Jeoffrey

Before this season aired avid viewers already knew that it was going to be produced by a different animation studio than the one that had produced the previous three. The style of the artwork changed (for the worse) and had already been noticed before the first episode had aired by almost everyone who had seen the posters for this fourth season. I remember the sheer dread I felt when I feared that those beautiful and uncensored (yes High School DxD always offers an uncensored version) oppai would never be the same again... In other words, this season was expected to be a disaster, and in the end, yes it was, even though I would not say it was not as much of a disaster as everyone had feared. The details in the artwork are worse and they are very visible in some situations, for example on the faces of the characters, which is a real shame even though I do not think it is such an issue to recognize the old familiar faces. As for the main concern, the oppai are still the oppai, they are given a lot of attention just as they were in previous seasons and they are still nice and round and pink and ... well, even Passione animation studio understand the main reason why half of its audience are fans of this show. At the same time, despite all that, the new version of High School DxD has once again convinced me that it still remains the king of the ecchi anime genre. It has at least two scenes (involving the wardrobe in the first half and the changing room in the second half) that are really erotic and interesting even in animated form, which I can only say sporadically with ecchi anime series (probably mostly because I usually know exactly what is going to happen and when the scene is going to get cut off...). Plus, I still find most of the characters likable, and that includes the main male protagonist! This is another great miracle because I probably dislike around ninety-nine percent of the main male protagonists from ecchi anime series, and I absolutely despise a significantly large number of them (especially the one that has nosebleeds and collapses). However, how could I not like Issei Hyoudou? He is a creep who is not ashamed of being a pervert and is despised by the majority of the females at his normal school. But he is in fact the greatest hero in the demon world, the "Oppai Dragon" who is everyone’s idol, including small children... On the one hand, it is so stupid it is quite amusing, although, on the other hand, there are a lot of scenes where you can root for Issei as he is really impressive. He is just fearless, and the only ones who stop him from getting some real "action" are the screenwriting dudes, or rather the mangaka behind the original it is based on. The narrative of the fourth season could be divided into two sections, the first part being the school trip which introduces a couple of new characters, and was basically just a typical storyline which is nothing new for this anime series, and then the second part where there was a battle between the clans again. The show also featured a strong attempt to deepen the intensity of the relationship between the two main protagonists, which of course a lot of people who really love the harem vibe resented. It is as if they are not aware that a harem can exist even if the main guy has one favorite, as long as the others respect her and the Harem Master does not show too many special favors too often... Plus, Issei needs Rias, and the fact that he has intense feelings for her, I mean, is he in love with her? I say this because of course, he loves all of his girls in his own way, he just loves each one in a different way. This is normal, every time we fall in love it is never the same as the last, each time we love someone it is a little different than the last (which often leads to comparisons and therefore problems...). So it was just necessary for the main protagonists to work out their relationship, as everyone around them knew about it anyway, some other girls did not even care, and it motivated others to try harder. So this part was not a bad thing, quite the opposite... However, enough of this, I am philosophizing over an anime series about a dude in red dragon armor chasing after boobies and mostly not grabbing hold of them anyway... Well, at least it is clear that I am still a fan of High School DxD, and even though there are more shortcomings I could list, I still cannot help but say that even this time it was an experience worth 7/10.

I watched this first installment, which has a running time of seventy-nine minutes, and all I can say is that this is such a monstrosity that if The Asylum was behind it, I would not be surprised. The narrative is so moronic that sometimes I just stared in disbelief. Furthermore, it seemed to me that this was just another horror B-movie, and if there was some expert on the horror genre (I have not seen many of them), he would tell me how many other horror movies used the same storyline because it is not original at all. I am pretty sure that I have seen something like this even as a porn movie (it had the same storyline even though it featured a real mummy)... Plus it was definitely not terrifying in any way, so can you call it a horror movie? - I do not know... I am not going to comment anymore, as I have already suffered enough. I guess it had at least the two most important ingredients; ​​boobies and blood, so it was watchable, although the idea this is going to have a follow-up frightens me more than the whole of the first installment and I am not going to watch the next installment. I think seventy-nine minutes is more than enough to say that this was a monstrosity and rate it - 1/10.

