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Jun 11, 2025
It just kept going, man.
The story is about the normal guy, suddenly finding himself interacting with a tomboy, shark teethed girl who's strong as hell. Shenanigans ensue.
I'm glad all the “Normal guy, girl with a surprise element” manga that I started reading years ago have been finishing up. One of two things usually happen. The story grabs its little premise, and throws it away when it finally ran its small course. The story continues to evolve, and explore the characters as people who change with time, and it becomes a good, proper story. The second one, is staying true to the premise far
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into the future, where it will become stale, where it won't achieve anything, and it will end in nothingness. Another manga, destined to become part of the void.
You see where I'm going with this. The manga just didn't want to end. It's the kind of story which has an end-goal, in which it was already operating in shallow waters. The main characters were interesting for a bit, but, that didn't last long. There's not much that happens in the story, and not even in the Slice of Life genre kind of nothing, I mean actually nothing. I can't remember so much of the plot, I couldn't tell you what even happened in the middle. It was all a blur of tomboy sexualization, of putting our girl in skimpy outfits, of school shenanigans which are far too played out at this point.
After all that, it still tried to go beyond what stories usually do. It goes beyond the relationship status, and it does touch the future of our main couple, but since it's so shallow, I just didn't care. Their dynamic isn't fun, it's just idealistic. It's like watching the downtime of real couples, and that's fine in other manga which have a great dynamic between the leads.
I don't need conflict, I don't need there to be problems in the relationship, I just need to see their best moments, and a goal for each of them. MC doesn't have anything he strives for, he doesn't exist outside the relationship, and neither does our FMC. She doesn't exist outside the relationship, except for something she achieves very early on, leaving the rest of the story in a bunch of nothingness. They progress as a couple, that's literally it. Hell, get them worrying about exams, get them having an issue with meeting too much, helping each other sometimes, no it's just their lunchtime, and people supporting them non-stop. Give me something.
Nice art, sometimes, otherwise the faces are so stiff. None of them change expressions that much at all.
4/10. Whole lotta nothing, with some great tomboy art. That alone can't carry your story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jun 9, 2025
You know, I forget there's so much power in editing when it comes to anime.
“The Apothecary Diaries”. A series I couldn't see myself enjoying too much. A story about old China. An apothecary is trafficked to be sold as a servant to a concubine palace where she wishes not to stick out, but her medical knowledge far exceeds that of everybody else. Her desires to not see anyone dying from preventable problems, make her hiding impossible.
The premise does sound good, but I had an inkling on the presentation.
After recently watching other anime which were severely brought down by their anime-isms, I was scared
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to find this one to follow something similar. The screenshots looked like that type of gag story which, yes, could be serious, but it had the sudden cat ears, the chibi art style change for jokes, the sound design of old slice of life absurdism which permeates anime. However, I had to give it a watch, as it was hailed as one of the best modern anime out there. They're right about everything said.
It wasn't at all what I expected. It was a serious story about the many societal issues faced at that time. Be it medical, social, humanitarian, these people feel as real as they should. They've lived in this world for their whole lives, and of course they wouldn't see many things wrong with what happens in it. The past was defined by the lack of knowledge, and a person with more knowledge in a small community makes a world of differences. A small apothecary changes the world around her, even if she wishes not to do so. By virtue of her existence, the people around her stay alive. She herself has layers upon layers of self-analysis, and reflection. She has infinite time to think about her life, and she constantly encounters things which let her ponder on her context.
Every other character fits with just that. Complex people, nor good, or absolutely terrible. All of them have many reasons to be who they are. People we don't know too much of has these little details sprinkled, which add much respect from my part. Other's have a life which is slowly revealed, just with conversations, as if you were slowly getting to know them. Everyone in the story is someone you slowly get to know, unless they get a moment to reflect on their lives.
This series strips down the clichés in presentation, and extrapolates everything that works, and everything that doesn't, and creates a piece of work which I haven't experienced in such a long time. Comedy bits stopped right as it was enough, sudden flashes of deeply important expressions occurred, something which I don't think I've seen outside more psychological stories. Tense scenes lack music, and tensions are added by showing inserts, small coverage of the surroundings. It's an anime which knows the power of a thought-cut, a Chekov gun, a knife, which could be used as a violent climax, even if it doesn't. Showing before telling, and using 1+1 as a philosophy.
