K-On! – 20 Question Anime Review

What’s the show? K-On!

And what’s that supposed to mean? Keion!

And what’s that supposed to mean? ‘Light music’.

Right. Now that we’ve got that sorted, what’s it about? It’s about five high school girls who start a ‘Light Music Club’ and eventually form a band called ‘Afternoon Tea Time.’ And it’s also one of the most wholesome anime’s ever made; it’s just so damn precious. *heart eyes*

‘Light music’, sounds kind of dull. You bite your tongue heathen! ‘Afternoon Tea Time’ legitimately rocks, like this isn’t bubblegum J-pop with instruments of questionable existence, they play their instruments, you hear every instrument in the band and the music is so very good. I don’t normally do this but here’s a link to one of my favourite songs (it’s also the end credits song for season 1).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN-ov_YQqmA

Wow! That was really good; they rock more than Nickleback (not that that’s difficult). I don’t know what that is.

Consider yourself lucky. So who are these girls? Didn’t you watch the whole video?! It introduces them all there!

I meant what are their characters, not just what instruments do they play? Fair enough. The protagonist is Yui, she’s lead guitar and lead vocalist (but not the vocalist of the song I linked – just to confuse you a bit!) she’s clumsy, a total air-head and not a very diligent student. Mio is bassist and second vocalist; she’s incredibly shy, easily spooked but very popular with other students due to her beauty. Ritsu is the drummer and president of the light music club (self appointed) she’s energetic, jokey but forgetful at times. Mugi is the keyboardist; she is kind, gentle, eager and comes from an incredibly wealthy family. Azusa is the rhythm guitarist and a year younger than the other four girls; she is very serious and focused at times, reserved but has also a lot of insecurities.

Great, so the show is a…? Slice of life, while there’s exceptional attention to detail with the animated rendition of the instruments and they do occasionally practice and play music, the majority of the show is just the girls talking and eating fancy cakes and drinking tea in their clubroom.

So pretty standard slice of life fare? Exactly! In other words… bliss.

Right. So no complaints about the show then? Oh I have a few, at least as far as this first season is concerned. The pacing is a bit off at times; some episodes have less going for them than others and the comedy can be a little inconsistent and pedestrian.

Hmm, didn’t expect that. Isn’t this show kind of highly acclaimed, is it underserving of such praise? Of course not, besides season 2 is a literal masterpiece, and improves every single issue I had with the first season, but let’s leave that ‘til another review!

And now we present the award for ‘best girl’ *drumroll* *opens envelope* and the winner is… Mio-chan! As if there was any doubt…

Well we’re kind of out of things to discuss, and we’ve got like 7 questions left, what should we do? When in doubt, do as the K-On girls do, eat sweet treats!

Oh that looks lovely *anime eating sounds* Mmm, give me some too. *more anime eating sounds*

How about some of this? Don’t mind if I do!

*anime eating sounds* *anime eating sounds*

Mmm, that was delicious! We should do this more often! Yeah, I mean I’m sure the people reading this don’t mind that we wasted their time because we couldn’t think up more questions!

Oh, right. The readers, haha, forget they were there… hello! Sorry for wasting your time! Please address all complains to the site admin @Cactus_Matt on twitter.com

Well, final verdict please? If you haven’t watched this classic slice of life anime already then you owe it to yourself, if not for the perfectly likable characters, charming setting and relaxed atmosphere then the legitimately awesome music which runs the gamut from cutesy to cool. It’s not without its flaws but it’s easy to overlook the flaws when taking into consideration how amazing it gets in season 2. If that sounds like an odd recommendation, it’s because it is and this has been an odd review. Anyone else hungry? Make sure to make room for seconds, 84 out of 100.

Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles Episode 8 – 20 Question Anime Review (Spoilers)

What’s the show? Ms Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles, Episode 8.

Ah, another single episode review, huh? Too great to wait ‘til the end of the season to talk about it? Not quite, while I’m apparently the only person who actually really likes this show, the episode itself wasn’t a standout in terms of quality but rather it did something interesting worthy of a discussion.