This is a show with short, stand-alone episodes, that is occasionally really brilliant, and sometimes really uninteresting. 6/10

This is about artificial intelligence and its applications, or rather how such intelligent androids should be properly handled, and how to find the right ways for humanity and its machines to co-exist. Now we are going to do a little sociological experiment... We are going to unleash a few autonomous and intelligent next-generation androids into a world where robots already exist, with each one having its own secret mission written into its code. Then we are going to put some of them with owners perfect for them, which means people who are going to help them achieve their objectives. Which direction is society headed in, what results will it bring, and what will ultimately be the most ideal way, and the purpose of living with artificial intelligence? You are going to find out in the four-part conclusion this winter because the anime’s screenwriters are a bunch of total fucking amateurs who absolutely do not know how to create and sustain a decent atmosphere! For example, they managed to dampen any suspense by cramming four recaps into a twenty-four-episode series, making me feel like they thought I was a complete moron who could not remember what the previous five episodes were about, while at the same time permanently ruining any interest in what was going to happen. So, the conclusion? As I have already written - you are going to have to wait until winter for that. However, in the meantime, instead of a cliffhanger, something that would have left me open-mouthed and as wound up as a bowstring, all I got was a stupid load of blathering on about nothing. This means that I already know that when the "grand finale" comes out, nobody is going to care two hoots about this anime series, and I am not even going to even remember watching something called Beatless. Not even the narrative can save it, that is a narrative which might have been quite interesting under different circumstances. This show’s narrative, however, is just soulless, emotionless, and without any suspense. This is also “helped” by the main two protagonists, the main female protagonist is clearly in the foreground, doing something, and behind her, the main male protagonist is simply just flapping around behind her doing bugger all. Even though he admittedly has rock-solid convictions, still all he can do is blindly trust his robot, despite the fact he is supposed to be the master of it. It is also marred by the quality and frequency of the dialogues because they only minimally move the story along, and often just feature characters chattering on and on about what has already been discussed a hundred times (Arato x Ryo). Plus, there are the occasional fight scenes, which also did not grab me in any significant way and could not redeem this show. Personally speaking, the final impression of Beatless is very poor, and if it had been called Soulless, that would have been more accurate. 2.7/10.

Why do the power levels in the manga not look so bad, whereas in the anime series they just look like a bit of a pissing contest in a men’s room? How is it that the character Hawk did not bother me so much before, and now I sometimes have the urge to have him impaled on a very sharp spike? Instead of a fun and action-packed show with a simple plot, we have been given a much more complicated and convoluted second season, and it is clear that they are far from finished. So, why was I entertained only by two or three fight scenes at most this time? Why am I tempted to say that the manga series is better and that even the most epic fight scenes featuring Escanor and Estarosa are just cooler on paper? I probably should not have read the manga and thereby spoiled the watching of the anime series. In addition, the printed version (whether it is the manga or the light novel series in general) is always more detailed than an anime movie/series and gives more room for the imagination, so why should I be so dissatisfied, why should I even compare them at all? Well, yeah, but why not compare them? There are the aforementioned changes from the first season - they gave us a darker, more complicated, and convoluted narrative, albeit one that is definitely going to leave you waiting for the rest of what they need to tell you. The frequency of the fight scenes really suffers a lot because of that, and also that there are still a lot of things yet to be revealed... Furthermore, even that nice lightness that accompanied the first season is gone, as we are now on to the serious stuff - well, I guess that makes sense!!! Did I like it? Yes, however, when I compare it to the manga.... 7.8/10.

