#its literally all just a shinji harem

[funkle420]

i cant believe i checked out a spinoff evangelion manga instead of the real thing,,,, i feel so foolish....

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Uchitama 1 - 2 | Hatena 1 - 2 | Ankoku Hakaishin 1 - 2 | Infinite Dendrogram 1 | Hanako-kun 2 | In/Spectre 1 | ARP Backstage Pass 1 | A3 1

Rolled out one tag. I got pretty far behind, so I’ll catch up in the next few posts.

Uchitama 1

Ume and Shirai here.

I would assume this kid with the tiger on his shirt is called Tora, because I vaguely remember a “Tora” in the promotional material.

The sakura aesthetic is nice.

This switch between boy and cat forms is a bit…”weird” is the first word that came to mind, but “random” was the next.

Tora = Shirai and Ume is a character called Kuro, who we haven’t seen yet. (Had to google which roles they had.)

LOL, I like Beh already. A sleepyhead like him is perfect!

I just noticed, but Beh sometimes has a cleft palate (that little dent in the mouth).

Ume’s character isn’t too bad-looking, y’know. He’s a clumsy one though, so he doesn’t quite seem like the sort of character I’d gravitate to.

Seeing boys and girls act like cats and dogs makes me LOL.

Huh? Is cat-dog romance like your standard opposites attract romance…?

Hmm…thank goodness the mother cat wasn’t “made human”…

I’m used to Nora being a woman (see Noragami plus the Western general usage of the name “Nora”)…so this one being a guy (with nice eyes, to boot) is a bit disorienting.

Turns out the Tosa is a huge dog with a face like a pitbull.

I find this Momo-Bull romance just a bit weird still.

I got spoilt on this from the reviews, but Waiha = Hawaii.

That flash of Nora’s owner (?) was interesting!

Other notes: The narration seems to be done by the voice of Tama. Ume sounds like Ume, but it doesn’t feel like Ume because he’s playing against his normal type of character. Shirai doesn’t sound like Shirai though…it’s a completely different character to the types I’ve heard him do before (Ramuda and Io don’t sound like Tora, but Vino sounds similar to En because a lot of Ume characters are done in his usual, suave voice…Ramuda is Shirai doing a falsetto though so he’s hard to compare).

Hatena 1

This one got alright reviews, but I get the feeling I’m not going to like it, so lt’s get this over and done with.

Why is Kana the only one with the black hair…?

This OP is rather low budget compared to the others…

I fully expect Kana to go “It’s bitter…” and make a face when drinking the coff-yep. Thought so. Why do people think black coffee is the mark of a distinguished adult anyway? I don’t even like coffee, so I don’t get it at all.

The sentence in Japanese went something like “Makoto’s always been good”, so I don’t get why the word “egg” had to be introduced into the subs.

There’s an onigiri sale in the back, LOL.

The gates were fairly CGId…

The butler’s name is literally Jeeves Wodehouse, LOL.

Oh, Yumemi is blonde because of Maeve and Kana is brunette/black (?) haired because of Mamoru. Yumemi = dream seeing and Mamoru = protect.

Kana’s voice is annoying! That’s why I thought I wouldn’t like this.

Kana’s such a tsundere now that she knows Makoto is a boy, it’s annoying. I already knew such a detail from the reviews, so I’m not miffed at all.

I find it vaguely amusing that there were 3 different types of animation of a person popping their head into the attic.

Ema’s just a bit evil…Update: Nup, she just ships Kana x Makoto, that’s all.

The hardsubs weren’t encoded correctly on this episode, so they’re all blurry now. Still readable but blurry.

The pun is that the ka in Kana can be read hate in other cases.

More CG doors.

Why is Kana wearing the scarf, even after her bath in a towel???

This reminds me of Hayate the Combat Butler…

Maeve is foreign...that’s why she’s blonde. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (<- partially sarcastic)

Hmm…the fact you can’t tell what is and isn’t real is an interesting factor. However, the production values and the bog-standard romance being set up undercut that.

Magical girl transformation, eh? Reminds me of DN Angel or Magic Kaito, but also Phantom Thief Jeanne or something of the sort.

Hatena 2

I’m still trying to see if this is something to kick out…

This “scarf punches guy” business is getting old…I never got used to it in the old-school harems. I don’t know why it’s become a “classic” thing in anime.