Right, so let’s back up a bit and give some context, what’s the show about? It’s about high school girl Koizumi-san and her impossibly deep love, affection and dare I say all consuming obsession for ramen noodles. It’s also about Yu Osawa, and her impossibly deep love, affection and dare I say all consuming obsession for Koizumi-san.

So it’s a? Maybe a slice of life? I’m not sure; it’s not consistently funny enough that I would call it a comedy. And Yu’s infatuation with Koizumi is very one-sided, so it’s not a Yuri or Romance. I think it’s safe to just call it a food slice of life anime until it develops an actual concrete genre.

This show is so ‘gifable’ too bad the gif website wasn’t working for me.

So what’s happened on the show up until episode 8? Lots of food porn. Lots of girls eating food and getting hot and bothered about it.

Koizumi comes with her own snapchat filters. No pun intended.

Like Food Wars “hot and bothered”? Not quite, no clothes come flying off on this show, it’s very grounded, well save for Yu, who over the episodes we’ve seen progresses from school girl crush to almost stalker levels of obsession.

She asked this with all sincerity, that’s how obsessed Yu is with Koizumi she wants to literally become ramen in order to be eaten by Koizumi.

And how’s the show treat this behaviour? It’s a source of almost all of the shows jokes, which for some people might be a reason not to watch the show. Though in Yu’s favour, she’s never creepy about it, and she states her intentions to follow Koizumi from ramen store to ramen store. If Koizumi did ever feel threatened by Yu, she’d have no problem standing up for herself, and Yu would probably back off… probably… At the moment Koizumi doesn’t really acknowledge Yu’s presence, in fact she’s friendlier with Yu’s other two friends, which I think is an important bit of characterisation.

Who are they? Misa and Jun, popular fashion type girl and nerdy bookworm type girl respectively.

Misa, Jun, Koizumi and Yu.

So I think that gives us enough context about the show, what makes episode 8 particularly interesting? Well the first half of the episode plays out like pretty much every other episode does, Koizumi goes to a ramen place, one of the three girls ends up tagging along for whatever reason, Koizumi goes into a long spiel about whatever type of ramen they’re eating then the two girls eat said ramen while blushing and moaning. There’s always a bit of character development thrown in so it’s not just watching girls slurp noodles, but, well… yeah it’s almost entirely that every time.

Close up slurp action, for those who are into that kind of thing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

And the second half? Suddenly hot boys!

Me too.

Right, can’t say I saw that coming. Who are they? Well save for the dark-haired one on the right who’s Shu, Yu’s older brother, the others are all new characters. Shu appeared briefly at the start of Episode 6 and got entranced by Koizumi’s beauty as she passed him on the street. But having an entire half of an episode completely focused on four different characters, and male ones at that was so unexpected and genuinely refreshing. Within minutes their characters archetypes are established and you want to see more of them and hopefully have them interact with the four girls in future episodes.

Why do I feel like they’re about to start a boy band?

Four girls, four boys. Are we assuming the show is lining them up to be love interests? Maybe. I mean, I will admit a passing sadness for the idea of Koizumi and Yu not getting together, but if the show does go the whole romance route I wouldn’t be opposed. It’s just hard to think how a show that’s been so food-centric will suddenly pivot into another genre. Granted, the boys only talked about food too, so it’s not like I’m expecting a massive upheaval it’s just interesting to think where it will go.

And you’re not bothered about a bunch of as you put it “hot boys” appearing in your otherwise clear broth of cute girls. Well it’s not a ramen without meat!

*childish giggle*

You could have also said “noodles”. I could have also said noodles, yes, that would also have been correct and a sufficient innuendo for penis.

Thick and firm.

Thanks for explaining the joke. But really, why so okay with it, I’m just surprised as all? Well, at the risk of sounding shallow, the girls on this show aren’t that cute, I mean in comparison to other shows I’m watching, don’t get me wrong still cute in the context of this show, but those boys are hot.

“I’ll have what she’s having”

Should I be asking who is ‘best boy’ instead of ‘best girl’? Hahaha. Totally long fringe purple hair boy on the end, his voice is so deep.

