

In fairness I made it two episodes into this one so it has already done better than Hortensia Saga.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter - Noir
Here is Noir, our earnest and fairly unremarkable protagonist for the series.

First Impressions:

If you’ve followed my blog any length of time you know that I am not a huge fan of ecchi anime or harems in general. That said, I still usually give them a shot because there have been a few over the years that have really grabbed my interest. How Not To Summon a Demonlord really surprised me with how enjoyable it ended up being and while there were a few ecchi moments I probably could have lived without in the series, those elements didn’t intrude on my overall enjoyment of the show. Basically, ecchi is neither a lure for me nor an actual concern provided I’m interested in the rest of the story.

That said, Hidden Dungeon only has a score of 6.37 on MAL and looked like a fairly forgettable fantasy story filled with an excessive number of female types so I wasn’t expecting all that much going into this anime. After finding out that Noir can use his Great Sage ability realistically only when getting kisses to off-set his headaches I kind of suspected what this anime’s focus was going to be and the double whammy of his need to restore life points through enjoying worldly pleasures in order to use the raft of other skills he acquires in the dungeon really lowered my expectations for any compelling narrative given it seemed like the plot existed just to contrive reasons to have Noir interact with the various girls around him.

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Series Positives:

Despite being the generic, brown-haired, mostly quiet and unassuming protagonist one expects from this type of series, Noir actually gets a little bit of personality early on. He’s actually almost cruel to his father in the way he verbally cuts him down after his father’s low position costs him his own opportunity to pursue work in the library. Maybe more of this comes into play later in the series though I will admit that largely Noir defaults back to nice-guy protagonist mode and is really just going through the motions of walking through a fantasy story.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter - Olivia
Olivia also manages to be quite sassy for a character literally chained in a dungeon.

Outside of that, there’s a not a lot else that stood out in the two episodes I watched. Some of the skills have potential to be interesting but they all seem to exist just to keep the harem aspect rolling along. The moments in the dungeon could be potentially thrilling, but again they seem to only exist to push the other parts of the story along. Largely it is hard to identify any clear positives when everything here is just so incredibly average.

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Series Negatives:

I really find if grating when an entire plot point seems to exist because somewhere a writer was trying to justify reasons to have a nice-guy protagonist suddenly getting more physical with the girls around him. Noir wouldn’t normally take advantage of his child-hood friend but when she earnestly makes an offer to kiss him to help him endure his headaches he naturally accepts. That she’s crushing hard on him doesn’t make this sit much better. In fact, episode two, my tipping point was when Noir needed LP (life points) to use some of his new skills and so, apparently reluctantly, asked if he could nibble her ear and all blushingly she accepted. Are we supposed to not find this a little creepy just because Noir needs to do it? If he likes the girl just have them date and then there’s no particular concern with whether he wants to nibble her ear or not, but then that would upset the harem they are trying to establish so no dating for Noir.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter - Noir kisses Emma
I’d wish these two happiness except that they are only kissing to solve a problem and he’s a harem lead so no chance of a happily ever after with one girl.

The other real negative is the writing for every other character in the story. It is so blatant and unnatural. Noir comes from a lower rank of nobility and literally every person he meets raises this point in the most blunt way possible. It is almost farcical how much effort and malice these characters put into their comments toward someone who is still higher ranked than a commoner and yet I’m feeling not even the commoners get this kind of ridicule in the story (or at least not from what the audience has seen). At first I thought there had to be more to the reason for the Starga family being looked down upon other than their rank but not one character ever mentions anything else. It is again a plot point for the sake of making the story happen but feels really contrived.

Verdict?

Karandi Bored Transparent
Drop

While I wasn’t expecting much from this, I kind of hoped it would at least be watchable and maybe a bit of silly fun. And I guess for those who don’t find the writing so unnatural and don’t question the fundamental premise of the story maybe this would be a bit of light entertainment. For me though, I’m out.

Other Impressions:

Images from: The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter. Dir. K Oonishi. Okuruto Noburo. 2021.

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Watch or Drop? Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Spider
Spider - "Nope! No Idea! Time to put it aside!
If at first you don’t succeed – give up. Positive messages from a kid reincarnated as a spider.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.
Spider - "It worked! It actually worked!"
Gotta remember to celebrate the little things.