I would really be very interested in the objective opinion of someone who has seen the original 1988 adaptation of Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I would be interested to know if this new adaptation can be compared at all with the thirty-year-old adaptation, what is the difference in the pace of the narrative, and are there any major differences (what exactly is new in Die Neue These)? Sure, I could find out for myself and just watch the older anime series, however, I am not really that sure I am prepared to watch one hundred and ten episodes, just for starters. This is because then there are some movies and other anime series, and something tells me that a few episodes would just not be enough to appreciate this magnum opus and give it a really objective and fair assessment. This is like a history lesson, a sort of a write-up of the galactic wars featuring many events, many characters, and thankfully only two sides pitted against each other. Despite the fact there are only two sides, I am still not able to choose which one to root for, because it is hard to tell who the good guys are and who are the bad guys. There is the Galactic Empire with its military traditions, and where one person holds all the power, and then there is The Free Planets Alliance, where its politicians are corrupt and do not want to lose face, plus are willing to do anything to get re-elected. In Star Wars it would probably be clearer who is good and who is bad, however, in this show, there is no real bad guy, or rather both sides have their own major problems to deal with… Also, I guess, thank goodness that the main focus in the first season is mainly on two characters only. Despite that, the number of supporting characters grows with each episode, and by the grand finale, we are already going for a battle between thirteen Free Planets Alliance fleets with their generals against (if I counted right) nine Galactic Empire fleets, although they are outnumbered due to the total number of personnel. There are different battles featuring thousands of ships and there are millions of people in just one fleet. It looks epic and spectacular, like the greatest encounters described in the history books, even though the spaceships look quite weird rendered in 3D... However, after saying that, I am only at the beginning. I have been introduced to two great generals, seen the magnificence of their brilliant minds, and their motivations. Plus there have been some interesting moments, even though I still am not sure if and how much I enjoy galactic history and so after the first season I am only awarding 6/10 - However, the potential for a better show is there, and I would just like to point out that the original 1988 adaptation is generally very highly rated (for example to date it rates number five on MAL chart of best animes ever made). It is not that popular, although those who have seen it usually do not regret it. So I am curious to see more episodes and what else they may surprise us with.

This is an original anime series, that is, one that does not have any manga, theater play, or light novel series as model. This always stirs up a certain sense of expectation for something unexpected in me just because of that word in the description - original. This is despite the fact I know this is a silly idea, and it is not going to work out that way in practice. Anyway, unfortunately, Tada Never Falls in Love is something so unoriginal that it is almost tragic! Scalpelexis accurately described the first two episodes as just as predictable and full of the moments you would expect from a rom-com, and unfortunately, it never gets any better. In addition, it all comes down to the conclusion, which is the biggest collection of romantic clichés someone like me could possibly imagine. I think they could have still pulled it back if only they had chosen a rational ending. However, that is not how romantic comedies end, and the audience would have probably never survived emotionally... Anyway, you could watch any romantic comedy, even the feature-length movie The Princess Diaries, or read something by Harlequin and I bet you are going to be more surprised by the twists in their works than by this. Tada Never Falls in Love is the most mediocre rom-com anime series I have ever seen. It throws together perhaps everything you would have expected from a romcom, and nothing is left out, except maybe the dramatic revelation of the student council president's secret by the president of the photography club. On the other hand, why change anything when this will eventually work for the romantic souls anyway, even though perhaps every twist and situation is simply going to remind you of something you have seen somewhere before...I should probably be stricter even though I am not sure what that would achieve. Should I be stricter about the fact that someone took perhaps all the tried-and-true recipes of a romantic comedy anime series and threw them all together in a way that simply works? Well, yeah, even though there are still a fair number of individuals who will like it... I for one, however, because of those recurring feelings of "I have seen this somewhere before..." and "well, of course... ", I am just not able to give a better rating than the most mediocre average - 5/10. Also, just for the record - you are probably not going to meet guys like Charles in real life.