I was kidding, but thanks. Should I be worried about you? It’s fine. I’m just excited something different is happening in this show. I was a bit worried it would go stale if it didn’t shake things up, so hopefully they continue with this!

If you were starting to feel like it could go stale why keep watching? Because I think it’s a good show, it could be nostalgia for when I visited Japan clouding my vision; I love seeing all the attention to detail in the ramen shops. It just gives me such a warm feeling watching this show, almost like all those bowls of ramen I ate over there.

“Itadakimasu!”

That’s fair enough. Plus it’s not like there haven’t been glimmers of hope for some more interesting plot developments. Yu cooks Ramen for Koizumi at her house in episode 3, Koizumi helps a little German girl who gets lost in episode 6 which reveals her softer side plus the aforementioned brief encounter with Yu’s brother. But this episode marks a paradigm shift into some real potential for drama, can you imagine how Yu would react if her brother started dating the object of her obsession!

There wasn’t much actual stalking in this episode as Yu was at the beach so this image was taken from the opening credits.

Drama indeed! So final recommendation? If you’ve already dropped this show this season, perhaps this will be enough to get you to come back? If not I totally understand, it’s a very niche show and I can understand why some people would get bored of it. Either way I’m happy that things are starting to progress towards something different and look forward to the remaining episodes!

Darling in the FranXX Episode 1-6 – 20 Question Anime Review (Spoilers)

Please note: This review is no longer representative of the author’s feelings on this show for an up to date review please read: Puberty & Robots – A 20 Question Reassessment of Darling in the FranXX (Episodes 1-15)

What’s the show? No, just no, I don’t want to do this…

What do you mean? We’re here we have to do it… Ugh, fine, you really want to do this? Fine! Just give me a minute to get into an appropriate character for this, okay?

‘Character?’ You’re not usually in character for these reviews are you? No, but this is a special circumstance. Bare with me a second.

Ah, fine, sure, take your time. *messes up hair, slumps shoulders, readies fingers above keyboard, becomes a virgin again* Okay, I’m ready, or whatever bro…

Okay… what’s the show? Tch! Only the best effin’ show on the planet my dude!

Right… It’s like Studio Trigger’s ‘Darling in the FranXX’ my dude. Tch! What cave have you been living under?

Are you even speaking English? Totally my dude, and seriously did you watch that gif I sent you because I’ve been jackin’ it til I’m red raw!

Please, I regret everything; can I press the abort button? No doing my scro! We’re in this til the bitter end, did I mention how Darling in the FranXX is like killer JO material my bro, my scro, my dude.

Okay, stop. Just time out. I have no idea what you’re trying to go for with this particular character, but it doesn’t seem very realistic. What do actual fans of Darling in the FranXX really sound like online? You SJW cucks are not intellectually prepared for something as complex and revolutionary as this show, if you’d bother to not get triggered (heh!) for half a second you’d realise that the allegory is….

Wow! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse… But just wait you beta-cuck; I haven’t even got to show you my fanfic where Trump and Putin pilot a FranXX together.

Oh my f***ing god. Can we just get the regular guy back; you know Cactus Matt or whatever his name is. Oh so now you want to hear my opinion, huh?

Yes, for f**ks sake, yes! Cool, so Darling in the FranXX is a pretty good show, I mean when it’s pandering to the worst of the anime fandom, namely stunted immature males who think women amount to nothing more than the subject of physical attraction and sexual connection. The sad thing is that if the writers and animators had consulted oh, I don’t know, precisely one woman in the production of their show they might have had the obvious idea to put the protagonist Hiro in the ‘subservient’ role in the FranXX robot Strelitzia alongside 002 rather than have him ‘dominating’ and perpetuating the obnoxious degradation of women for the sake of what amounts to a Saturday morning wank-fest for twelve year old fanboys. Heck I’d even settle for it just being 50/50 where half of the FranXX have the female characters in the demeaning position and the other half the male in said position. But that’d never happen, no, there’s no money to be made in that right?