First Impressions:

If you read my first impressions of the light novel series you will know that while I enjoyed the story of So I’m A Spider, So What? (or Kumo Desu ga, Nani Ka?) I did find some of the writing quite clunky and at times the game mechanics and stat displays really interfered with the enjoyment and immersion of the story. Basically reading whole pages of stat displays isn’t interesting. That said, there were enough other points that I did enjoy that I read on from book 1 and found myself really quite enjoying the series of light novels having currently read through 6 volumes with volume 7 sitting in my to be read pile (that pile is a slowly getting worked through). When all is said and done, this is one story I wanted an anime adaptation for because I think inherently the story will work better visually then having to read through some of the more awkward bits.

So how did episodes 1 – 3 go?

My first impressions were very positive. This series is so far delivering on all the fun and energy that were in the books, as well as the nastier parts with some hints even in these three episodes that not everything is going to be dancing spiders and kids playing with water. The game mechanic elements, including stat displays, are working significantly better on screen than they did in text and really I have very few complaints. The story is still a little manic as we kind of chop and change between the human reincarnations at the school and the spider in the dungeon and if I was going in cold without prior knowledge I’d be more put off by this, however this is a case where I’m pretty happy to wait for it to bring itself together. Would I say the same if I hadn’t read the light novels? Hard to say. There’s a lot of charm here but unless the audience is hooked on the spider antics, the bigger picture stuff is really not coming through in these early episodes so I could understand people deciding this anime wasn’t for them.

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Series Positives:

I don’t give it a shout out often enough but I am going to make a clear mention of it here, they’ve nailed the voice acting for our reincarnated spider. I was really surprised when I looked up Aoi Yuuki’s role list to find out she was the bully in San-Gatsu, played the cute younger sister in ACCA, and has had a whole range of main and supporting roles in lots of anime I’ve watched and when looking at the characters she’s played, she’s always delivered a quality performance. She’s seriously impressive here as she goes through depressed and defeatist, to grim determination, to cocky and celebratory and everywhere in between as she learns about her spider skills and about her environment. So far Hugo’s voice actor, Kaito Ishikawa (who also voices Iida in My Hero Academia) has also delivered an A+ performance. While some of the other characters haven’t been quite so nuanced, no one has delivered a poor performance and this one is just a pleasure to listen to as the characters are really working to draw you into this world.

Hugo - "This is what they mean by chosen by god!"
Hugo is confident, I’ll give him that. He is however a character who is set up to be despised and he does a great job of being despicable.

Outside of the impressive voice work, the visuals are actually pretty appropriate here. Sure, you’ll find cleaner and more fluid animation elsewhere, but they’ve got a style here and it suits the story well and doesn’t intrude on things too much. Besides, animating all those spider legs is pretty impressive. I do appreciate that even in the dark cavern they are careful to ensure the characters and action are actually light enough to see. While this may not be super realistic (what do you want from an anime about a girl being reincarnated as a spider) it at least means I’m not squinting through murk to try and figure out what is actually going on (perhaps Arifureta could take notes for their first few episodes).

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Series Negatives:

With a whole classroom of kids getting vaporised and reincarnated, while these first three episodes focus primarily on the spider and the growing rivalry between goody-two-shoes Schlain and the obnoxious Hugo, there’s a lot of other characters who aren’t getting much of a look in. Karnatia who was a boy reincarnated as a girl and Fei who reincarnated as a dragon are both present here but barely get much of a look-in outside of being allied with Schlain and the audience remains pretty in the dark about everything else (again this kind of carries over from how the books were written, but I still feel it is a small failing given it makes it harder for the audience to really get into things).

Spider in trouble.
Have you ever just had one of those days?

Outside of the same basic narrative issues the source had though, I have very few complaints about this anime. It is fun to watch and while some of the events seem a little predictable, and the spider seems to just run headlong from one situation into another, there’s enough personality about it to keep it feeling fresh rather than just another isekai with the gimmick of being a spider.

Verdict?

Karandi Excited Transparent
Watch

I was pretty sure that this was absolutely going to end up on my watch list even if it wasn’t very good just because of my curiosity about how much of the story would end up being covered and how some of the descriptions in the book would actually appear in action. That said, these first three episodes were better than I had dared to hope and so far I’m loving this adaptation. Very much looking forward to watching more but as this one is 24 episodes it is going to be awhile before I can do a binge watch. I may, when it gets to episode 12 just binge the first cour and do a mid-season impressions post, largely because I’m not sure I can wait that long.