I can't express this enough. This show respects you enough to put the pieces together. There are so many moments where information is very new to us, but the show doesn't pull attention towards it as much as anime usually does. The characters talk about it normally, because it is for them. The world around them isn't trying to make the information important, unless it's something they just found out. Everything is inferred, changed, all based on who is experiencing information.
I adore this show. It's amazingly well-paced, funny when it has to be, entertaining, beautiful, soul-crushing, and slow, brooding, when it must. It stops at times, and lets you soak in the themes of a scene. The show tries a little hard sometimes to really get a point across, by being subtle-forced, where it's like “please get it, please get it”, but yes show, I do get it, and I appreciate it.
Almost nothing wrong with the show. The historical details are so great to see on screen, too. Like there being things like greenhouses constructed out of whim of the higher-ups, without the people giving the thing the name itself. Things like that enrich the story so much, it's insane. All this, with stellar animation to boot.
9.4/10. Almost a 10, if it weren't for some episodes being a little cumbersome to get through.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 8, 2025
I can imagine why this story made waves when it released.
“Akatsuki no Yona”, is the kind of anime which is legitimately on the verge of being just okay, and amazingly good. You've got great characters, with amazing personalities. A fresh villain which doesn't do things by the brutal, the obvious, the horrible. He manipulates with love, with giving to the people, with kickstarting economies, and actually is trying to make the surroundings a better place.
It is that, though, a revenge story. About taking back what belongs to the heroes, but with the world around in mind. It's about a little princess, Yona. A
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spoiled, kind-hearted girl who on the very first episode gets everything taken away from her by somebody she loved. We've seen that many times, it's the quintessential vengeance, but I'd say, within the many clichés, it isn't bad at all.
The characters are interesting enough to carry the otherwise typical story. Even within the fantastic elements, I do enjoy how this whole season purely focuses on recruiting the ancient blood dragons, which are tied to the protagonist by sheer destiny. They give the entire thing a texture grander than what seemed at the beginning, and the story might be huge, but we don't know yet. It focuses on the struggles of each one, how their lineage defined their lives, be it the spoiled ones, or the ones considered curses. Some stories hit more than others, but it's still fun to have such a diverse cast of experiences.
The animation is good, not stellar, but pretty damn good when it needs to. We have callbacks, a nice progression to the characters, conflicts within each other, and towards themselves. I liked it, but the bigger problem is how none of it is truly a complete story.
The first season doesn't reach any kind of conclusion, serving more as a prelude to everything. The whole story feels like that. It's a recruitment arc; one which does drag a bit more than I'd like. Some episodes keep going, and going, without much happening, even if what happens is pretty good.
I can't give this a great rating. It's been around two weeks since I watched it, and I already forgot loads of the meaningless moments in the story, even if the good parts are memorable.
Fresh, and excellent elements, in an otherwise typical story don't save it from staying typical.
7/10. I still enjoyed the experience and taking this one of my infinite list of things to watch.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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May 22, 2025
How to even say what I feel about this one?
An endless hug for teenager me. A gunshot right in my guts. A reality check for what I've learned in life, and a reminder to feel, more than just “understanding”. Not many pieces of art evolve my feelings towards it as much as this movie. A nightmare-fueled end, and beginning of everything, from the lens of imperfect, human people.
I never hated Shinji, the main, and most imperfect character here. He's a reminder of what I've overcome, the feelings that had plagued my mind from the past. He awakened the knowledge of being alone in me, and
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other things reminded me of the opposite, and the sequels / remakes gave me a more accessible understanding of hope, but it was there all along, in the disturbing version.
Through everything, all I know in life, and all I've come across, life has a meaning. In our choices, in our need to be alone, while knowing we can reach to others and change that sadness. It's easy to run away from our problems, and in the extremism of this movie, to switch off the boundaries' humanity put together to hold their egos. How easy would it be to simply understand each other? Too simple, boringly so, miserably so.
It's the movie which understands that culmination of love and hatred we're capable of. We can do both, and we do it every day, on every interaction, but being deserving of that love, and allowing others to love us that way is the essence of what we represent. So beautiful, in fact, that a character is willing to rest in space for billions, trillions, eons, just to represent we existed. It's worth it, it always was.
Enough of just emotional rambles. The movie evoked that in me, and it made me cry, when before it was simply a “great movie”. The character culminations are perfect, the action sequences are disturbingly brilliant, the symbolic representations on the charged objects, and the dialogue. Every single scene filled with so much humanity, and sadness. It takes a bit more than one, or two watches. Hell, around four truly revealed everything I missed.