I feel like I walked into a pool that’s a mile too deep for me. Everyone who thinks Darling in the FranXX is a show beyond criticism because it’s made by a talented animation studio seriously needs to get an attitude adjustment! It’d be like giving Studio Ghibli a pass if they just suddenly decided to make rape themed hentai!

Wow, okay, I feel like you need to say something positive about this show or else we’re going to be blacklisted from the Crunchyroll anime awards in 2019. High ambitions there… Besides, there’s plenty good I can say about the show, the world is intriguing, the characters are mostly likable, the setting is appropriately mysterious and the action is well animated. Oh and just quietly the opening theme is gorgeous.

So what’s the problem? OH I’M SORRY WAS THE MESSAGE TO SUBTLE FOR YOU? There’s literally giant robot mechs who are controlled by two person crews, the female of the crew is posed in doggy style position while the male ‘connects’ to her from behind. At which point he literally becomes ‘the brains’ in total control of her body. And don’t give me that bullshit excuse that the robot doesn’t work unless they’re perfectly in sync, thus it’s about equality or something. It’s just fan-service, and I know what you’re about to say next…

But you love fan-service; some of your favourite show’s are full of fan-service, how come this show in particular irks your ire while others get a pass or even a hearty recommendation? It’s hard to put it into words! Maybe I am being a hypocrite, but it just feels so degrading here, and so pointless and so… so…

So? It’s like when you see a father out with his son and the father has one of those shirts with a half naked woman on it, and you get that kind of worrisome, nauseating feeling in the pit of your stomach like, “wow, bet that kid’s going to grow up with some real positive opinions on women.”

So it’s about the patriarchy? Now, I’m definitely not going down that rabbit hole.

I feel like we haven’t really gotten anywhere with this review. Just kind of made fun of people who like a certain show, that seems kind of mean spirited. And for that I will apologise, not everyone who watches and likes this show fits into easily definable stereotypes. And far be it from me to criticise people for something they love, even if I do think its representation of women is more harmful than almost every other anime I’ve seen. The point of this post was twofold, to let my opinion be known and to say that no anime is beyond criticism. It doesn’t matter if it’s made by a beloved animation studio or whatever, every piece of media that’s produced should be able to be analysed critically from all points of view and discussed to understand why certain things effect people and not others.

And this is only the first 6 out of 24 episodes. Exactly, we’re a quarter of the way through; it’s not beyond redemption. Maybe the show will have some grand and important things to say about the place of women in our society by the time it’s finished. At which point I’ll gladly say I was wrong about it. Or maybe it’ll just remain a beautiful looking but deeply flawed and problematic contribution to the art form of anime. Either way, I’ll be watching and waiting to see what happens.

Is The Order A Rabbit? – 20 Question Anime Review

What’s the show? Is The Order A Rabbit?

Huh? I didn’t order anything? No, that’s the name of the show.

Oh, okay, one of those anime show names that makes more sense in Japanese is it? Mmm, I doubt it. Pretty sure it means exactly the same in Japanese.

Right. So what’s it about? *Whispering* Ask me what time it is…

What, why? Ugh, fine whatever ‘what time is it?’ Time for another instalment of ‘cute girls doing cute things!’

Oh good, well what cute things are these girls doing? Running a café!

Well I do admit that does sounds cute… wait they don’t serve rabbit at this café, do they? No! Of course not, just lovingly prepared coffee and the usual accompaniments!

Then what’s the rabbit thing about in the title? The café that our protagonist Cocoa works in is called ‘Rabbit House’ and is run by the too adorable for words Chino!

This review isn’t going to devolve into you ‘squee-ing’ over cute girls again is it? So kawaii!!!

Dear god, we’re losing him already, err, um… so what else is the show about? Hmm, oh. Well it’s a slice of life anime, so not much!

That sounds like a negative. Then you obviously don’t watch enough slice of life! Cocoa and Chino are joined at ‘Rabbit House’ by Rize, gun wielding, army brat and all around best girl. There’s two competing cafes, where their other friends work, artsy Chiya who works at a more traditional Japanese looking coffee house and hard-working Syaro who works at an almost maid café.