Other Impressions:

Images from: Wonder Egg Priority. Dir. S. Wakabayashi. Cloverworks. 2021.

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Watch or Drop? Is Hortensia Saga Worth Watching?

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Hortensia
Hortensia Saga - prologue
Okay, we have kings, werewolves and frightened Princesses about to have childhood trauma. Theoretically I should be enjoying this.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.

This is the second anime now where I’ve made the call after one episode. Oh dear.

Hortensia Saga- because every mentor needs some kind of scar or debilitation otherwise surely they could just solve the problem on their own without training someone else.
The truth hurts.

First Impressions:

How much did I want to enjoy this? I mean I love fantasy. High fantasy. Set in another world with knights and monsters with a little bit of magic and no 21st century protagonist stumbling around trying to modernise the place. As much fun as isekai can be, pure fantasy is what gets me utterly immersed in another world with characters who might be making relevant points about particular moralistic viewpoints but are doing it through using a different context so it usually doesn’t feel like I’m sitting through someone’s lecture on the topic.

Which actually made it all the more disappointing when by the end of episode one I was almost asleep on the couch where I was watching. Now, I will admit I wasn’t feeling particularly well when I sat down to watch this anime, but I doubt it would fare much better even if I was fully alert. I kind of feel I’d probably be harsher. Basically I came away from this anime realising that it had every ingredient needed to be an epic fantasy tale and yet was largely just checking off boxes and going through the motions with the end result being something that had all the right components and absolutely no spirit of its own. Maybe it found its feet as the series continued but I’m disinclined to spend any more time on it.

Then again, this has become a usual kind of trend for fantasy anime based on games. While I’m not going to say that any fantasy anime based on a game is a soulless cash-grab or attempt at exposure, but to be frank if this was meant to encourage me to seek out the game I can absolutely say that I have no desire to spend any time in this world.

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Series Positives:

I will be fair and point out that the prologue is actually the best part of this episode. Cutting between the werewolf inside the castle and the army rampaging outside, there’s a kind of pace and urgency to the events and it all happens in a kind of murky darkness that makes you want to pay attention to pick up the details. However, even throughout this opening section we have characters spelling things out, like the knight who declares that the guys stabbing his friends should put up their swords because they’ve always been brothers in arms. It is a little clunky, and an incredibly obvious piece of exposition, and given he follows it up with cutting down both the guys he was talking to when they don’t put up their swords it also feels somewhat hypocritical.

Hortensia Saga - Why?
Bad writing would be my guess.

Outside of that, there’s a red-headed archer character who looks like he will have a horrible personality going forward but he looks really cool in this episode, particularly in the battle scene toward the end. Like, really, really cool. If someone could just do a compilation video of his scenes from this series, I would totally watch it.

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Series Negatives:

Is being mediocre in pretty much every respect a negative?

For me, yes. This anime just felt so by the numbers and dull despite a relatively interesting premise and two battle sequences in one episode. This isn’t helped by largely painfully generic characters. Character designs are pretty and all but they all have about one personality note (if that) and realistically none of them have distinguished themselves in a meaningful way. The only one who really stood out from the first episode was the maid with the incredibly squeaky voice. If only because she reminded me of the maid in Lord Marksman and Vanadis and I remembered just how much she annoyed me as well.

Hortensia Saga - death by narration
And a million flowers gave their lives for the burial of one king. Who looks weirdly composed considering death by werewolf.

Actually the real negative for me came when right after the prologue scene we had a narration which other than putting a few dates on events really didn’t tell us anything we hadn’t already surmised from what we’d just seen. The style of the narration is similar to that used in Fairy Tail and several other fantasy anime but largely lacked the energy or enthusiasm of those narrators, and again seemed largely unnecessary. The return of the narration toward the end of the episode predicting future revelations for a bunch of characters who seem relatively dense didn’t add to my overall negative impression of how this device was being used by Hortensia Saga.

Verdict?

Karandi Bored Transparent
Drop

Two drops in a row… I hope this isn’t the start of a trend and I picked this one up after Vlad Love expecting to kind of love it for being just standard fantasy. Oh well. Onward and upward and hopefully the next anime will at least last the three episodes.

