Winter 2018 Anime Review...of the ones I watched

And so another anime season has come to an end and, with that, comes my first time reviews! Yay! I've been meaning to do this for a long ass time and finally I'm getting the chance. I mean, these aren't going to be fully detailed reviews but it'll definitely be something. If not a fun time at least. :) These are also just for the series I watched. I know there's like a bazillion more out there. Also-also, Basilisk isn't here 'cause it's going into the Spring season as well.

Warning: This is NOT spoiler free reviews.

CITRUS

Genre: Yuri

Review: Frustrating. So, so frustrating! Sorry, I just had to get that out right away. It's a yuri drama and while that's awesome...it's just so frustrating! I can't even get through the premise. Just...look it up and know that it's one of those series that is waaaaaaaaaaay better as a binge watch. Or a binge read because they're up to volume...6 or 7. Maybe 8. So there's a lot to read and a lot more ahead of the early problems where you're like “I just hope something stops happening”. Because that's the thing! They can't get their moment either because someone comes swooping in making it a love triangle or they can't get it through themselves that they need to be open and honest and ask. Questions.

It was probably worse for me because I went through the slow grind with the manga starting with the first volume. Is Mai gonna open up? Is Matsuri gonna leave them the hell alone? Is the vice president done with her psycho lovesickness with Mai? Are Sara and Nina gonna just leave them alone? Not that they were bad, they just didn't know what was going on because YUZU IS SO STUPID SHE CAN'T SAY ANYTHING TO MAI!

If any of that sounds like too much of a burden to get through, just stick with the anime. It's good, it's got great animation, the emotional level of the voices is very spot on. Just...the manga keeps going. It's like DBZ but with relationships. Like the badness is waiting at the gates because sorry, we can only take one of you at a time.

Purchasable: Yes. I'll...I'll buy it to support the need for more damn yuri drama. Don't get me wrong, I love Citrus. I adore it! Does it trounce Strawberry Panic? ...in some ways. But it's so frustrating! I just want to get to the end and say finally! They're together! Gawd! Because by this point I'm invested! ...team YuzuMai.

DAGASHI KASHI

Genre: Comedy

Review: No, I'm not saying it! I'm not saying it because that's not what they meant it to be! Noooooooo. They weren't...they weren't...they weren't ten minute candy advertisements! They had a story! You were given reason to care about the characters! As...as they...as they advertised candy! WAAAAAAAAH! First ten minutes with full intro/outro and now this? THIS??? Granted the first season wasn't any different, but they had time. They had time! It's bad, so bad, I can't think of anything more to say. EVEN WHEN IT WAS GETTING SERIOUS THEY WERE ADVERTISING CANDY!!!

Hotaru...Hotaru was there! For the first few episodes and then she vanished until the last one. No! The second last one she was in the preview! SHE WAS IN THE PREVIEW!!! ...THEN SHE ADVERTISED CANDY!!!

Purchasable: ...if they gave me candy.

MADCHEN MARCHEN

Genre: Fantasy

Review: This one took an IMMEDIATE jump from its own humble beginnings about a girl who was bullied so much at school that her only escape came in the form of whatever books she could get her hands on. If she were ever anxious about anything she'd find a book and practically bury herself in the story. As it is, one of the bullies was her sister so that would lead to some at home moments, right? Well...along the way the story changed from that into an all out tournament held with schools from all over the world competing sending in teams where fighters would take forms of book characters gaining powers with an ancient order controlling everything from dark chambers. Yep.

I also want to point out how the series was only set for 12 episodes and going into the 11^th the tournament itself was barely into the semi finals with no real story behind the finals. The series was canceled after only ten episodes with episodes 9 and 10 delayed due in to quality concerns. Now, perhaps there were thoughts of a second season somewhere down the road while, at the same time, this isn't the first time something was either cut short or we were never taken to that penultimate moment. Warriors of Tao and Kampfer anyone?

The series itself was alright with a few glaring details about the tournament structure. Mostly in the case that characters we get to know as being a big deal in one episode are quickly swept under the rug with a single scene defeat for another team that ultimately aren't even the primary villains. I...think. For the longest time the American team was seen that way but then lost in the quarter finals to the Japanese team so...there went that multi-episode threat. Remember, this is 12 episodes with only 10 being shown and roughly 6 being spent on the tournament. Maybe a little more. I know they talked about it more than anything before it happened.

The other problem I had were the rules of team engagements. Apparently, so long as you were signed onto the team, you could show up whenever you damn well wanted and THEN join in the fight. So think of it like this; you're in Dodgeball with a five person team overall. One person doesn't make it to the start of the game so you just start. Then the fifth person comes in out of nowhere, hops into the match, and starts throwing balls eliminating the entire opposing team and you win. Yay! Right? I dunno, it's definitely up to your own personal beliefs. Aside from that are the rewriting stories so you can get awesome powers. I don't know. Nothing about the tournament made sense to me.

Purchasable: Might be a little difficult given how the series came about. The characters were cute, but...streaming seems to be better overall with this one. If they released it with the unaired two episodes then...still probably not. Two episodes to make me care about finals when you're just going into the semis? No thank you.

