What anime do you watch?

Butchered by the butcher

Title : Tokyo Ghoul:re
Genres: Action, Psychological, Supernatural, Mystery, Drama, Horror, Seinen

I have read several comments about this series, which apparently loosely follow the manga. That said, i will be reviewing solely from watching anime experience alone. I need to talk a bit about using amnesia as a plot device. One of the reason why it been using in anime is because it is kinda a cheap way to add drama, to reset specific character or simply use it as plot point relearning all stuff again.

If you watched this anime immediately after first 2 seasons, you will immediately lost on what happened to our protagonist. I have to spoil abit by saying that he got experimented & lose his memory. Pretty much this season focus on 3rd party which was an organization tasked to kills / eliminate evil ghouls (basically the bad guys are the one who cant control themselves and start eating human). As i already forgot most of the stuff from original 2 series, this season give us 0 introduction on what happening to our protagonist or the world.

As for simple group of characters for our protagonist, they kinda ok with a simple goal to do work in eliminate ghouls. There are seem some underground group that continue to wreck havoc in the real world, but it didnt explore much throughout the series. Plot wise, it is jumbled mess. Mainly because you wont know anyone from which organization. Unless you really going deep into reading all the manga or study every characters exist in the anime. That said, I already loose interest once the big fight resolved in middle of the season.

Seem like many viewer hate this series because it was such poor adaptation. For me, it just a below average series that was nothing interesting to talk about. Except probably the Opening of the anime, which was on my spotify playlist.

Alternative : I dunno what to suggest. This anime already went toward boring shounen with nothing to talk about. Random similar anime suggestion with almost similar setting : Seikon no Qwaser (NSFW), K, Kekkai Sensen & maybe Owari no Seraph.

Deca-dence

Only 3 eps so far but looking good (for a shounen) that on the surface looks like some AoT clone mixed with comedy. Plot is about a girl wanting to become a soldier living in a steampunk mobile fortress on a barren futuristic earth and fight back against the aliens that have taken over. Plot takes a weird twist but I don't mind.

Unlike Demon Slayer the comedy parts are not obnoxious and probably the best thing about this show is the characters are actually tolerable unlike so many other shounen which make them unwatchable.

Plot advancing too fast is a warning sign but I'm cautiously optimistic. Worth a watch.

Sometimes fate can be cruel & unfair.

Title : Dororo
Genres: Action, Adventure, Demons, Historical, Samurai, Shounen, Supernatural

This one I didnt research much on the background of series except maybe I know it was a modern remake of old anime (60s or 70s) which seem have very cute artstyle

As you can see my tagline above, this is very dark anime that focus around crazy premise where our protagonist (more like 2nd character IMO) was cursed from birth as he have been sacrificed to demon to keep the land prosper & peaceful. However, this made him born without missing a lot of his body parts but blessed ability to see person's aura (which used to detect evil people / demon). Thus begin the journey of him to defeat all major demons in the land in order for him to recover his body parts. As for another protagonist, she (i always thought she was little boy) stumbled upon the other character and their fate made them a journey partner.

For characters wise, there are nothing much to say aside from seeing how sometimes human can be ugly being & selfish in order to protect their own as cost of other people. There is another big plot lines about another righteous character which seem to think that our protagonist is the cause of all problems (demon outbreak, famine, epidemic). As for animation production itself, i think this is quite average despite some battle scene are quite crazy. Although i would say that the charm of the series is the interaction dynamic between our protagonist.

As much as I think this is a good series, I didnt enjoy it as much i thought because of depressing nature of the series. Thankfully our female protagonist managed to make the series more enjoyable.

Alternative : I think series like Demon Slayer, Noragami & Drifters should be more interesting in many aspect. But if you want to focus on young character going for a journey, then Tegami Bachi series is one of the old anime i can remember.

What a boring game.

Title : Kakegurui××
Genres: Drama, Game, Mystery, Psychological, School, Shounen

Survival game is one of the best way to create intriguing environment in anime. The game must be interesting enough so that viewer will anticipated on how the game end. Higher the stake, higher the payoff it will be.

Thus said, I have problem with this 2nd season. Aside from immediately starting the season with 0 character introduction, the series now feel very disconnect with the premise from 1st season. It felt like it move from one game to another game without proper build up. Of course we will know that our protagonist will win, hence why it felt no stake here. Thankfully anime production, it pretty consistent between both seasons and it quite nice to see the art, although there is nothing grand since this is not action anime.

Strongest point probably the characters in this anime. What i meant is that most of the characters are charming are their own, with their own goals & ideology. Although there are some hint of yuri (lesbian) here and there. Another things are probably their face expression whenever they feel turned on or despair from losing. Lastly, I guess there arent much going on with story / plot progression at least compared to 1st season.