This is meant to be for a boy’s perspective, so…I don’t get it. Okay, I’m dropping this.

Infinite Dendrogram 1

An isekai…oh, goody. (sarcastic) Then again, if I liked this I could try a new publisher out, so it’s win-win for me and the companies I go through to get there.

*the exposition rolls in about virtual reality* Oh great (sarcastic)…this is SAO all over again, isn’t it???

I saw HOTZIPANG in the credits list…now I’m really wary. HOTZIPANG were in the credits for Africa Salaryman and their animation production isn’t the best.

1st person cam…you suck, you know that?!

No. 13 (unlucky number)…Cheshire (Alice in Wonderland)…

Ray for Reiji makes sense, but…(consults Google-sensei) mukudori does mean “starling”, after all.

Yo…does Ray have to be blonde…? Is this some commentary on how having blonde hair is better than black hair, or am I thinking about this too much? (It’s my belief that Asians want to look European and vice versa – just look at their beauty standards! - so that’s where that comes from.)

Box? Looks like a bag to me.

Welp, just grabbing the kanji for mukudori via Wikipedia revealed the Embryo is a sword to me…*shrugs* No surprise there – as TV Tropes would say, heroes love swords (and redheads!).

So you can commit murder in Infinite Dendrogram??? (I’m joking partially, but Cheshire did say “you can do anything”…right?)

…and of course Ray drops into Altea from the sky. It’s been a cliché since No Game No Life.

“This is a game?” – Actually, I thought the same thing when I entered the website and game of TERA. Then again, this is basically trying to be SAO through and through, so I guess spouting that line is a prerequisite here.

How does anyone break both arms from running into someone…?

Well, at least this show looks nice. It’s doing its job on that front.

I was going to ask what a tian was, but the show answered it for me. Good job, show!

*Googles “dendrogram”* - “a tree diagram, especially one showing taxonomic relationships.” – Oh, so that’s why it’s called Infinite Dendrogram! (Y’know, it reminds me of studying about dendrites, which have the same appearance as a dendrogram...hence the shared origins of the words.)

Normally characters don’t jump into virtual worlds with thir brother…they’d do it with their cousin or crush or something…Hmm.

I was about to think you die in real life if you die in the game, but thank goodness this one is nowhere near as bad.

CGI bugs…of course…

That one still shot revealed a crack in this show’s visuals. I almost thought I could select it on the basis of the excellent visuals alone, but nope.

“…that…leaves a bad taste in my mouth!” – Not again, Ray…stop saying that line…

Again? I just told you in the last note not to!

Of course Ray gets the girl. I should’ve known…well she’s a sword but also a girl…?

The sentence ending -grizz is –kuma in Japanese.

I felt something special in my gut when the sword appeared, even though I’m complaining about this being like SAO, so I think it’s worth continuing.

A3 1

A3 is based on a mobile game so it looks a lot like those idol games, but it’s actually about acting according to the full name of Act! Addict! Actors!.

This kid’s eyes freak me out!

Considering this involves – according to the synopsis – a Mankai (full bloom) Company and this is called “spring and summer”, plus the metaphors from earlier, it makes sense the kiddo’s jumper says “spring” on it.

I thought the kid was singing, but turns out he’s reciting Shakespeare. I don’t know how popular the ol’ Shakie is in Japan, but I’ll take it.

Veludo Way = Broadway, apparently.

It should be Biro-do or Verodo, but not “Vedulo” like the subs say.

*sees a woman* - Oh great, so now this turns into an otome game…or, like i7’s Tsumugi, she’s an audience insert.

Someone encoded the video funny again…*sigh*

I bet the demolition guy is going to join the theatre, based on his looks. Update: According to the wiki, yes he does (as part of the Autumn troupe)! One of his hobbies is bubble wrap, which I can relate to immensely…and apparently he’s a yakuza…?

Masumi’s voice…is that Kaito Ishikawa? Update: No! It’s Shirai! I’m so surprised…it’s a very Io-sounding voice, though, so I guess I shouldn’t.