Other Impressions:

Images from: Hortensia Saga. Dir. Y. Nishikata. LIDENFILMS. 2021

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Watch or Drop? Is Vlad Love Worth Watching?

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Vlad
Vlad Ep1 6

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.

Just so we’re clear – I didn’t actually watch episodes 1-3. Episode 1 was enough.

Vlad Ep1 1
So this woman apparently works in a school. While they try and turn their own censorship into a joke it doesn’t actually make the thought of this person working in a school any better.

First Impressions:

Look, unlike Sleepy Princess, I did get to the end of episode one of Vlad Love and realistically I could watch more. It isn’t as though it was totally painful or overly offensive, although the nude nurse definitely makes you wonder what exactly the writer’s sense of humour is based on. If I had to sum up my thoughts while watching episode one I could do it with one word: dull. And for a school comedy featuring a starving vampire and a girl obsessed with blood donation (which is one weird obsession but I guess we’ve seen weirder in anime) to manage to be dull is perhaps the best merit I’ll give it.

Mondo

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Series Positives:

None.

Um…

That probably isn’t fair.

Actually, Banba, the lead character, could actually be a pretty interesting character if they were a side character in a different anime with better writers. Conceptually I like Banba. Watching her here however she just doesn’t have anything to work with.

Vlad Ep1 4
And what is with the constant use of panels throughout the episode. You aren’t distracting me from the poor writing here.

Also, Mai, the vampire newly arrived from Transylvania after her shipping container got lost is also on paper a pretty interesting character. her desire for blood is at war with her desire not to actually bit or enslave people and all things considered exploration of that could be quite fun. Again, this wasn’t enough to make me stick around through any more of this anime but there’s certainly some potential there.

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Series Negatives:

I covered the biggest one in the first impressions and that was that I was bored. They blow up a blood donation van, have a nurse strip, and we meet a Transylvanian vampire and I still wasn’t in any way interested in what I was watching. Part of this was because it is visually one of the least impressive anime I’ve picked up so far this year. However I think a lot of it is just down to delivery of the material. In more adept hands there isn’t anything overly wrong with the concept but it failed to get me even mildly curious about where it intended to go – and honestly given the people behind this one have some real credibility in making anime, you have to wonder just what has gone wrong.

Vlad Ep1 7
Trust me, this one is a snooze fest.

This anime seems to want to be bizarre and off-the-wall and not care but it just hasn’t got the zany energy to pull it off. Also, episode one introduces characters that with a bit more effort could have been interesting but instead has them become one-note memes even before the episode ends. You kind of hope that maybe in the following episodes they expand their repertoire but the damage is already done and any desire I may have had to see more of these characters was already thoroughly killed before the episode came to a halt.

Verdict?

Karandi Bored Transparent
Drop

Well at least Vlad Love has the privilege of being my first official declared drop in this new series of posts. For me to be this disengaged by a vampire story is a bit weird and I would claim it was the comedy angle except that I loved Karin and quite enjoyed Rosario and Vampire. So I have a clear history of actually kind of enjoying school based vampire comedies.

Honestly, I really found this one to be dull and just not worth even the small amount of time it would take to watch the next two episodes. Still, I’d love to know your first impressions if you gave Vlad Love a go.

Other Impressions:

Images from: Vlad Love. Dir. M Oshii. Production I.G, Drive. 2021

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Watch or Drop? Is Wonder Egg Priority Worth Watching?

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Wonder Egg
Ai wonders about the egg.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.
4 Eggs for Wonder Egg Priority
I don’t know about you but that image kind of makes me want to flick the eggs over the edge.

First Impressions:

After three episodes of Wonder Egg Priority I’m left with mixed feelings as it is the kind of anime that could go either way. It may be a brilliant piece of original anime that will influence its genre for the next few years or it may end up being yet another original anime with a great concept, striking visuals, and ultimately unable to stick its landing (as original anime have a nasty tendency of unravelling in their final third). I will say this anime is giving me strong Madoka vibes (and I know I’m not alone having read some of the other first impressions posts about Wonder Egg Priority). The general sense of not knowing what is happening, the characters moving from the real world and into I guess a world built out of their psychological state (though I’m not really sure if that is what it is), and even just the really bizarre character design and animations for the enemies the girls face feels in some ways quite similar to Madoka Magica entering the world of the witch to slay her.