It is ok anime. I didnt enjoy it as much as I thought i would be. I guess because of "sense of discovering" new stuff are gone. It felt repetitive with nothing new. But that doesnt it mean it is bad, just felt samey.

Alternative : I forgot most of the anime exact name (you can google them). Phi Brain Kami no Puzzle, Akagi anime, No game no life & Mirai Nikki.

Criminals went banana.

Title : Banana Fish
Genre : Action, Adventure, Drama, Shoujo

First of all, that shoujo tag is a lie. This was an adaptation from old manga back in 80s/90s in shoujo magazine (where several artist draw weekly series in magazine focused on girl story). Mainly because this is a very serious anime story.

I will be honest that I didnt enjoy this anime at all (despite high score on MAL). Mainly because it weird anime direction & a lot of plot convenience in the series. Since the series revolved around drugs (called banana fish) and gang wars, there was too many parts of series where our protagonist seem like acting freaking stupid and barely dodge dying (plot armour). Considering this was supposed to be realistic anime, it feel like no stake and only story about how our protagonist overpowering several gangs.

Another main reason for my dislike is probably heavy tones of BL (boys love, gay, guys showing affection to each other) which slightly lower the score to me. Granted that this anime source material is one of the earliest BL in manga industry, so i guess it was an experimental or something. As for the weird anime direction, my gosh there are to many parts in the series feel awkward, scene didnt flow properly or simply i dislike the way they portray many action / shooting scene.

The only strong points i guess is probably story (which solely from the source material). However there is no enjoyment for me while watching this. I dont feel connected / related to the characters, just a bunch of serious story about criminal / gang wars & drugs (and probably other darker stuff).

Alternative : For gangster related, probably Gangsta, is the closest. For anime that cover darker theme, there are Baccano, Black Lagoon & maybe my recent watch which was Bungou Stray Dogs.

Romeo & Juliet, weeb version.

Title : Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet
Boarding School Juliet
Genre : Genres: Action, Comedy, Romance, School, Shounen

It is not a strange now to see an old literature to be a source of inspiration for modern literature. Afterall most of the fictions are just story that are told with various settings, plot, world, characters etc.

There are many reasons why i loved this anime despite it being generic & cliche as heck. First of all, i can guarantee that this is typical romcom where comedy struck greatly with me. If you want to know what kind of comedy i loved, this is the one where there are tons of cute, tsukomi, absurd & slapstick. I pretty much enjoy throughout all episode, although the plot can be feel moving very fast & it couldve stretched to several more episodes for dramatic impact. But thankfully it was executed well.

When i say cliche, it is just absurd premise where there are 2 clashing ... clans (noble western vs traditional japanese) and our protagonist are from opposing clans that fall in love to each other (just like romeo & juliet). However they must keep their love a secret or it will have big repercussion since the girl is from noble family. The girls might be cookie cutter type, but everyone seem well written and you will able to learn everyone motivation (usually 1 girl focused in each episode). Anime production wise, this an excellent for a comedy anime with its good timing for punchline.

If a type of person who dislike romcom, i highly recommend you to watch this. Probably you will find one of the girls as your favourite (hence why certain anime fanatic can go crazy with the girl).

Alternative : Nisekoi is closest alternative with similar "faking love" story. As for general good romcom, you can watch Baka Test, Kaguya-sama, & maybe Ore no Monogatari. Oh btw, definitely go watch super old anime Romeo x Juliet for a more serious take of old literature (although not the same).

Boring & unattractive from the get go.

Title : Gleipnir
Genres: Action, Mystery, Supernatural, Ecchi, Seinen

Have you ever get turned off by weird character design? I do, and this anime is one of them. But i will get into more details on how a interesting premise managed to bored me the whole series.

I will start with good part first. I would say that studio animate this anime done with quite good quality. While it is not something grand, but good enough to make it look stand out compared other action anime. I didnt research the source material, but I know that the manga have slightly more different in term of character design. This is an anime that full of weird looking monster and if the goals of the anime is to make you uncomfortable with its creepiness, i guess they passed.

Now the boring part of anime is plot progression. It started with a mystery on how our protagonist suddenly have a power to transform to a weird looking mascot. Mystery part was kinda ok in the beginning where you finally able to understand on what going on with the series (it still weird even at the end). My issue is probably when anime became battle fest where it wasnt about fancy abilities or survival of fittest. You see, their goals pretty much just to collect some tokens (they need 100) that give them special reward in the end.

I dont recommend despite the genre tag is all have potential. Of course it is something new / interesting but I feel like execution is not there. Rarely for anime to get me bored mid way that made me focused more my gaming instead.