Oh, so there’s like rivalries between the different café’s that strain their friendships and adds some drama to the proceedings? Nope!

Ah… hmm. So what is there about this show that we can talk about? Tippy-desu!

What… what is that? It’s Tippy! He’s a rabbit!

Ah, err, okay, sure. And he talks.

Not even surprised. And also he’s Chino’s grandfather.

Okay now you lost me. It’s true! He interjects occasionally to comment on Chino’s running of the café and laments the fact that he’s no longer human and is now a very fluffy rabbit!

And how is, well how everything of all that? You mean, how did Chino’s grandfather ‘die’ and become reincarnated as a rabbit? Your guess is as good as mine, they don’t explain it and haven’t even come close to in season two either. But does it really matter? I mean look how cute they all look!

Well this review went nowhere fast… You want a review? Fine! ‘Is The Order A Rabbit?’ is a show whose audience can precisely be quantified by looking at a picture of the main characters, if you went ‘dawww!’ you’re the target audience and this is probably the show for you. If you didn’t well then let’s face it your probably too busy watching 800 episodes of Naruto to even notice this kind of show even exists. It’s a character driven comedy, driven by characters whose comedy comes from their cuteness. It’s seldom laugh out loud funny but it’s warm and genuine and sweet and beyond criticism for someone who eats this kind of stuff up. So excuse me for just wanting to bask in something happy and nice instead of the unrelenting darkness that is the rest of the world!

I… uh, I’m sorry. Final score? Is The Order A Rabbit? I’ll order seconds, thanks. 92 out of 100.

Highschool DxD – 20 Question Anime Review (Mild Spoilers)

What’s the show? Highschool DxD?

And what’s it about? Broadly, an uneasy three-way truce between Angels, Demons and Fallen Angels and trying to keep that truce lest all hell breaks loose and everyone on Earth is subjected to a war of biblical proportions.

Hey, that sounds kind of cool, a bit like ‘Supernatural’? ‘Supernatural’, oh you mean the one-season anime about two brothers travelling across America killing demons?

No I mean the (as of this writing) 13 season, US live-action TV show, about two brothers travelling across America killing demons. If it’s not anime, I don’t care.

Anyway, so you said that’s what the show is broadly about so what is it really about? Boobs!

Of course it is. Is it a harem anime? Yes, and one of the best ones at that.

So what quantifies a good harem anime over a bad one? A likable male protagonist, female characters who are genuinely good friends with each other and have interests other than the protagonist. Plus having a genuinely interesting and well-developed story as a backdrop to the harem shenanigans is always a big winner.

So it’s a good story too then? Hey, it’s legitimately so good that you could make an edit of the show without any fan service or harem subplots and the show would still stand up on it’s own.

What is the plot then? Just quickly. Hyodo Issei is a bit of a loser and quite a lot of a pervert when one day he is killed by a fallen angel because he secretly possess a great powerful and ancient weapon. He is resurrected by demon, President of the occult research society and all around flawless specimen Rias Gremory who sees in him great potential and decides to train him as a part of her household.

Would you say the harem side of the show is unnecessary? The harem side of the story contributes to the plot; it makes sense in-universe why all these powerful girls would be attracted to him and none of the girls are in love with him just because of what he is but rather non-supernatural things, like his kindness or his braveness or his determination or his compassion.

Cool, and so you mentioned something about boobs before? Oh yeah! Issei is kind of a fiend when it comes to boobs, his story arc for the first season is that he wants to touch Rias Gremory’s boobs – consensually of course.

A-ha… what was that about ‘kindness, braveness, determination and compassion’ before? Hey! You can be all those things and a pervert; they’re not mutually exclusive.

So who’s your best girl? Rias Gremory is the easy pick, just because we get so much more of her back-story than any of the other girls, though that changes as things go on. As of season one Rias is best girl but I reserve the choice to change my mind come future seasons.

Changing best girl? Isn’t there some kind of rule about that? Is there?

I don’t know… I thought I could be cool and pretend like I knew something about anime that you didn’t. You’ll never be as cool as me.

If being ‘cool’ means owning an anime body pillow then I think I’ll pass. Don’t you talk bad about my Rize-chan!