There is a very direct plot, as corrected to me by someone I watched it with, but the many things which lead to the ending are mostly a product of cosmic horror. It has this doomsday atmosphere. A gloom and ethereal feel to what is otherwise people just trying to stay alive in a terrible situation. It's a batshit insane lead up to a teenager choosing humanity based on a philosophical confrontation with himself and those he knows.
Hard to describe this thing, but it's beautiful for those who are willing to let it love you, or punch you where it really hurts.
I don't have much more to say. Watching it again didn't change me, but it reinforces the things I've learned, and it reminds me we can all learn to love each other, even if it's a gargantuan task to do so.
10/10. I can't even be that mad at the guy laughing at the front of the screening. He must've had a blast too, and I hope he did.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 16, 2025
I decided to sit with this one before making a review, at least for a month, and… I can't defend it.
Let's be clear on something. Finding a good Yaoi out there is like finding a needle in a haystack; possible, but mostly a goddamn coincidence. So I decided to go for one of the most popular ones, and this is what's there to offer? That's so… sad. The problem with this one is definitely the people who hailed it as one of the best ones out there.
I can't deny, among the worst, this isn't on that list. It's an okay in a good
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day, bad at worst, Yaoi about a clerk who gets in a toxic relationship with a dangerous, tall gangster, who according to standards is “respectful”. Let's get the issues out of the way first, the age-gap. I hate age-gaps that big, and don't come at me due to “why read it, then?” Hey, I wanted to give the story a chance before dropping it. Why judge a book by its cover? Who knows, maybe it can be dealt with maturely, with care, and a realistic sense of progression, but not, the story has more concerns than that, I'd say it's the least of its problems.
Rapey scenes. Whoever is the first on the list of reviews saying there's no sexual assault is blatantly wrong. If it weren't for the characters eventually forgiving or giving into pleasure, so many scenes turn into sexual assault. It isn't sexual assault because they eventually liked it? Absolutely not, so many scenes are the person stating, “please leave”, they force, get them naked, and then they have sex with them, and the main character still is angry about it and makes the other person leave, but they later admit “oh, but it was so good”. This isn't okay to glamorize as non-sexual assault, Christ. They don't touch the theme with maturity, they justify these actions, and even if there's some reflection on the gangster, it's not even from that.
Both characters are good on their own. A university student, struggling with so many life problems. His brother in a coma, his romantic history in shambles, he's being cheated on constantly. He has the power to overcome that on his own, and that's such an interesting story, but when you couple him with the gangster guy? Let's talk about him. His suffering is quite different. Tortured into being part of an organization due to being more useful than the son of the leader, who's homosexual. His story is that of revenge, until he can become the leader and dismantle it from the inside. Great story, very exciting, bad news is, the author doesn't care about any of those two.
These two characters are coupled together to have sex, to be sex symbols of the story. The revenge? Off-screen. The brother's coma? Off-screen recovery. The suffering? Off-screen. What is on-screen, then? Sex scenes, lamenting on the sex, the build-up to the sex, a weird love triangle, which leads to more jealous sex. It wouldn't be bad, if the sex wasn't incoherent. Sex without preparations, inconsistent ideas, such as sometimes they introduce lube, but then they have sex without it. Being too big, but taking it, no problems. Going harder, with no consent or consistency.
If the focus is the sex, or the story, do one, and include the other, don't make each overshadow the other. Not only that, but the roles of the protagonists is so out of wack. The main guy, the clerk, is not a bottom, it's a woman reskinned as a man. If you're gonna make a gay relationship, I'm not asking for both to be tough, and huge, but to be real about what it means to be a gay man in the context they are. The author mustn't have known how to write a soft guy, and a tough guy, so they just wrote feminine traits, and masculine traits in the most basic way and called it a bottom and top.
Honestly, till this day, Banana Fish, and the movie Doukyuusei still stands as the best homosexual stories I've seen, and nothing has come close. Not even a supposed 8.10 in MAL.
3.4/10. Whatever was good, is just potential. Both stories that were crammed here should've been done by themselves, since they're pretty good, to be honest.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 16, 2025
I don't know if it entirely works.
It's the story of this one kid whose family died in a fire accident, and after being blinded, he can only manage to see a little dark blob that keeps him company. He, somehow, manages to let the kid recover his sight, with a steep price for it.
