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soulerflaire · 9 months ago

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Wanted to update some reviews I gave of a couple animes, and add a few more reviews of ones I've watched in the past few months. This is gonna be really, really long.

The Apothecary Diaries

First off, I want to apologize because I still don't really care about anyone except Maomao so I don't remember most people's names. I had originally given this one an 8/10 because Maomao was such an excellent character, but I didn't like anyone else. Now that the first season is over, I'm gonna have to downgrade to 7/10. Maomao is still great, but the show had a turning point midway through, and stopped being a "mystery of the week" show that spotlighted Maomao's wit. It began to focus more and more on Maomao and Jinshi's relationship, and I can no longer pretend they aren't going to inevitably end up together. On the upside, Jinshi slowly becomes less of a creep.

The part that I really have thoughts on, though, is Maomao's biological father. It's made pretty clear around the same time as that turning point that the mysterious brilliant military strategist is her biological father, from whom she is intentionally estranged (unwillingly on his part, though). The show makes a big deal of him being a complete asshole and that Maomao hates him, and it becomes the overarching plot that he is trying to force Jinshi to set up a meeting between him and Maomao. There's one particular scene that sticks out, where Jinshi mentions the strategist wanting to meet with her, and we get a brief flash of pure hatred on Maomao's face, before Jinshi quietly apologizes and says he'll make an excuse for her. This is the only time we've ever seen Maomao that angry, and the show makes it very clear how unsettled Jinshi was at seeing that from her.

Except, we eventually find out that the strategist, while admittedly an arrogant asshole, isn't evil or all that terrible, and actually genuinely loves Maomao's mother. He did not intend to get her pregnant, he wasn't trying to reduce her value as a courtesan so he could afford her; he was actually trying to save up the money to buy her out so they could get married. He only found out about Maomao after she was born, and by then the brothel wouldn't let him back in to see her. And we find out that Maomao knew this all along, and actually blamed her mother for it all, believing she intentionally got pregnant so as to reduce her value enough for her biological father to buy her out, and bad luck forced him to stay away too long. Maomao didn't hate her biological father, she just didn't consider him her actual father and didn't want him inserting himself into her life.

And...I don't like that. For one, I enjoyed having this antagonist for Maomao to battle with, trying to foil his plans to force her into his custody, and I liked being able to hate him. And for another, finding out she didn't hate him at all completely undercuts that scene where she gets so angry. When Jinshi questions her about the look, she brushes him off and it's never mentioned again. It was a fake out, and I hate fake outs.

Also, while the scene where he goes to the brothel to buy out a courtesan after losing his bet against Maomao is very touching, I was very confused as to why he didn't know Maomao's mother was still alive. Why did the brothel not demand he buy her out way back when? Why did they let him think she was dead instead of trying to make him take responsibility for what happened? I get being furious with him, but the flashback where he gets thrown out makes it pretty damn clear he was devastated and wanted to make amends. And the fact that the very instant he realizes Maomao's mother is still alive he loses all composure and rushes to her, and weeps for joy at seeing her despite her condition, means he would happily have bought her out back then too.

The whole thing felt like the show was trying to trick us. And that's fine when done well, misdirection can be a lot of fun in a show! But I felt lied to. Maomao's anger scene, and the strategist telling Jinshi to ask about lowering the value of a courtesan, they don't make sense now that we know the truth. They were just lies that get brushed aside after the reveal.

Maomao's still enough to carry the show and I will look out for season 2, but I am not as hyped for this one as i was before. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

This is another one that didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped. It's down to 8/10 for me. The mage's exam section really stalled out the show; it felt like the whole purpose of that arc, which lasted longer than any other arc this season by far, was to focus on Fern's growth as a mage. And to me, the show is starting to lose its focus. We started out with Frieren's personal growth and how she was changed by her journey with Himmel, but now, it feels more like an origin story for Fern the Legendary Mage. I don't hate Fern, but I just don't find her as compelling a character right now. I wish we'd at least wait until Frieren completes her journey before focusing so much on Fern.

As an aside, I find it hilarious and sad how hard Stark got sidelined in the second half of season 1. Dude has nothing to do at this point and is just kind of There.