Ahem, so you mentioned other seasons? Three seasons, soon to four come mid-2018.

That’s a lot of boobs! You’re telling me!

Any thing else to say about Highschool DxD? Even if the idea of harem and fanservice heavy anime isn’t all that appealing to you, there are enough interesting plot points, exciting action scenes and well-developed characters to carry the show through. If however you are into fanservice and beautiful girls and the kind of humour that can come from a well-written harem, then Highschool DxD is heartily recommended. 88 out of 100.

Heh, 88 looks like two sets of boobs. Now who’s the pervert?

New Game! – 20 Question Anime Review

What’s the show? New Game!

Why are you shouting? I’m not, it’s just how they stylise the show’s title, with an exclamation mark, it’s a Japanese thing, they do it a lot.

Fair enough, what’s it about? It’s another in the informal genre of shows ‘cute girls doing cute things’.

What cute thing are these cute girls they doing then? Designing video games.

Not usually the first thing I think of when ‘cute things’ comes to mind. Do they at least do it cutely? Absolutely! I mean just look at their faces! Kawaii!

And do they design video games in their spare time after school? No, it’s their job; they work for an all female video game company called ‘Eagle Jump’.

Wait, okay. How old are these girls supposed to be? Well, Suzukaze Aoba is the protagonist; she’s a new hire out of high school and is 18 years old. The oldest staff member whose age we know about is Yagimi Ko and she’s 25.

Well I admit that’s a pleasant change from the usual anime trope of everyone being high school age but they certainly don’t look it! She get’s that a lot, poor Aoba.

Fine, that out of the way, what’s the show actually about; it’s not just watching cute girls designing a video game, is it? Well…

It is?! Okay, first of all, it’s a ‘slice of life’ anime; so don’t start judging it by normal narrative standards. It’s kind of like if ‘The Office’ was an anime, and everyone liked each other, and there was no real conflict except overcoming minor misunderstandings. Also did I mention cute girls?

Fine, I’ll concede it’s a ‘slice of life’ so its structure is different to that of other anime. So why should I watch it? And don’t you dare say ‘cute girls’! Er, um… adorable females? Listen, ‘slice of life’ is a hard sell for those uninitiated with the genre. The characters are all splendid and likeable, even the shrill best friend character grows to be endearing by the end. And it goes into the inner workings of the art department on a JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game), and those parts seem accurate and well researched. Plus it gives an idea about how much work goes into even the smallest details of large video game projects.

A niche genre anime about making niche genre video games? It’s like a nerd turducken. A nerducken! Come on, you gotta admit that was good, high-five! What is this, the Big Bang Theory? Ugh. [Gives begrudging high five]

Who is ‘best girl’? Takimoto Hifumi, she’s so shy and reserved and she’s got a pet hedgehog and *SQUEE*!

Did you seriously just ‘squee’? I can’t help it; I’ve got a seriously problem. And the only prescription? More cute girls!

Any additional seasons? New Game!!

Why are you shouting again? I’m not, that’s what the second season is called. See, the two exclamation marks differentiate it from the first season’s title.

A show can’t succeed on ‘cuteness’ alone, so say something negative about the show. There’s never the sense that things could go wrong, at least not catastrophically. The issues that crop up from time to time for the characters are very minor, but that is something that’s not unique to this show and runs along many ‘slice of life’ shows. But at the same time it’s not meant to be challenging or overwrought, it’s meant to be light and relaxing, the fact that it can be that and entertaining is a testament to the show’s writing and style. It’s a show about positivity and hard work and friendship and that’s something that this world needs a lot more of if you ask me.

Hmm, I thought you were supposed to say something negative about the show? You just complimented it more and made me kind of want to watch it. That’s the power of ‘slice of life’, that’s the power of ‘New Game!’ and that’s the power of…

Don’t say it! Cute girls!

Final score? Highly recommended for anyone who wants to just relax and enjoy themselves with some thoroughly non-threatening soft comedy and endearingly adorable characters. This is a ‘game’ worth ‘playing’, 86 out of 100.