Masumi is one of those needy types who could easily fall into yandere territory…I don’t like him. I don’t like Sakuya either, though…

I know this from my recent experience, but hard work hardly works, Sakuya. Staying somewhere one year or ten years does diddly squat if you don’t have what other people are looking for. *tries not to cry*

I’m sorry guys, but even with the attack to the heart, I don’t give a s*** about you all. The troupe was just arguing to delay their deadlines and Furuichi (the demolition guy) has a point – the guys didn’t really prove themselves outside a brief but unimpressive stint from Sakuya.

ARP Backstage Pass 1

Hopefully this show is actually good, y’know? A3 just bombed…

Okayyyyyyyyyyy…from the one minute or so that I’ve seen, it looks like a Coldplay concert but with bishonen (good) and bad music (which is…uh, bad). That does not bode well for this show…also, the stage names are pretty obviously that. I mean, who cals their kid “Rage”? It’s probably Reiji (again, considring Infinite Dendrogram).

The cars from above almost look like Frogger…LOL.

Oh f*** me and my on-the-ball instincts! I guessed correctly again (Rage = Reiji)…and that’s bad news.

Wait, why is Shinji staring into space…?

There’s a kettle noisily going on in the background, so I can’t really tell what’s so awesome about this show without the music…I guess I’ll have to abort this mission until later…

Okay, so I listened to the piano bit thrice and couldn’t tell if there was a piano noise…That’s bad news. Update: Yep, listened to it again and there is no piano sound during the piano scene.

The rock music was…unexpected.

Wait, you mean the dude’s name is actually Daiya??? What???

Oh my gosh, these guys are hilarious! I know that’s dark considering they’re starving, but…LOL.

Idolmaster Side M taught me that career changes are actually pretty interesting when combined with idol anime and…this may be a band or something, but it sure works the same way.

That transition to Leon was terrible.

This appears to be Yokohama (Chinatown) and Hakone (the pirate ship).

Well, the show’s case would be helped if they had music in the right places, rather than music videos interspersed throughout.

Geesh this one is tough…some of the music is actually pretty good and the episode does get better when Rebel Cross appear (but Shinji is kinda boring, even though I thought I’d like him the most, and Leon’s singing was downright terrible), but the animation is terrible and I found myself going “But why should I care?!” multiple times in my head during the first half. The group do seem to have quite good synergy at the end and are generally entertaining, too.

Ankoku Hakaishin 1

I’ve ben calling this “Destructive God” or “Ankoku Haishin”, so this is A Destructive God Sits Next to Me. Update: It should be Hakaishin…actually.

Ooh, Natsuko Takahashi. This show’s in good hands.

Very Seki-kun.

Black Mouse Land, LOL.

“This is war!” – The word here is shoubu, which literally means “victory or defeat”, so it makes sense to change it to a more commonly used phrase.

“RIP Koyuki” – The grave said “Koyuki’s grave”…which isn’t that funny to be honest, so again, I get the decision to change it.

Hanadori still had the dog…?

“Things I Want to Forget” – Literally, the words on the page mean “black history”, which I think is funnier.

Oh, I bet Koyuki will plan the class trip…

“[T]he jerk in the next class over” – Does he have a name…?

I bet Koyuki has the worst grades in math of the trio.

Koyuki is deliberately designed like a cat, it seems.

You can see the broken window from earlier…LOL.

It’s Animal Crossing! On DS! (But what’s up with that rabbit with the fishnet stockings…?) Update: Do Japanese kids even use DSs these days? DSs must be cheap in comparison to their newfangled gaming laptops and Switches…

Is Tsukimiya Mamoru Miyano or something…? Update: Nup, Kimura. I seem to get those two confused quite a bit.

The “Muney” (sic) thing is because he (Hanadori) wrote the hyou in mokuhyou (aim, goal) wrong. By the way, Hanadori put an eyepatch on one of his banknotes.

That ending was actually kind of cute. I always prefer heartwarming comedies like these over mean-spirited ones (Osomatsu-san, Konosuba), so…yep, it’s in my wheelhouse!

I predicted the ending but the galactic reaction I got was…awesome!

In/Spectre 1

Why does this have so many names? In/Spectre, Kyokou Suiri , Inverted Reasoning (or was it Inverted Interface)…? Update: Inverted Inference. That’s the name on the manga covers.

Ooh, Saki is pretty classy-looking.

This is being framed like a romance, huh? I know this series is supernatural, but I’m not really here for the romance.

What’s the age gap? 17 (Kotoko) – 23 (Kuro)?