This is a brilliant parody packed with absurd humor, brutally violent scenes, great characters, and lots of references to movies, history, and just about everything else. It is just a real shame there are so few episodes because I could have carried on watching this for much longer. Where else could you see a potato that peels itself, the most ingenious cheating in the history of school tests, the greatest cavalry battle, the greatest sports festival in living memory, and much more? It is rough, it is fucked up, it is really amusing, and it has a lot of unforgettable likable characters, including even the mascot (which is something incredible for an anime series)! 8.7/10.

The fact that this anime series is an adaptation of an online free-to-play role-playing game is quite easy to see. I could imagine going on missions with the main male protagonists, visiting different cities, fighting Spirals, fending off the ubiquitous "Team Rocket" (OK, in this show the Wiseman gang), plus the final boss fight... I do not know how much fun a game like this is, however, the anime series is certainly quite an entertaining watch. In the beginning, it does come across as a terrible piece of crap, which at first glance comes across as a kids' show with an extremely uncomplicated narrative, often to the point of naivety, and yet despite that it has a certain charm. I do not know whether this is because of Choco and her occasional sarcastic remarks, which give it the distinct air of self-parody and prove that Choco knows much more than everyone else. It could also be because of the Wiseman gang, who in the end are not as irritating as they might have seemed at first, and personally speaking, I could say I probably even liked them more than Haru and his gang (not counting Choco) by the end. The artwork is cute, and the soundtrack is also cheerful, including the opening and ending. I think the whole thing is such a laid-back anime series that does not take itself too seriously, and if you can take it for what it is, it can be a pleasantly surprising and even entertaining show at times. 6.2/10.

Many of us have a little place that we love to go back to; for some people, it could be a restaurant; it could be a café; and for others, a tea house. These are places where we feel comfortable, we can take our friends and acquaintances there, or simply go there alone when we need to relax. Most of the time, these places have a great atmosphere, ambience, and friendly service, which impressed us so much we returned because we felt so comfortable there, it just made sense. Well, the tea house in this show is just such a place, and it is incredible how the anime’s authors have managed to convey the pleasant feeling of such a place to someone sitting on the other side of a flat screen. It is obvious that the setting of a traditional Japanese tea house can be impressive, as is the bamboo-lined entranceway alone, and so is the tea house: it is so traditional and cozy. You can get that pleasant feeling of being a guest in this lovely space. The staff make your visit enjoyable, as they are so calm and helpful - people who make you feel that they care about their customers because this also enhances the pleasant feeling of security. In other words, they make you feel right at home. What would a tea house be without great tea, delicious cakes, and even some good food? I have always admired how the creators of some anime series can portray food, how colorful and beautiful, and how they can show the enjoyment of preparing and then eating something like that. I have seen this in a few shows. However, it still works for me and can still make me crave something tasty. In other words, this anime series seems to substitute the complex experience of one incredibly fantastic restaurant that does not necessarily have to lead to other worlds to convey its magic (I could not resist the Restaurant to Another World reference...). Everything is laid-back, and even the biggest dramas are resolved with a certain calmness as if there is nothing that a delicious cup of tea and something sweet is not going to fix. However, it is not always so peaceful and charming; this anime’s writers know that they are not able to solve everything immediately and so they succeed in incorporating a grown-up and realistic approach to it all. They do this, for example, by making sure that when you expect a significant and dramatic happy ending, all you get is a calm and quiet exchange of emotions without words. On the other hand, it does not seem to do much, you still feel that it still did. Similarly, the guests seem realistic, and they have their worries and problems they have come to take a break from, or think about how to solve, which the helpful staff is happy to help them with. It is not silly or overly dramatic. However, it is rather just about the ordinary things and worries that any of us can experience. Okay, sometimes it is a bit over the top, although mostly it just comes across as light banter that could not offend anyone and is just entertaining. In the end, Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori is a very pleasant, endearing, relaxing, and charming show. Sometimes it even gives you some food for thought. I thought it was the biggest surprise of the anime Season 2018, as I would have never expected to have enjoyed a narrative concerning four very likable gentlemen and their tea house. Well, as a result, I consider it also one of the two best anime series of the spring 2018 releases in my mind - 8.3/10.