Shangri-La Frontier

On the other side of things, Shangri-La Frontier continues to impress. The show just kept putting out excellent episode after excellent episode, and now I can't wait for season 2. I honestly don't have anything new to say about it, just that it's definitely become one of my top animes that I've ever watched, and I hope season 2 doesn't drop the ball.

Now for new (to me) shows:

Solo Leveling

Synopsis: Portals have started appearing all over the world, and if left alone, begin spitting out hordes of fantasy monsters that are immune to conventional weaponry. But random people have been blessed with fantasy powers and can fight the monsters; they become hunters that take out the monsters, enter the portals, and shut them down. Sung Jinwoo was the weakest of all hunters until a near death experience triggers an awakening, where suddenly he gets a video game-like interface that gives him quests and objectives which level him up, boosting his power beyond what normal hunters are capable of.

First off, this show is very graphic and bloody. It also has zero qualms about killing people. But that doesn't mean it takes the deaths lightly. Jinwoo's adventuring party is nearly wiped out in the first two episodes, a few people only making it out because Jinwoo stayed behind, and the show does not just gloss over this. One of the survivors is so traumatized she's close to giving up being a hunter altogether, and several people urge Jinwoo to quit after his unexplained survival, saying he's not gonna be that lucky again. The show addresses dark topics and themes, but does so with the gravity they deserve. It's not bloody for the sake of being bloody, it's bloody to emphasize how dangerous, dirty, and traumatizing being a hunter would be.

But aside from the good writing, I am also fascinated by the game interface concept. He is, as far as we know, in the real world, but the interface refers to him as "the player" and his powers are decidedly video gamey. He gets stat points for completing daily quests, he gets experience points for killing things and levels up, he even has a video game-style inventory where he can summon or dismiss items at will. And yet there are times where it's made clear that this interface is not just a mindless computer. At one point, where several other hunters are planning to kill Jinwoo, an "emergency quest" pops up, saying that "5 people intend to kill the player. Kill people 0/5". When Jinwoo doesn't immediately accept, it updates with "Failure to complete this quest will result in a penalty." Jinwoo still doesn't immediately accept it, and it updates a third time: "Failure to complete this quest will result in the player's heart stopping." Whoever or whatever the interface is, it very much wants Jinwoo to become stronger and is willing to threaten him to do it. It turns out killing other hunters gives a large amount of xp.

And later on, when Jinwoo is trapped in the throne room after completing his job quest, he hallucinates a version of himself before his awakening; this other him taunts him and says he's weak, that he's useless and should just die, which of course makes him angry and gives him the motivation to keep going just out of spite. I'm pretty sure that other him was the interface speaking to him directly, ensuring he doesn't give up and die.

My own pet theory for the show is that we're watching the birth of the eventual villain of the story. Jinwoo has commented multiple times how power reduces empathy, and the he himself has found his emotions being dulled as he levels up. Couple that with him unlocking and picking the Necromancer job, I think if something doesn't come along to snap him out of it, there's a good chance by the end of the show we're going to see him versus all the other major hunters we've been seeing side stories of, possibly with their own awakenings and resulting improved powers. 8/10.

Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord

Summary: College girl dies in our world and is reborn as Yumiella Dolkness, the hidden boss of a fantasy dating sim that was her favorite game in her previous life. Not wanting to fall prey to the death the plot intends for her, she begins power leveling herself to try and make sure she's strong enough to survive any attack, while also vowing to interact with the plot characters as little as possible to avoid triggering any flags. Unfortunately, once she enters the school where the game takes place, she finds out (as does everyone else) that her power leveling resulted in her reaching level 99. For comparison, the strongest knight in the kingdom is only level 60.

When I first started watching this show, I gave it 9/10. The humor, Yumiella's deadpan delivery of every line, the way other characters reacted to her absurd strength, it was all just so good. I also enjoyed poor Patrick trying so hard to flirt with her and it all going straight over her head. I loved this show right up until episode 11. The last two episodes of season 1 were rushed so much that I feel like they started out the show expecting to have a 25-episode season, and then found out they were only going to have 12 episodes and crammed half the season in to those last two. In a single 23-minute (including opening and closing credits) episode, we get told people are trying to assassinate Yumiella, then it's revealed the assassins were hired by her parents, then she goes and confronts her parents (and rescues her maid's sister), forces her parents to cede their title over to her, offers to adopt Patrick as her heir (much to his chagrin), goes to a party, then has a cute romantic scene with Patrick where he confesses his feelings and they get together. That was one episode. Then the next episode time-skips to the end of the school year when the demon lord has awakened, and has the entire battle against the demon lord, along with a struggle against the plot trying to force Alicia to kill Yumiella, then the denouement, again all in one episode.