That said, Wonder Egg Priority doesn’t really feel derivative. We’ve had a lot of Madoka-esque anime since its time (some solid efforts and others blatantly trying to cash in on the popularity of a superior work) but Wonder Egg Priority while there are some visual and thematic similarities has so far managed to feel very much like it is telling it is own story and hasn’t drawn too much influence from any one particular source (at least so far).

Cute girls face dark and nightmarish things in order to have a wish granted isn’t the most original plot I’ll grant you, but making it feel fresh and giving us a number of interesting characters in these first three episodes that all have a lot of depth to explore is definitely an achievement for thsi anime.

Horizon

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Series Positives:

While I said in my review of Deca-Dence that I appreciated that they laid their cards out on the table early on, Wonder Egg Priority’s approach of keeping us and the main character deliberately in the dark about certain things, including the overall objective of Acca and Ura-Acca (or whoever it is who actually provides the eggs) is actually a pretty solid choice (providing that they can make the revelations worth the wait). Basically I really like the set-up here. However, for those who find issues of suicide and bullying confronting and somewhat less than entertaining (read triggering or traumatic) that is going to instantly wipe Wonder Egg Priority from their priority list.

So a bug is talking to you and you decide just to go with it?
Okay Ai, I know you are a shut in but do you seriously take advice from a bug?

I also have to give a definite shout out in the positives to the character designs in general. Ai Ohto is adorable with her mis-matched eyes and blue fringe pulled down to cover one of them. She’s frequently wearing a hoodie or hiding under a blanket or something else. Neiru’s character is more stern looking and her style of dress more conservative, her brown hair plaited. Episode 3 delivered Rika who is clearly a former idol of some sort (though probably not a popular one) and her blonde and pink hair as well as her generally more trendy style definitely stands out. However it isn’t just main characters who seem to have been given a lot of time and attention.

Also, the animation is pretty brilliant and fluid. As Ai crosses into the other world after cracking an egg, we see chase sequences, running battles, and some really smooth movement. While the colours get a bit busy and some of the villains are over-designed to the point where they start looking like rejected Sailor Moon monsters they are at least distinct and visually the whole anime is a bit of a feast for the eyes provided you don’t find it overwhelming.

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Series Negatives:

Potentially all of this mystery and build up is going nowhere. Realistically we have a fire-fly (though not always) talking to Ai and leading her to buy a magic egg (only the first one is free) which leads to a girl hatching from it and that leads to Ai’s first battle. During which she notices a statue of her friend who committed suicide and after protecting the girl she realises the statue is warmer and so somehow determines that more eggs means more chance of bringing her friend back to life (though the fire-fly is really deliberate about not confirming that assumption which leads me to believe that there isn’t a chance at all of Ai getting her wish). The other girls we’ve met in these first three episodes seem equally clueless about their own reality and yet continue on with the egg buying and fighting. Again, if we get a payoff that is worth it, this will be a brilliant opening act. However, there’s a very real chance this is all fizzle and no ka-boom!

Pride before the fall - perhaps?
In the grand tradition of characters who utter this line, things are about to go very wrong.

I also felt the flashbacks to the bullying weren’t particularly nuanced or moving. We go through all the standards of soaked bags and missing umbrellas as well as locker graffiti but possibly because Ai is disconnected from the tragedy (or is trying to be disconnected from it) as a viewer I was left feeling largely unmoved by what is actually a pretty awful backstory. I’m not sure what could have been changed here to make it connect for me, but I do know that I’m left feeling that Koito is more a MacGuffin for Ai than an actual character and that makes it harder to really buy in to the overall urgency of Ai’s quest.

Verdict?

Karandi Excited Transparent
Watch

Despite the couple of negatives there, one of them is a future me problem and the other is more a matter of preference for feeling something a bit stronger rather than an actual mis-step. I’m very understanding that this anime has subject matter that will not work for every viewer, however it isn’t something I’m overly concerned about and actually, depending on how much exploration we get of these characters facing past-traumas I’m actually pretty interested in where Wonder Egg Priority may take some of the issues and themes it has presented.

Not to mention, episode 3 was actually a cliff-hanger and because I was only watching three episodes at the moment, I’m not insanely curious about what happens next.