Lel, Harlequin novels. Those seem to be exclusive to the Western world (specifically the USA and its English-speaking country buddies), so it’s probably just romance novels in the original words. Update: I found Harlequin novels for Japan, but still, they’d be nowhere near as ubiquitous as they are elsewhere. Update 2: I kept thinking about it, so now I have an entire post with my findings. Turns out Japan does have and know about Harlequin novels (which do look like the one the samurai was holding), but they probably couldn’t state the name because of potential lawsuits or something. 

Oh gosh, Potato-kun (Kuro) – yes, I think of him much like a normal harem lead – getting your hand chomped off to the arm is a bit stupid, y’know?

Whoa! Wht a crazy cliffhanger!

Whoo! This OP (? Or is this an ED?) is crazy cool. Kinda like low-budget Kekkai Sensen.

Well, this show is kinda losing me with the romance elements, but the supernatural part is great.

Hanako-kun 2

What’s Hakujoudai? Those will o wisps? Update: Seems so.

The explanation of Yousei-san has a voice like it’s coming across a radio…interesting.

The towel…I bet it’s the one from Senpai one of the students mntioned earlier.

The subbers spelt “brooch” wrong.

This new boy – which I thought was Minamoto at first (LOL?)…he has a traffic omamori as an earring and a staff/umbrella, so he’s probably an exorcist. Either that or a massive chuunibyou.

LOL, Castle in the Sky much? (Or is that Nausicaa?)

Nene is reading from a magazine called G Cinema.

The comedy is this is slowly getting better. That’s a good sign for this, but bad for Ankoku Hakaishin…

Seagull High????? (Kamome = seagull.)

Wait, Minamoto??? You mean Nene’s former love is an exorcist??? Update: Oops, that’s (Nene’s crush is) Kou’s older bro…but that’s spoilers.

“Kou” is written with the character for hikari, or in this case “Yorimitsu”.

The action scenes are pretty good in this…I guess I kind of took them for granted in ep. 1.

Oh, I guess I should’ve known that seal on Hanako’s face…there were more of them in his possession. Also, there’s an extra V in the subs for some reason.

The stairs remind me of Muzan’s “universe” near the end of Demon Slayer’s first season.

Oh, the events of this episode tell you why Nene does the next episode stuff.

The ED visuals remind me of Ranpo Kitan’s, and I love Ranpo Kitan’s.

Ankoku Hakaishin 2

Why is Koyuki eating with his teacher anyway? I thought he was the guy from the class next door until he started talking about kids.

“Miguel Whatever” makes me laugh every time.

The cat ears on Koyuki’s phone are cute.

Sumiso reminds me of Aikatsu girls…

Uchitama 2

Bull is an “ore-sama”, huh?

I didn’t think they would continue with the “Solitary King of Destruction” thing.

Bull as a chuunibyou ham is so entertaining, but when they try to play the Momo romance hand again…I start to lose my patience...

LOL, Petstagram…

…and now it’s a (reverse) HAREM!

“[M]ad dog”, LOL, what a turn of phrase.

Okayyyyyyyyy subbers, own up! Who put a dog pun in Bull’s talk?! (I’m referring to the “doggone it!”.)

*points at dog puns*- You didn’t, subbers! You’re still adding dog puns!

Wait, Bull’s singing?! This I didn’t expect!

Well…this decision is hard. Bull’s become greater than ever…but only in relation to his romance with Momo!

Aww…seeing Bull dejected makes me sad inside too.

Oh yeah! There we go! That intro landed its gag purrfectly…to use an intentional cat pun.

Why did I take to Bull so much? Well, if he weren’t a dog, I’d find him completely romanceable, even if he were a massive chuuni.

Oh, the pun is ippai (full). Then you unintentionally switch it to oppai (boobs).

What? Wow, I never thought I’d get Ume talking about cat and dog nipples. (That’s not a sentence I’m going to be able to match any time soon.)

Okayyyyyyyyy…that one segment was a massive weird non-sequitur. I have no idea how they’d represent that with cat and dog forms.

Oh, Petstagram! We actually get to see it!

This series is more prone to “mood swings” than Ankoku Hakaishin or even Hanako-kun…yikes.

No, no, no! Who is this guy??? Haven’t you heard of “stranger danger”?!