It was so rushed, and nothing got the attention it needed. A wholly unsatisfying ending to what was otherwise a fantastic show. And the writing within individual scenes was still good. I loved Patrick confessing his feelings, and Yumiella pretending to lose a game of rock-paper-scissors with him in order to prove that he's "stronger" than she is and thus she likes him, since her go-to excuse to rebuff marriage offers was to claim she only liked guys stronger than her. That was such a good, well-written scene. But it didn't have the build up it needed, and jumping right into "we're off to fight the demon king's army" in the next episode meant we didn't get any time to enjoy them being together, either. I don't know if the manga does this too, or if it was a problem with the show, or what. But it brings my rating down to a 6/10. That might seem harsh, but I don't think I could enjoy a rewatch of it. The show felt like it was really going somewhere the whole time, only to abandon a bunch of plot threads and rush a quick final encounter at the very end. Knowing it's not going somewhere takes a lot of the fun out of the show for me.

Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout

Summary: Childhood friends Tachibana Hinata and Jinguji Tsukasa were living the everyday life of office workers. Then, on the way home from a mixer, they were sent flying into another world by a mysterious being. Once there, Jinguji sees his best friend has been turned into a beautiful blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. The adorableness of Tachibana’s female form completely flummoxes them both. But these two are each others’ best friends. To keep their relationship from being destroyed, they must defeat the Demon Lord as quickly as possible and return to their original forms.

From the title and the premise, this sounds like a pretty trashy anime to be honest. I found myself hesitant to watch it, ready to drop it in a heartbeat if it started going south. But it turns out to be a very silly show that also very much questions sexuality and gender. Also in the first 10 minutes it's pretty clear that the two guys were in love with each other prior to the transformation. We get internal thoughts from Tachibana that he basically idolizes Jinguji, while Jinguji's internal thoughts state that Tachibana's presence is like a safe space for him, where he can feel completely comfortable and at ease.

Shortly after arriving in the other world, the two meet the goddess of love, who is responsible for their teleportation and Tachibana's gender swap, and they get mad at her for basically kidnapping them. She huffs and says she'll curse them with something (she won't say what) and if they want the curse removed, they need to defeat the demon king. As the two of them start to sense attraction to each other, they assume the curse was for them to be forced to fall in love with each other. But I suspect the curse is gonna turn out to be completely unrelated, and the two of them are gonna end up realizing they were always in love.

And surprisingly, the show does not devolve into a bunch of sexist tropes revolving around Tachibana. There is a female elf they encounter who does embody a lot of sexist tropes, but she's pretty clearly a parody character and is frequently the butt of the joke in the scenes she's in.

One of my favorite things about it, though, is them figuring out why Jinguji is there. Apparently, goddesses summoning heroes from other worlds is not uncommon, but normally they only summon a single hero, bestow upon them a blessing of some sort, and then give them a weapon of their choice. Tachibana is the hero the goddess of love summoned, and the blessing he received was his female form and magical beauty that causes him to literally charm anyone (male or female) who gets a good look at him. But he has no weapon. Instead, Junguji is there, and he for some reason has superhuman strength, speed, and durability; he's basically superman....as long as he's near Tachibana. Because, as Tachibana realizes later, he sees Jinguji as his protector, and feels safest with him around, and so he unconsciously chose Jinguji as his weapon (literally unconsciously, he was blackout drunk when the goddess teleported them to the new world).

It's a very funny show that parodies a lot of isekai tropes, but it also focuses primarily on the relationship between the two main characters. The last couple episodes have a giant magic robot attacking the castle, but that's mostly background noise for Tachibana and Jinguji to air out some of their feelings about each other, and address some of the turbulence in their friendship. I like that what is the main plot for all the other characters just takes a back seat to our main duo having a real heart to heart. Good show, 8/10, looking forward to more.

#rating anime #I watched a lot of other shows too #but it's late and I'm tired and this post is already 3 times longer than it should be #maybe I'll make another one some other time #shoot I meant to rate Skip and Loafer here too #oh well

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