Other Impressions:

Images from: Wonder Egg Priority. Dir. S. Wakabayashi. Cloverworks. 2021.

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Watch or Drop? Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Jobless
The old reincarnation ploy.

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.
Outside not so scary anymore.
Stick around: You might make the cut.

Jobless Reincarnation First Impressions:

Let’s be real, it is the standard middle aged shut in for reasons goes outside and is promptly killed by a truck only to be reincarnated in another world. Only real stand out point in this premise is that the main character had an awful life but from his own narration and views expressed is just a pretty unpleasant person.

He still didn’t deserve to be run over by a truck mind you, but realistically it is really hard to want to care about what happens to the young Rudeus when he is narrating a story in his middle aged man voice and peeking at a girl’s panties. On the other hand when young Rudy is being left to be more just a young kid learning about magic, there is an almost charm in these episodes so my first impressions are pretty mixed.

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Series Positives:

I genuinely did enjoy watching Rudy teach himself to read and learn magic and his initial experiments that ultimately led to him blowing a hole in the wall of his new parent’s house. The interactions between Roxy and Rudy, when they didn’t focus on more sexually focused content, were actually really pleasant and his final magic exam with her was one of the stand-out scenes of these first three episodes.

Rudy's first wand.
What every child magician needs – something to enhance their power.

There’s also his meeting and befriending of Sylph and standing up to his dad when being falsely accused of attacking another boy in the village. Now, if the same episode didn’t then have him forcibly stripping his new friend for a bath scene the whole thing would actually be pretty sweet. But again, there’s a genuine chemistry between the two characters and watching Rudy teach magic and the characters simply running around and being kids is again relatively charming.

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Series Negatives:

I’ve definitely already touched on this because I kind of felt I couldn’t write the positives without touching on these aspects. I’m not against fan-service and in an anime like How Not To Summon a Demon Lord the fan-service and more sexualised elements actually felt like they were part of the story rather than tacked on, awkward, and to be honest, a little uncomfortable. The best moments of this anime come from Rudy being Rudy, a young kid learning magic and doing things a bit differently.

The awkward moments or moments that pull you out of the story are usually associated with an internal monologue from the middle-aged version, or a flash back to his prior life. I’d ask whether the story needed to be isekai at all but at least a couple of Rudy’s traumas do have grounding in the events of his previous life so there’s some requirement for it to remain in the story. Though I’m failing to see what benefit the night scene with Roxy has to the overall narrative.

Another truck forced reincarnation - wonder if this one matters.
Yep, he is about to reincarnate in another world.

Equally, there’s not a lot new to be found here for long time consumers of isekai stories. We haven’t seen much of the fantasy world given Rudy is still a child and didn’t venture out of home for a large chunk of the three episodes, but so far it seems to be the standard generic fantasy setting.

There’s no indication yet of an overall plan or driving point to the narrative other than Rudy living a second life so it kind of feels like this might end up being more slice-of-life-ish. That isn’t necessarily a problem if the characters can make it interesting enough and if the world has a bit of depth but the first three episodes are landing more in the decidedly average arena for me.

Verdict?

Karandi Shrug Transparent
Maybe

I don’t know. On the one hand, generic isekai stories and I get along pretty well and it doesn’t take much effort to make me want to watch them. On the other hand there are definite aspects here that don’t sit well with me, not so much because of the content but the fairly ham-fisted way it is thrown into the script. I guess it will depend on how many other anime I end up tasting actually make me want to watch them. For now, Jobless Reincarnation is firmly on the wait-and-see list.

Update: Full review – Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation

Other Impressions:

Images from: Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. Dir. M. Okamoto. Studio Bind, 2021

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Watch or Drop? Horimiya Anime

Posted on by Karandi
Watch or Drop Horimiya
Hori-san to Miymura-kun

Watch or Drop? Rules

Rules modified for the Autumn 2021 season.

  1. The anime must be new (not a sequel or spin-off).
  2. 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.
Nani?!
Yes, we are playing for keeps around here.

Horimiya Anime First Impressions:

The Horimiya anime is a high-school romance slash slice-of-life anime with characters that are actually fairly well written and interesting (at least so far). Hori and Miyamura have some fairly good chemistry as these first few episodes take us through friendship and into somewhat stronger emotions and with the exception of the members of the student council, most of the supporting cast have so far been pretty delightful.