…Oh, so the guy was Tome, huh?

The ED! This aesthetic is too good!

ARGH! Okay, okay, Uchitama! You win! I was going to pick Ankoku Hakaishin because that’s more consistent in landing its laughs and Hanako-kun would’ve been a better choice because its aesthetic is more consistently there plus it has interesting ideas with its apparitions, but Ankoku Hakaishin is fairly interchangeable with Iruma-kun…basically, if Eizouken or Magia Record don’t work out, I can loo forward to switching in one or the other, but I’m going to stick with Uchitama because *gestures wildly at screen* just look at this manservice! Even if it’s actually for a dog, I cannot deny the manservice!

[animentality]

I'm kinda curious why do you hate yoi? Fandom is weird as hell but what's so wrong with the series alone?

IT IS THE FANDOM THAT PROVOKES THE MOST HATRED IN ME.

The Yuri on Ice fandom has utterly ruined the show for me, and honestly, if the fandom didn’t harass real life figure skaters, hallmark executives, and people who don’t like their precious show, all with their battlecry of “well you’re just homophobic”, then i probably would’ve just dismissed yuri on ice as “ok.”

It was mediocre.

A fanservice-fueled mess of romantic cliches, awkward figure skating animation, and sexy butt shots.

Let me lay this down, alright?

Its writing is disjointed, and its characters are either one shot characters or terribly inconsistent, like I still don’t know if Victor is a sociopathic simpleton or just a juvenile, shallow egocentric adult who just doesn’t know how to coach AT ALL.

Or if Yuri is confident or NOT confident.

We never saw ANY reason for him to suddenly be confident in himself, other than he’s sexually attracted to Victor, and Victor is sexually attracted to him, and this for some reason culminates in a sudden increase in talent.

Victuuri as a relationship is also rather poor, which is BAD since the whole series literally hinged itself on it.

It’s based off a drunken encounter that failed to be endearing to ME, because I was wondering why the fuck a stripper pole is present at a black tie formal event banquet.

I also don’t find Victor’s reasons for being attracted to him compelling.

What, he was ballsey while drunk? He skated kinda nice in a youtube video?

Or he just wanted to fuck the shit out of him?

Like…ok, fine. That could work.

Except it didn’t, because Victor never went into that shit at all.

Yuri didn’t even remember it.

And what, they developed a bond while training?

SO WHY DIDN’T WE SEE IT?

What is there to like?

And even if we did see it, look at the characters.

Let’s ignore canon relationships, and look at them as people.

what is there to like about Yuri Katsuki?

That he’s shy and “sweet?”

If you made him female, he would be the least interesting moe shoujo harem chick ever seen.

You would absolutely not like him if he were, say, Shinji Ikari, nervous and unsure of himself in times of crisis.

People like Yuri for only a few reasons, and they’re as follows:

He’s a stand in for them, a gay stand in so they don’t have to be threatened by a cute anime girl.

And he’s shy and flustered and uwu soooo cute, but also sexy and assertive and a power bottom, so I’m told.

These are not traits that stand on their own. They are entirely dependent on an active base of fangirls with no desire to see said character doing anything else or developing.

He’s DULL in other words.

And so is VICTOR.

He’s the ace who can do anything, but chooses to be interested in the guy with low self confidence.

Wish fulfillment. That’s what that is.

Sexy guy takes interest in the “nobody.”

Oldest trick in the book.

And if your argument is that the characters don’t need to be good…uh, yes, they do, because it’s a “sports anime,” purportedly…

Sports anime NEED to focus on either characters and their relationships, or the sport itself.

Yuri on ice fumbled both.

We saw Yuri and Victor vaguely talk about stupid ass shit that revealed nothing about themselves as people…and drop sexual innuendo.

Then we had some bloated individual character drama that either got dropped from the main plot or was simply boring.

Like Sala and her brother?

That weird guy with the fucked up mascara and his angst over his bitchy ex girlfriend?

Minami?

Those two people I don’t even remember, the Pewdiepie lookalike?

Seriously, Yuri on Ice could’ve been really, really good if it had cut some of the extra characters.

Made Victor and Yuri more like PEOPLE, and not puppets that existed solely to sell some yaoi fangirl bait.

And if Yuri Plisetsky and Otabek were the main couple, yeah.