NANATSU NO BITOKU

Genre: Heavy Ecchi

Review: This is, quite simply, the Mass Effect 3 of three-minute ecchi series. It had something of a good build, interesting character designs, there were things I would've liked see done differently (why couldn't one see a woman as a Messiah?) but then it tripped and fell flat on its face skidding along with the last three episodes.

The premise of the series was simple; the seven holy virtues are off to find the new Messiah. The first seven episodes depict each virtue with their efforts. Sounds simple enough. Each episode is fill of bare tits and close up crotch shots but they're in the form of the virtue (whom were all seen as more badass in the original Seven Deadly Sins series). The last three episodes were more padding just to lengthen out the series. A stop and go situation on the train (seriously, that was the commotion of the episode. A train stopping and going while four of the virtues stood talking only to have their boobies jiggle), a workout episode (the only one to actually cast every character), and something where the smallest breasted character slapped around a few bigger breasts while sticking her head in between them cause...she was upset. That's the series!

Now, a worry, because this series along with Queens Blade are owned by Hobby Japan. What worries me is where Queens Blade Ultimate will be taken. I DON'T WANT THREE MINUTE ALLEYNE!!!

Purchasable: Cheap WITH free anime and all the figures included and maybe you have a deal. MAYBE.

SLOW START

Genre: Slice of Life

Review: Oke doke, first up (not to put the series down or anything) but it's pretty much like a lot of the four-girls in a high school dynamic. You have your energetic quirky girl, your mature girl, your sensitive girl, and your shy very introverted girl. What sets this apart is that the main girl, Hana, was held back a year in her school because she was sick and she's at a new school and trying to hide the fact that she's a year older than everyone. Does that come to play? It...really doesn't. Even at the end when Hana is doing the closing monologue she brings up how she still has to mention it to her friends because she's super stressed about it. Unfortunately...there's a pretty big monkey wrench into that whole setup in the form of Hiroe.

Hiroe is in the same sort of situation. She's older, she was sick in her school for her final year, she's gotta go back at some point. She even comes out in the open about this because she's like “I was the student president, I had all these fangirls, things were looking up for me...now I'm a huge shut in because I feel like a failure”. The thing is though, the other three girls...they accepted her into their circle. They went out with her, helped her buy outfits, went to this hot springs resort (Oh yeah, there's a hot springs episode). Basically they didn't care. So why Hana was still worried at the end really doesn't make any sense.

How was it overall? It was fun, quirky, had a fair amount of touching moments. Fair bit of yuri elements in there, while a fair amount of it was fangirl adoration, there were some actual budding style relationships going on. Not something you could say “And after the series ended they went on a date”. I'm, of course, talking about the mature one Eiko and their homeroom teacher Kiyose. They had have an episode dedicated to just the two of them being alone in an apartment and you really got the sense that they were going to kiss. Even in the final episode Eiko really wanted one. She tried convincing in a not so subtle way.

In the end though I can't help but go for the energetic girl, Tama. The one kicking in the doors of life asking “Is this my room?” before running off to the next one. I love her. Her attempts at getting Kamuri's (introverted gal) attention and then finally, finally succeeding with a hug in the end! It was awesomes.

Purchasable: Hells to the yeah! I like a little slice of life 4-girl combo to relieve the stress away. Does it top my ultimate thrill in this venue? (Which is Yuru Yuri season 3) Unfortunately it falls a little short. Although it does step above the first two seasons so it's pretty close. There's not a lot of drama, some situations carry over, and the characters mend well together.

TOJI NO MIKO

Genre: Action-Adventure

Review: ...this one ended rather abruptly. Like, if you've ever seen the movie Venus Wars then you know what I mean with an abrupt ending. I mean, the final song was playing when the main villain, Yukari, was spreading out over the world. Her high point, really. And then there was this confusing moment in the fight where it was like Kanami was all badass fighting like her mom but I felt like there wasn't really a reason shown as to why. Don't get me wrong, it's like her mom is living in her cause there'll be these dream sequences, but that could still be like her subconscious just taking the form of her mother. I dunno. I also kinda felt it really deviated quickly from the opening bit where it's like “these gals are trained to fight monsters” nope! It's about students on the run from the government cause their top agent or whatever is possessed by the very demons that are supposed to be fought.

Oh, and should bring this up, I don't get in these series why there's even still military action called against these monsters. They can be in whatever formation using X number of tanks in their fight but the monsters just aren't phased. So I feel that they're just being told “Go die and be forgotten, please. The real fighters will be in in like five minutes.” Then the girls show up and they're kicking all kinds of ass and I get they want to show that these monsters mean business by comparing them to todays conventional weapons. But still. It's a big, badass monster. I think we get how the equations gonna work.

Anyway, this is a series I tweeted about at the beginning hoping, hoping there'd be some badassery in the sword fights and...there kinda were. They were few and far between because there was a lot of talking. Like a loooooot of talking. Then there were characters being beaten up by a villain and I....I just couldn't care because we had only just been introduced to them. I didn't know their skill level, I didn't know their names. No matter how much the main characters were upset I just couldn't care.

Final sword fight was good though. It involved everyone. And Nene was pretty cool. The show was overall too fast and too slow, if that makes any sense.

Purchasable: Maybe. It's on the fence right now. I don't really know for certain. It'd have to be a good price and come with a free anime along with it. That's all I'm saying there.