The student council members may be taking a few clichés too much to heart. So far the pace has been pretty good and it never really feels like we’ve come to a halt and visually it is pretty pleasing.

Rascal

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Series Positives:

Miyamura has been fantastic. When I first saw him in the classroom in the standard outcast otaku mode I had a moment where I was almost ready to just accept that this was going to be as standard as they come. However, from the moment he first makes Hori’s acquaintance in casual mode on he’s proven a fairly entertaining lead character. Hori has been a little less impressive so far because she’s currently stuck in the dense romantic lead trope, however there’s plenty of scope for her character to grow and I’m hoping the series utilises this as it continues.

The visuals in the first 3 episodes have been spot on. While this isn’t an animation marvel full of dynamic action, the use of colour and framing in this anime has so far been very nicely composed and it really adds to the overall impression of the characters and the story.

  • Miyamura fence jumping.
  • Miyamura by the fence.
  • Feel the serenity
  • This confession is going nowhere.
  • Hori and Miyamura holding hands
Some of my favourite scenes visually so far – probably not a coincidence a lot of them feature Miyamura.

Finally, as I mentioned in the first impressions, the pace has been well used. We’re not rushing but we go from the characters meeting to a decent friendship within one episode as well as introducing the supporting characters and have Hori confessed to by one of the supporting characters. From there we just keep flowing forward and it feels very natural and is keeping me interested in where things are going.

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Series Negatives:

Alright, it is a little generic. If you’ve seen boy and girl who both are a bit different at home to the way they appear at school who meet and become close before then this anime isn’t exactly treading new ground. Admittedly, it is doing its own version of this story and doing it well, but if originality is what you are looking for you probably won’t find it here.

The only other negative I have so far is Ayasaki who is apparently a member of the student council but is being shoved into some kind of role as a rival/antagonist even though there’s really not a lot of room or need for one in the story so far.

Maybe she’ll grow as the series continues or maybe she’ll remain the low point, however first impressions of her aren’t great as she resorts to tears in one scene to avoid accepting responsibility for her actions and then pretty much declares she’s going to ‘take’ Miyamura like some kind of possession even though she’s had like 2 encounters with him. With some more thought and better writing she could be a half-decent character but as it stands she’s the weak link in an otherwise pretty solid opening 3 episodes.

Ayasaki - She's starting something here.
Please leave, Ayasaki. Just get up and go away.

Fine, if pushed I’ll also mention that there’s a joke in episode one that just lands completely flat due to the subject matter and the fact that it is a comment from a teacher to a student that just seems completely out of place. However, outside of that mis-fire most of the humour lands provided you don’t dislike the usual anime girl slaps or flicks boy in face when she’s embarrassed or annoyed.

Verdict?

Karandi Excited Transparent
Watch

This was probably a super easy one to start with given it charmed me right from episode one. I am actually disappointed it isn’t finished already because I’d have loved to just binge the whole lot in one sitting. So yes, I’ll be watching the rest of Horimiya once the season is over and I’m looking forward to reviewing the whole series.

Update: Series review of Horimiya

Other Impressions:

Images from: Horimiya. Dir. M. Ishihama. Cloverworks. 2021

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Is Season 2 Of The Promised Neverland Weaker Than Its Predecessor?

Posted on by Karandi
The Promised Neverland Season 2 Discussion

Episode 6 has finally aired and now I’m taking a look at how the second season has measured up to season 1.

There will be no real surprise for my regular readers when I say I really enjoyed season 1 of The Promised Neverland. I found the tension and pacing nicely done even if there was an over reliance on cliff-hangers, found some of the direction to be interesting and added to the overall atmosphere, and the tight narrative arc of the kids realising the situation they were in and then struggling to overcome the obstacles and escape to just be really satisfying to watch. I finished my season 1 review of The Promised Neverland with the statement that I highly recommended it.

So as we pass the halfway mark of season 2, am I feeling the same way?

Not so much.

The Promised Neverland Episode 9 Ray and Emma

Now I want to be clear that my issues with season 2 do not stem from the variation from the source material. Hunting around online it seems like a lot of people are finding the adaptation a little on the lacking side. However, I deliberately did not read past where season 1 ended so for me whether the anime follows the events in the manga isn’t the most important thing.