Maybe it's just me, but this feels like a remnant of edgy superpowered teen stories. You've got the tragic past protagonist, the edgy, crazy smile, the amnesia, bigger purpose, weird romance, “I can't feel anything”, “I cut off my emotions”, what people call “aura-farming”, but failing. The bullying, organizations, underestimating characters,
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mentors die, whatever. It's a mystery, but even after the cool reveals, and the interesting character dynamics, it feels hollow. It's one of the best of the worst, if that makes sense. Like, among the bad quality of the things mentioned, this one is good, but it only uses overused elements in an intriguing story. It's a hard balance to achieve that.
I don't know if more time was needed for this story, or something. Maybe it's that there was never really a theme to this whole thing. There's not judging a book by its cover, right? Our main character was blind, now he isn't, so people don't judge him. Right, but then it changes to revenge, and how it drags people you love into problems. Yes, but the main character doesn't have much to do with this until the end of the first season, which is way past any establishing theme at that point. It's not the main one. There's other three, however, none stand on their own.
The story doesn't work as a whole, even if it has some good moments. That's what's missing. A strong base to hold everything together. There should always be one when creating a story that isn't just filler for the brain.
A story about vengeance, that's about school and making friends, that's about a supernatural, sci-fi being, with greed, and capitalism, and the rich ruining everything, and about a bad upbringing, and being a good person afterward. It's about finding happiness after your own mistakes, but then it's about making the mistakes again, and having the protagonist correct them, or make them worse. I can't really say any of these, is a main idea, it doesn't stick.
The art is a little bad, but I don't blame the author for that, it's nice to see a story that needed to be told, and apparently it is the writer-artist's debut. It's a story, definitely one with a plot, and characters, and ideas, but none of them hold within each other from a main one, at least from which I can tell.
At least it's a fast one, and the dialogue and character conversations are pretty good, and realistic for the context, save the stupid romantic moments which seem a little forced. The cool moments are there, but, the story really doesn't seem to be wanting to be cool, if that makes sense.
5.7/10. The little Dark Mortal is the best thing in this whole story, believe me. I can slightly recommend it, but not entirely.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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May 16, 2025
You know the mystery is good when an annoying protagonist can't push me away from the story.
Supernatural mysteries aren't easy to pull off. I, for one, need a strong realism, with a proper acknowledgement of the unreal, and an incorporation of it with how real humans react to it. I hate it when a story can't truly react to its own rules properly. Either it's too normal, or too exaggerated for my own good, but when the characters are born into this thing, the concept moves by itself. It's one of those stories which I'm jealous of the writer for.
Emilico, a girl, is
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seemingly born as a doll in a house with shadow people. She's instructed to learn to clean, wash clothes, and be a servant to a twin-like shadow girl. Slowly instructed to connect with her.
Of course, the first question of it all is, “why?” It doesn't instantly give us the answer, it instead wishes to expand on its world by starting slow and steady. It expands as naturally as it started, it introduces characters living in the same situation, it adds to the concept with such a suave pace to it which feels elegant, with intent, and never misses its mark. And, after all that, only when it's necessary, does it start responding to the “why”, but not the “when”. We gotta earn each of those first, one by one, beat by beat.
There's such an intricate beginning of the story which, instead of trying to solve a mystery, instead of attempting to move the world forward, is stands on its own. The story stays with the people we've met, as their goals, their contexts, their lives become interesting for the audience. Not just for the sake of knowing them, but the anime gives them agency, choices, interactions, and it manages to overcome my grievances with other stories. Every voice is well-defined without exaggeration of character, every plot-beat is set in motion by subtleties, and a forward motion to what each person needs for the story.
There's a little arc, which puts all of them in a perilous situation, given constant choices, which always says more about them. You come to love terrible people, due to their complex choices, and desperate situations. We hate those which seemed alright due to their mentalities, and how that changes their interactions with others. Each scene, I was begging to see the ensuing conversation, and how that mentality might clash with what I know about them. Man, I started to love the “little rascal” kid, due to its constant changes as the story progresses. His opinions, and actions, his fears, and loves. His convictions. He's only one of the side characters.
Not to mention the unique setting, the art direction, stylized, and not needing nearly as much “pants-rocking” animation to land. Akin to those 2000s anime, which loved strange faces, weird body proportions, used textures to convey clothing, instead of a focus on realistic movement, and directing styles. This one goes more for simplicity, and doesn't need anything more than that.