Alternative : Anime about protagonist suddenly get unknown power and thrown into chaotic world example like Ajin, Tokyo Ghoul, Darwin's Game, & Parasyte.

I shouldve dropped this from the get go.

Title : Shachou, Battle no Jikan Desu!
Shachibato! President, It's Time for Battle!
Genre : Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Sometimes, it feel like the writer of certain anime just run out of ideas to write interesting story. I rarely have seen a video that failed to give good first impression and bored me to death.

This anime is about a boy who suddenly forced to become a president of almost bankrupt company in a fantasy world. I totally forgot if this was a isekai or not, but one thing for sure is that the company need to go for adventure in order to save the company. Just like many other fantasy genre anime, they went for adventures, slaying monster, getting bounty & maybe do some sort of trading. But despite all possibility of interesting premise of the anime, the anime production failed so hard to make viewer care about this.

First problem are the character design, specifically our protagonist which are kinda designed to look like a girl. Even for anime with cute character design, this feel unacceptable since he have coarse male voice (unlike other girly trap). The anime feel like a slice of life anime BUT without anything interesting going in it. There is no stake, no drama, no challenges, just a flat of boredom. Although all the negative, the anime is kinda like my taste with its art and sound, it just the storyline is so bad.

No doubt, just skip this. While there nothing much that i dislike with this anime, it just feel boring, generic, nothing new, feel very flat throughout the whole season.

Alternative : Amagi Brilliant Park & Outbreak Company is good alternative for company based turn around. For fantasy genre, just go watch Log Horizon or maybe Reincarnated as Slime (since at least it is more methodical / strategy based to turn things around)

Ascend to greatness!

Title : Kami no Tou
Tower of God
Genres: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Drama, Fantasy

This anime is came from a non japanese (im pretty sure it was korean) that gain popularity over internet. That said, as usual I will review based on adaptation of the anime alone from first impression.

If the series have problem with story telling or plots, mostly are probably to be blamed from the source material. As this was kinda designed to be long running series, so this 1st season is just kinda act like a prologue for a bigger story. That said, i think the series have interesting concept and character design. However, despite that, there are many stuff are not explained especially the term of power level. Some characters seem too powerful while others seem way too weak. Even our MC arent that interesting although his power level are unknown.

This anime, have a premise of typical survival games (or battle royale) where there are a lot of participant (400 to be exact) where they must compete with each others (sometimes by killing) in order to pass for next challenges. My problem is that this anime doesnt bring much excitement while watching aside from "what the heck happened" or "holy crap i didnt expected that". There are simply too many questions left unanswered which probably will be explained in the next season. My other issue is probably the artstyle, it feel basic and not exactly well animated

Of course the series have potential because of the source material. But the adaptation didnt bring any excitement to me, maybe it is good enough for the fan the original source material. MC felt useless and uninteresting.

Alternative : No brainer it very close to Hunter x Hunter. Other similar style probably something like Made in Abyss, Danmachi (google full name), Goblin Slayer. For bonus i will throw you extra 3 examples like : Magi, Akame Ga Kill & SAO (yes, that SAO) as it feel very close with varied quality.

Can love be scientifically proven?

Title : Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita.
Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It
Genre : Genres: Comedy, Romance

This would be a niche romcom as this is what i categorized as "working adult" anime. Meaning they are usually have a setting that resolve in working environment or something mundane to talk about their working life. As a adult also, that mean it is more toward stuff like drinking party, complaint about your boss and etc.

This anime have a simple premise of basically a female scientist confess her love to his colleague. This suddenly became awkward as they both are scientist geek who tend to focus on data and research. Thus the beginning of the story of trying to do various type of experiment to gauge their emotion & feeling. As the character goes, i think it is quite plain with some sort more toward realistically type. Artstyle also quite average as there no action scene nor dramatic scene required. That said though, Im kinda appreciate they kinda try to cramp several scientific notes in the anime.

As for why I didnt like much this series, it is the comedy which didnt fall into my funny bone range either the joke itself or the execution of the jokes. This made it feel flat & there are alot of cringey moment in the story. I think another part im kinda hate is because they are supposed to be super clever scientist and yet there are too many stupid moments. More worst is they sometimes to justify it with tons of "techno-babble" with stuff like love parameter or how to create the best mood for romantic encounter.

It was promising to me for first episode, then it went down the drain to average territory after that. Aside from comedy which didnt hook me much, i guess i should go watch scientific anime only for educational stuff rather than watching romcom version of it.