What I am more concerned about is that visually The Promised Neverland seems to have lost its identity and so far season 2 hasn’t really had much in the way of focus to drive the plot forward and with that overall the series has lost any sense of tension. Throw in a time-skip and multiple setting changes and it is generally hard to say that at this point I’m particularly invested in anything that is happening despite being interested and genuinely wanting to learn more about the demon world and to see how the kids ultimately either save (or don’t save) the other kids on the farm.

Haiku Kotaro Bokuto

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And that’s a weird position to be in. To be interested but not invested.

When I started really thinking about it, I realised that almost all of my interest, is left over from the season one finale when the kids took their first steps out of Grace Field and into an unknown world. There was a real sense of mystery and excitement with a little trepidation because if children were being farmed it really didn’t bode well for what would be beyond the wall.

While the first couple of episodes of season 2 seemed to be wanting to fulfil that sense of curiosity as the kids traversed the forest being pursued by demons, we quickly moved on. First by meeting a pair of intelligent demons who didn’t seem to want to eat them, then to the promised shelter left by the plot device ‘Minerva’.

This is before being chased out of the shelter and back to the forest where one of the monsters conveniently attacked the pursuers but not the pursued, before we had several months skipped over and the kids are now living in a run-down temple, before we drop the presumed dead Norman back into the plot for episode 6 – which suffered generally from having almost no animation.

Characters stood or sat around chatting and the camera angles bounced around but it couldn’t disguise the fact that most of the characters barely moved throughout the entire episode.

The Promised Neverland Season 2 Episode 3

When we compare this with season ones generally narrow story line of Emma, Ray and Norman observing their surroundings, identifying the obstacles, and training and recruiting the kids to help in their plans, season 2 has so far felt incredibly unfocused. In season one, I found the arrival and subsequent disruption caused by Sister Krone to be largely unnecessary, other than it showed that even the humans who worked for the demons weren’t exactly getting a smooth run.

Outside of that it felt like every line of dialogue, every interaction, every weird close up from the camera seemed to have some kind of purpose and fed into the narrative.

Season 2 of The Promised Neverland has some great scenes. The kids training to hunt, their first night in the shelter, even Emma’s interaction with the blind demon in the temple were nicely put together sequences. However there’s no thread holding it all together other than the kids are trying to survive and may eventually get back to save the other kids.

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And perhaps it is deliberate. Where season one used darker colours (when the kids weren’t outside playing) and strange POV’s to create a near claustrophobic setting at times as the kid’s world closed in around them, season two seems to be opening things up creating many choices and possibilities but leaving the kids adrift. They’ve accomplished what was thought to be impossible but now they aren’t sure what their next steps are. Perhaps all this aimless wandering is designed to help the audience feel how lost the characters are.

The Promised Neverland Season 2 Episode 3

Does a different tone and feeling, the story moving into a new space and the kids not as certain of their path, make this second season of The Promised Neverland weaker?

Honestly, each viewer is going to decide for themselves. For me, I know that if this wasn’t a second season of an anime I was already attached to, season 2 has been decidedly on the average side. Whether or not it ends up being worth it will depend on what the second half of the season intends to do now that Norman is back in the mix. However, as so much of what I loved about season one seems to be missing in season 2, and even Emma (one of my favourite characters from 2019) seems a little lacklustre in this season, my view is that The Promised Neverland season 2 has so far been a significantly weaker entry than season 1.

Karandi Sad Transparent
Okay, I’m not really crying about it, but it has still been a little disappointing.

It isn’t yet at the point where the story cannot recover and find its feet. I mean, I went through a similar situation with Attack on Titan where the first half of season one was this amazing roller-coaster ride that I just loved and then the second half and most of season 2 really left me feeling pretty meh about the entire franchise before season 3 hooked me back in.

Still, I am curious as to how my readers feel about season 2 of The Promised Neverland. I’d love to hear your thoughts so leave us a comment.

Images used for review from:

  • The Promised Neverland Season 2. Dir. M Kanbe. Cloverworks. 2021.
  • The Promised Neverland Season 1. Dir. M. Kanbe. Cloverworks. 2019

Help Support 100 Word Anime This Spring Season 2000 ×
Donate to the blog.

Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James