The thing is, anon, that these things don’t make it the worst anime ever.

I’ll say that liberally.

Yuri on ice isn’t the worst anime ever.

I liked parts of it.

Mostly Yuri P, Otabek, and JJ. I thought JJ should’ve had more of a role, he was talented and his skating was daring, that was a good dynamic.

But why did I really hate this anime?

BECAUSE IT HINGED ON VICTUURI.

A BORING COUPLE OF ANIME STEREOTYPES THAT ARE ONLY APPEALING-

Because they’re gay.

I can guarantee you that if one of them was female, ya’ll would hate it.

And if you’re saying, ok, but it’s revolutionary because it chose to make them both male, that’s a good thing, isn’t it animentality?

Wrong.

It would’ve been revolutionary to have a real story.

Hinged on competition.

And actual anxiety, not anxiety that comes and goes according to when the writers feel like putting it in there.

Panic attacks, nausea, inability to perform…and not YURI fucking crying and then suddenly being perfectly able to perform right afterwards simply because Victor…

SAID SOMETHING REALLY STUPID.

That’s right.

Yuri’s “anxiety” is used as a romantic plot device.

It’s an excuse for Victor to comfort him.

It magically vanishes whenever it doesn’t need to be there.

But my point is…

That Yuri on ice could’ve built up a relationship between them…one without the sauna scenes, without the sexy posing, without the sexy lip touching and ass groping and stupid fanservice touching.

It could’ve built it slowly.

and then the last episode.

They could’ve kissed.

And then it would’ve excused all of the absolute mess that was its story, and its characters.

If they had chosen to make it SEEM like a conventional sports anime instead of hyping it up as gay from the start, then i could’ve forgiven anything else.

I could even forgive its creepy ass anon hate flame warring fandom.

But they didn’t.

They chose to give us two guys sort of kissing, and then having the plot change NOTHING.

They chose to give us a teasing wedding proposal that didn’t seem like one, since Yuri never said yes, and they don’t wear their rings in promotional art.

Nor does Yuri actually WIN his stupid metal.

They gave us a dog in the hospital and a lot of back hugs.

Great.

Mediocre anime, anon.

I wouldn’t hate it just for being mediocre…

If its fandom didn’t so actively lead the charge against “homophobes,” acting like their fujobait is some kind of revolutionary of the LGBT movement, the spearhead that ends all homophobia.

Love on ice isn’t plagiarism.

Your anime is just WEAK.

It’s imitated the work of others, and then claims ownership of that work, calling anything even vaguely like it plagiarism.

It claims domination over all forms of lgbt media because it doesn’t “Sexualize” even though the first episode has Victor’s ass in our faces. Even though everyone inexplicably decides to strip and show off those oiled abs for all of us.

It tells me that this honest review is nothing but homophobic.

That by noticing sexualization, I am sexualizing gays.

It says that because I don’t like the show for fetishizing a gay couple, for touting it as an icon of gay media when it didn’t even have the guts to refer to the two of them as a “couple” and chose instead to have Kubo Mitsuro leave it as “ambiguous” that I am some kind of irrational beast who just doesn’t like gays.

Yes, anon.

I hate yoi.

And let me be candid with my followers, too, the new ones, who didn’t, perhaps, know about this.

I hate yuri on ice.

Not because it’s implied that Yuri and Victor have a relationship.

But because it’s implied they have a relationship.

And yaoi fangirls, ah, they don’t care.

They masturbate with their feelings, remember? As long as the guys are hot, they’ll claim LGBT activism.

They’ll stress how important it is, how special it is, that Yuri on ice is successful (ignoring the fact that they made it successful, AS IN they, the fetishizing young women audience exploited in the past by many other forms of fanservice).

And that…cannot be torn apart from the show.

I cannot judge the show separately from the fandom.

It is a part of it, it IS the show.

Without its fandom, what does it have to offer?

Nothing.

Look at Free!

What happened to it?

Now compare it to snk, what do you see?

Snk has an apocalypse, monsters, a fight for human survival, the depths of the human will.

What does Yuri on ice have?

A meandering story with shallow problems and sexy guys being cute for a camera.

Some corporate-cut standards box full of shit that’s been done before, just not in a gay way.

What’s wrong with the series alone?

Nothing.

It just can’t stand alone.