However, the weak link about all of this is an overly explaining, annoying-ass protagonist which can't stop talking. I know what kind of protagonist she is; bubbly, super optimistic, too emotionally positive for her own good, and that's entirely fine. It's great, even. In such a world you require a positive energy to go by, but for it to be incessantly obvious how she feels, devoid of subtlety, and the author does that so well with everybody else. Each character makes faces which reveal their feelings. A person looks down when told something positive, “something's wrong for them”, “maybe they're hiding something”, things like that, and boom, we change scenes. We don't know what that is, but it plants a seed in our heads. With the main character, she voices how she feels, and in the same monologue finds resolve to do something she was scared of. Simple, quiet, let her make the expressions, look around at certain people, their feet, and have her copy the dance steps. She found a solution, without needing to tell the audience. We know she can be smart, instead of annoying us by laying out the whole spiel.
I don't hate the protagonist, but this comes from how much I know she had wasted potential to be great. An incredible character, which just couldn't hit the mark due to the way she tells her story.
The shonen superpowered nature does take me out of the interest quite a bit, but it isn't absolutely terrible. There's potential here, and it's the ONLY little element which just doesn't fit the story in the slightest.
I still love the mystery, and as the season ended, the stakes ramped up so much to the point I gotta watch what's next. It intrigued me, I adored every other character, and their dynamics. The questions and the reason for their being. I'm excited, and I haven't been like that for a while.
7.4/10. The next season might correct the first one's mistakes, and/or incorporate the loose elements, but that's to be seen.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 21, 2025
The most terrifying zombies ever portrayed in manga.
From the slow, terrifying ghoulish zombies of the past, to Danny Boyle's, 28 Days Later runners, and the mutated Resident Evil ones. It all comes to an avalanche, an overwhelming impossibility that is going against the superhuman-like capabilities of EACH zombie on display here. It's the kind of apocalypse that can't be surpassed with simple cardio, with smarts, or plot-armor. You need an inhuman amount of luck to pull whatever the hell the characters of this manga did. It kept scary until the very end, even when it was about to end, I still hated every zombie in
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this story.
It's a triple-A kind of movie manga that starts with the typical protagonist in a prison. Convicted because caught in a bad place at a bad time, specifically after someone killed his family, which I've seen like four times now. To be honest, the story isn't the entire focus, it's okay. The only depth there is, are the characters. People with a humanity and a reason to be where they were, but the themes kinda stop there. It's mostly an excuse to give us a reason on why they're special. They even talk about indoctrination on war children, but again, it's just to give the character a reason to do what they do, which is nice. We get a consistent cast of people with consistent writing on what otherwise is the focus. The Zombies, man.
Relentless, avalanches of car-fast zombies. It gets so bad with their presence, that one of them can clean an entire room of convicts. If there's something which could realistically end the world, it's that, which is such a thing for the writer's stories. They love creating something which can very much wipe us out, and making a certain special someone stop it by sheer luck, and finding the right people for the job.
Great set pieces, great scenes, bombastic suspense, and a neat ribbon of consistent writing to tie it all up. It's solid, it's great, but I know I won't remember much about the characters in the future. The staying power of the manga is the horror, the creatures. Their vile depictions of veins, eyes. There's a great presence to every design, and every creature. All horror scenes are in daylight, too. The author doesn't even need to play with shadows, or to hide the monster; the knowledge that it can see the characters, scares me far more than being hidden from it.
7/10. I could not stop reading. Surprisingly, it isn't as edgy as I thought it'd be.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 17, 2025
Yeah, it's a bafflingly terrible ending, but I don't think the rest was perfect either.
I'm glad the many manga I started following in my love-starved times are ending. It began with the normal guy, being coupled with somebody excessively opposite to them. The trope, of course. Awesome, wholesome, interesting, coming from the development of cosplay and what it entails. How our hobbies define us in front of the people around us. The crunch, balancing life with hobbies, and how jealousy comes from limelights you participated in, but can't prove you did without self-imposed selfishness. It started to become mature, true to life, and
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true to the things we wish to be recognized in.
The romance worked, as both had a human chemistry which doesn't feel natural in many other manga, or anime for that matter. Away from forced conventions, this one had two people growing together while achieving dreams for one another.
