endro – Anime QandA

A Credit To Its Genre – ‘Endro!’ Full Season Review

A Credit To Its Genre – A Full Season Review for ‘Endro!’

What’s the show? ENDRO~!

Uh-huh, and what’s it about? It’s a CGDCT series set in an action/fantasy world with swords and magic and monsters and even a demon lord! Our main characters are four girls who set out to defeat the demon lord who threatens the peace of this world! And they do–or rather they almost do–instead of banishing the demon lord once and for all our hero Yuusha flubs a magical incantation and sends the demon lord back in time. Back in the past, the demon lord (now in the body of a loli) becomes teacher to the four girls at the magic school they trained at, her intention to stop them from ever being good enough to be in a position to defeat the demon lord in the first place!

Sounds pretty high-concept for a ‘CGDCT’ series. Yeah. And that’s ~kinda~ the problem…

Uh-oh, I sense some negativity incoming? Don’t get me wrong, I love this show. The characters are all pretty much perfect which for a CGDCT show is kind of all I need. Added to that is the fact that it’s funny and silly and adorable and I couldn’t ask for more… except…

Cutest Demon Lord this side of… well every other show that has a loli demon lord…

Here it comes… The first episode of this show is pretty remarkable–at least if you’re going into this expecting just your standard cute girl show in a fantasy world–I won’t go into detail here (you can read my glowing first episode review here for more details) but suffice to say I was more than impressed by what I saw as a fresh take on this kind of show. Kind of like how ‘Zombieland Saga’ wow’ed all the normies out there a couple of seasons ago, except good.

Shots fired! *airhorn sounds* Yeah, sorry, that was a bit uncalled for, I’ve just got unresolved issues regarding that show… but moving on….

So what happened to make you not love the show it became? I’m gonna sound like a complete hypocrite here, but it became a pretty standard CGDCT show in between.

Wait, I’m confused. I thought you loved that kind of shit? First of all, don’t refer to it as “shit” even casually, and secondly, yes I do. Unreservedly. But with a first episode that raises the bar–not to something better, but to something different–and then it (pretty much) fails to live up to that “different” bar–well then that’s gonna cause some problems.

I just scrolled down to the bottom of the review… you gave this a 90/100. A NINETY! How on any planet does that correlate to the kind of complaints your incessant levelling against this show? Shut up, I’ve got my own personal scoring system–it doesn’t always hold up against critical analysis…

Uh-huh… you know this is exactly why no one takes your reviews seriously anymore! “Anymore”? Someone used to before?!

Okay, fine. Can you gather your thoughts long enough to make a brief ~paragraph~ that’ll at the very least be able to convey your opinions on this show without giving the reader a headache?! ‘ENDRO~!’ is a fun and light-hearted experience with the expected character development and comedic shenanigans you’d come to expect from a CGDCT show set in a fantasy world. Don’t expect any substantial inversions on tropes or narrative twists that are implied by its first episode, but likewise that shouldn’t be a problem if all your here for is the tried and tested CGDCT shtick–which this show does almost flawlessly. Simply put, it’s a great CGDCT show with the veneer of something more serious but it never feels the need to adhere or elaborate on the aforementioned front. Friends to the end with Endro; 90/100.

Now *this* is the kind of ear-nibbling content I sign up for!

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Sand, Sea and Slaying – ‘Endro!’ Episode 4 Review

Sand, Sea and Slaying – An Anime QandA Review for ‘Endro!’ Episode 4

What’s the show? Endro! Episode 4.

How’s this episode? I say “beach”, you say “episode”! Beach!

Episode… Beach!

Episode. Gah! Why are you like this?! Because I like girls in bikinis, it’s not rocket science, mate.

I mean, they’re not *actually* that more skimpy than their everyday outfits but whatever!

Hmm, well fair enough. So what’s this episode actually about, I take its not just an excuse for pointless fan-service. I’ll overlook the “pointless” quip and get to the point. This episode is an adventure and serves the purpose of being our group’s summer homework set by demon loli Mao (yes she’s no longer AWOL and back at teaching). And I kinda love how self-contained this episode is. I mean sure it benefits from prior knowledge but it’s also got a short-film, stand-alone vibe to the events, it tells a little story with minimal exposition and has a clear beginning, middle and end. That said, I think that very thing is likely to be a turn-off to some who are expecting some sort of overarching plot line when the show isn’t really interested in committing to something like that as of yet.

Baseless assumptions, all of that? Of course, it’s my favourite past time.

Uh-huh, so what were your highlights about the episode? I liked the whole journey to the deserted island itself–a sort of mini-adventure in the adventure (plus it reminded me of RPG’s and most specifically Animal Crossing)–so that was fun! The running gag of coming across different and very imaginative monsters on the beach was cool, and obviously the catching of the mackerel man and his whole subplot was as ridiculous as it was entertaining. Also the fact that Chibi-chan ended up inadvertently saving the day by eating the released spirit of the evil underwater god who was enslaving the mackerel men.