Gojou became more than just the normal guy, he had goals, just like Marin, our co-protagonist. Both became a unit due to their goals, but as they differed, and met new people, life shaped who they were, and what they should focus in. Things got murky, and differences arrive. As both misunderstand, not their positive feelings, but the negative ones, something which doesn't usually happen. Both go through hardships which they wish not share with each other, and damn, it was becoming GOOD. And right as it picked up, it couldn't muster the great story on the other side, but a consistent meandering.
The story takes a pause, it explores other characters, go other places. People we don't care for, people who don't advance the story. It wasn't a side-story, but part of the main one, and as the monthly schedule went on, of course the audience wants the story to advance. Why should we wait if it doesn't lead anywhere? I held onto hope, the story could only get better with the current ideas, and there was some good conflict. The cousin arc, the final cosplay arc, it set up incredible new ideas. The story felt like it opened itself to a new, boundless potential. It could finally be a competitive, cosplay manga, filled with new conflicts.
The story gets so much better after, since the manga does what all romance manga strive to achieve, with many open routes to keep taking. It couldn't end there, it can't. There's so much in there.
It did. It fast-forwarded to the future, pretending all which was opened didn't exist. Oh… right, okay. Awesome. The potential, lost, plot lines, lost, redeemable characters, lost. The lesson in understanding, and tolerance, hobbies, and uniqueness in people. Everything, into dust.
I won't try to hammer and say the author should've ended it better. They had health issues, and had to cancel it. I'm judging the manga based on the quality of it, not on whatever happened to the author. The beginning was good, it got pretty bad, then it got AMAZING, pretty bad again, AWESOME, then… terrible ending. As it is, can't give it more than a 6.
What was good, was incredible, what was bad, bored me to death. A bunch that I love, a bit which I hate. It all boils down to it being a good manga, with big waves which change its quality. At least the art was great, and the feelings conveyed in expression, and the reactions of the characters were awesome.
6/10. Solid. I recommend it, at least for those who appreciate the trip, instead of the destination. Binging this would be way better than my monthly times with it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 17, 2025
It's fun to see a show admit you have to be an egotistical bastard at times.
I'm tired of battle royale's, man. I've seen the tropes. How characters unite in the most unlikely ways. The empathetic main character, or the morality at play when put against people who could be good. Rarely done with nuance, and I'll admit, this one gets pretty close to being great, but I really couldn't take it seriously.
Battle Royale, but with soccer. You got monsters who can level the playfield, you've got the underdogs, the great prospects, and our protagonist who is very much a nobody in a sea
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of potential nobodies. He's gotta climb his way through, alright, sure, fine. I went along with it, and took what was essentially 24 episodes of what I can only describe as an author holding back.
Be it the slow progression, the character dialogue, and the constant weirdness in all of them. First, you can tell the big cast of characters merits diverse personalities. It allows them to stand out, to have their voice, but as a problem, they're too out there, exaggerated, stupid, incoherent. Their way of thinking makes sense for each character, but they get so repetitive.
They repeat their way of talking every time they're on-screen, just for those three seconds to remind us of their existence. It speaks poorly of the writer's ability to direct them without being edgy, or plain cringe. Stuff like “I have a demon in my heart”. These are highschoolers, close to 18-years-old. If they were middle schoolers, that's the limit, but please, STFU.
Second. This is an experiment from the author, and you can tell. I've read the author's biggest works before this one, and while still childishly dealing with adult themes, the writing stood out, the characters were given proper depth, since they couldn't cross the line of excess. There were always smaller casts, and thing is, the next season, or part of the story probably works way better since the story rids itself of unneeded characters. However, the most edgy ones stay, and weirder ones just got in, making my optimism utterly stupid.
I wish there was more to chew on, more of an interesting main character. Even if his dynamic is very fresh, being able to predict the playing field, and what not, his personality is as plain as you can imagine. Main character, underdog, nice guy, the least unusual, with a strange awakened state. I'm tired of it, and this simply perpetuates cliché's without being able to break away from them.
The animation works, the story works, and it moves, but I'll give it a chance to redeem itself. It's not bad, it's just on the verge of being bad. It can only get better if the author manages to truly use its cast, and lesson, to change the protagonist and the people around him. Other than that, it just doesn't stand out that much compared to the author's other works, which have a little more to say about its world than this.
6/10. If the author was trying to make a typical Shonen, you can feel the Victorian style skeleton whispering he should go back to his edgy roots.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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