Huh? Also did I mention this show is all kinds of ridiculous and I love it all the more for it? Because that, that 1000% of the time. I love this show’s ‘looseness’ and free-spirited approach to almost everything it does–it’s stupidly endearing and leaves me with a smile across my face throughout. And that’s it, that’s the end of the review!

I know I’m supposed to be distracted by the mackarel man’s legs but *those* faces tho!

Previous ‘Endro!’ Reviews:

Every End Is A New Beginning – Episode 1 Review
Defeat By Retirement – Episode 2 Review
Feline Lost – Episode 3 Review

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Feline Lost – ‘Endro!’ Episode 3 Review

Feline Lost – An Anime QandA Review for ‘Endro!’ Episode 3

What’s the show? Endro! Episode 3.

How’s this episode? It’s just four happy-go-lucky friends on quests to go rescue cats. It couldn’t get much more cute than this episode was!

And that’s it for the whole episode is it? Pretty much, but to be fair they do have to find a lot of cats. Also the last cat they have to find is being held to ransom in a tower full of monsters and being guarded by a boss monster. So don’t pretend like saving cats isn’t difficult work!

Okay fair enough but what else are you going to talk about if all that’s happening in the episode is rescuing cats? I thought about this for a while and I figured out why this show feels different to normal CGDCT/slice of life shows and why I’m so drawn to it. It’s because mechanically and narratively this series has more in common with RPG games than the aforementioned genres. But rather than wholesale lifting every element such as numerically levelling up and keeping track of how much money is being earned and spent this anime plays it a bit looser with the logistics and is content to stick to references and meta-commentary rather than inundating the audience with the comparisons. And for me it helps sell the immersion of the world and its characters over say an isekai that over relies on those elements.

Right, but what else? What else? Well like any good RPG it’s about ~the journey~ rather than the destination, obviously this episode isn’t just about rescuing cats, that’s just the quest goal. Rather it’s about the difficulties they come across along the way, the way they work together to overcome their obstacles–be they monster or even food related. And, like a lot of great journeys it’s kind of hard to talk about all the little things that contributed to making the adventure memorable–you just kinda had to be there, or rather had to watch the episode for yourself.

Fair enough. Anything else you wanted to add? Our demon loli Mao is MIA for this episode–undoubtedly relishing her retirement and as much as I like her character, I don’t think this episode suffered at all for her absence–which I guess just goes to show the quality of our foursome. Also something about the episode I didn’t like (minor as it may be) was when the quest giving guy at the ‘Adventurer’s Guild’ looked at our four and said “four girls in your party, that’s unusual” I felt like that was a bit of unnecessary sexism thrown in for no reason, unless of course the show’s going to have ‘casual sexism’ as a common thread for the girls to fight against–in which case, you girls show ‘em you can hit just as hard and be just as smart as anyone else! But other than that another great episode!

When Fai is hungry an elf’s ear is apparently a good enough substitute!

Previous ‘Endro!’ Reviews:

Every End Is A New Beginning – Episode 1 Review
Defeat By Retirement – Episode 2 Review

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Defeat By Retirement – ‘Endro!’ Episode 2 Review

Defeat By Retirement – An Anime QandA Review for ‘Endro!’ Episode 2

What’s the show? Endro! Episode 2.

So how’s this episode? While not quite as good as the first episode (second episodes of comedy and slice of life shows seldom are) but everything about the show that was great in episode one is still wonderful here. The camaraderie and banter between the girls is top tier and the school shenanigans are just as good as the dorm shenanigans.

Okay, you just reviewed the whole episode in the first paragraph, good job, what’ll you do with the rest of the review? I know right? It’s almost like I started at the end and am going to work backwards…

Nice try, don’t pretend like you’ve got some meta-gimmick that ties into the show, you’ve just got nothing to talk about. Right so this episode does a couple of interesting things with its overall premise–firstly we learn that it was a flub in Yuusha’s sealing spell that caused the demon lord to go back in time and become a loli–because magic. Also our demon lord loli Mao, realising the futility in trying to split up the adventurous foursome who are going to lead to her ultimate destruction straight up quits being the demon lord!

Well that’s certainly a development for this early on. I don’t usually like to make predictions about future plotlines in the anime I’m watching but I get the feeling that after some time and no demon lord returning the girls are going to get disheartened about not being able to fulfil their destiny to become heroes. So it’ll be revealed (in whatever way) that Mao was in-fact the demon lord and they’ll try and convince her to return to that role. Whether that’s many episodes away or something that’s going to happen quick I don’t know but that’s how I see this show going forward.

Fair enough. Anything else you wanted to add? I do like the new teacher they introduced, sure it’s (apparently) become a bit of a trope to have a sexy tanned female lolicon (I mean ‘Ulysses’ last season had one in the form of LaHire) but its a character trope I enjoy. Besides she just wants to “hug” Mao, so nothing lewd here. Well except for the new teacher’s outfit!

You’ve got to keep those thoughts *inside*.

Of course you’d mention that… So final thoughts on the episode, I mean if you can since you already gave them. I’ll wrap up by saying I like the fact that while this episode feels relatively ~safe~ it doesn’t feel predictable either and despite my prediction earlier this show could go and do absolutely anything from here to mess with audience expectations especially as considering this is an original anime and not beholden to any kind of manga or game source material. Also, just to reiterate, I love this show!

The scene where Yuusha tries to “gather” supplies from people’s house was very RPG inspired and very funny too.

Previous ‘Endro!’ Reviews:

Every End Is A New Beginning – Episode 1 Review

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Every End Is A New Beginning – ‘Endro!’ Episode 1 Review

Every End Is A New Beginning – An Anime QandA Review for ‘Endro!’ Episode 1

What’s the show? Endro! Episode 1.

So how’s this episode? Remember in my episode review for ‘Pastel Memories’ I said I was enjoying how much the show was pandering to my sensibilities?

Yes, vaguely. Well this show does it better, it’s only been one episode and I freakin’ adore ‘Endro!’ seriously the whole day at work I couldn’t stop thinking about it, it’s been a salve to mind for all the ~troubles~ that have been persisting about the anime community these past weeks. I want this show beamed into my brain 24/7 and never have to think about anything other again.

Well that’s certainly high praise, what’s the show about? So four adventurers (Yusha, Seira, Fai and Mei) confront the demon lord who has plunged their world into chaos! They try and take him down but to no avail, their abilities just aren’t strong enough to affect him, so their leader; the hero decides to use a “forbidden magic” to seal away the demon lord for good! The demon lord is beset by magical chains that wrap around his monstrous body and he is dragged into an abyss. Cue the end credits!

Back from whence you came foul demon lord!

Wait, what do you mean “cue the end credits”? Is this only a short anime or something? In what any other show would have been a cute joke, the show literally plays a full 1 minute 30 second set of end-credits after this 4 minute ‘prologue/epilogue’ scene because this show takes place after the demon lord was defeated. Actually that’s not strictly true either, later on we learn that the “forbidden magic” that was used in-fact malfunctioned and instead of sealing the demon lord away merely reverted time backwards but also to reverted to a world where the demon lord was no longer present in his original form.

This happened 4ish minutes into a 24 minute show.

Oh, what form is he in now? I’ll get to that in a minute. So at this point in the story our four adventurers are just studying to be adventurers at a school for, well, adventuring. And so when their old teacher suddenly retires we’re introduced to their new teacher an aggressive loli who can’t even see over the teacher’s podium–also the current form of the demon lord (side note: what’s with all these recent fantasy show’s having demon lord’s turning into loli’s?–I mean I get the visual joke but it seems like almost a trope at this point).

What a twist?! I know you’re making a joke there but regardless of whether it was a clever reveal she’s still adorable and it’s a fun way of having the antagonist directly in the protagonists lives without them knowing. So to hurry things along because I could easily talk about this show all day, so the demon loli (known as Mao-sensei) devises a way to have it so that none of them can ever defeat her in the future–by getting them expelled for failing a practical exam! So she sets up an intricate series of traps for them on their field trip to the nearby ruins only for Yusha and the others stumbling across a literal hero sword in a stone which Yusha effortlessly removes. A golem appears and they defeat it in a fun and exciting little action sequence, then they return to their teacher with the hero sword too–much to Mao-sensei’s chagrin! And that’s more or less the episode.

So it sounded like a fantasy adventure type series earlier on but it seems like it’s bouncing back and forth between a couple of other genres? It is ostensibly a slice of life show in a fantasy world with the occasional action sequence. What it does so masterfully though is blend those elements together seamlessly. It never feels like two different shows are struggling within the one whole, it feels like a show and a world that’s intrinsically linked.

That about sums it up, P.S. it’s a close race for best girl between Fai here.

But what about the four main girls? Undoubtedly they are an important part of a show like this? Indeed, and already I’m having a hard time picking a favourite–each one is that good. It helps that their voiced by such wonderful actresses but more than that there’s a rapport between the characters that’s indicative of such good writing too.

…And Mei here, I do love a ~random~ girl!

Right, well that’s certainly a lot of praise for one little show. I’ll take your (brief) overall thoughts and a recommendation now please. Yes I’ve probably hyped up this show too much now that anyone reading this who went on to watch would only be disappointed, and that’s absolutely my fault, but I’m simply relaying my feelings on a show I’ve fallen madly in love with. What I can say with a measure of confidence is that if you like CGDCT shows and slice of life shows and fantasy show you should find ~something~ to like here–even if you don’t find quite as much to appreciate as I did.

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