Alternative : More funny take of similar premise i guess Wotakoi or Nozaki-kun. Another similar style would be Kaguya sama Love is War. Lastly, if you can laugh at this type of comedy, i guess Grand Blue is perfect for you.

i really have a weird respect for iwan

i already went through a site that had a good filter for searching for animes through years and i am already struggling to find something to watch that even interests me, i have no idea how you can give so many of these animes even a chance

@Jaedong
Lately i have been watching anime on 2nd monitor, there is pro / con on this method.
Basically, if the anime is getting too boring, i focusing on listening and glancing them once a while.
Enough to get the general story / plotline.

Quality of anime is pretty notice-able, because the good anime will made me glance at them more.
The best one definitely will make quit the playing game all together and focus on watching them.
Boku no Hero Academia season 4 is probably one of the said example.

Shoujo anime that is sports anime in disguise.

Title : Chihayafuru 3
Genres: Game, Slice of Life, Sports, Drama, School, Josei

If you never watch / heard this series before, it is basically a traditional japanese game where player must grab a card that being called out. Usually it is a line of poems, so this is very competitive sports about memorization & speed (seriously go watch pro master match).

I will be lying to say if the game will be good standalone (meaning if you straight watch the 3rd season). Because this is probably the best season for the series where all the initial setup in first 2 seasons finally paid off (although the story is ongoing). There are many moments in the season that pretty much shown different type of genre of this anime (romance, sports, slice of life) which are very well made and I think the studio done a great job to keep the consistency of the quality.

For this season around, the story pretty much straight forward, but we will able to see a big battles between masters (both male master & female queen) that show how many sacrifice each players made to reach at that point. Being a shoujo anime, it is also have the staple love-triangle, as well as subject matter between love of Karuta, friendship & romance. Very hard to explain without going spoiler territory, lets just say that this season is very good all around.

Do i recommend you to watch whole 3 seasons of this anime? Yes definitely. There are too many emotional roller coasters in the anime that quite hard to get from just watching sports anime alone (unless you went with over the top melodramatic anime).

Alternative : Another similar anime is 3-gatsu no Lion series which more toward psychological drama (shogi, inner self thinking). IF you dont mind watching an old anime, then Hikaru no Go (Go chess), Shion no Ou (shogi) & my super duper favorite girls sports anime Saki series (over the top Mahjong).

Send My Regards to Kenshiro

Ever since his mother went out with a Yakuza and abandoned him, the MC swore to take revenge and assassinate that guy. Unfortunately for the mc, the pressure point technique he desperately learned from Kenshiro from the manga "Fist of the North Star" deemed absolutely pointless (get it?) in martial arts (shocking) and in turn he became a professional masseur.

Gag Manga. Hilarious.

Another terrible isekai anime again, are you kidding me?

Title : Hachi-nan tte, Sore wa Nai deshou!
The 8th son? Are you kidding me?
Genres: Action, Fantasy

At this point, isekai light novel have flooded the japanese market to a point that made people wonder if they understand the concept of it in the first place. Main reason why it is popular is because we as normal human being always dream to be powerful like a fantasy character. Another important of isekai is ability to retain knowledge from previous life (real life) that can carry forward to next world.

I be honest that I went blindly with this anime, I mean how bad isekai can be as long as it is entertaining right? Nope, this anime have so many issues from half-assed anime production quality, terrible adaptation, problem with pacing, boring to watch as well carbon copy from many other existing isekai anime before. Why must a character who transferred from previous world suddenly become the most powerful character in the anime? I can accept if it was a game character since they probably already attained the experience, but when you started a life as a child?

The anime was kinda interesting in beginning, where our MC was reincarnated (without proper explanation) to a noble family where he have 8 siblings (hence the title). Interested with fantasy magic, he took interested to learn about it from a random master he met. The story then proceed forward with couple of time jump where our MC finally become a full pledge mage / adventurer, and yet a part of noble family. This the time where he do the typical stuff like gathering party, defeating monsters, with only slightly interesting stuff are learning to be a noble & getting married.

Apparently this anime botched the pacing so much from its source material that it left a lot of important plots and key details to a point there is nothing worth to watch aside from it's SUPER DUPER AWESOME opening song.

Alternative : Ugh, let me get a palette cleansing. Im pretty sure i suggested a lot isekai anime before.

Walking to school, but wacky version.

Title : Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro
Chio's School Road
Genres: Comedy, Seinen

Ever your mind wander around when you waking to school? You know, something like thinking about jumping over a wall, climbing a roof while going to school? How about adding several friends with wacky ideas for a bit more spice?

This anime is fun and wacky anime that revolved around visual gag. I will be honest that the comedy in this anime is hit & miss to me (as usual, different people have different preference of comedy). But I think the best parts about the anime are definitely the animation of this. A lot of scenes seem very elaborated for just a over the top comedy. Added with all weird faces & punchlines, they manage to make even a dull moment become much ridiculous. However, again this is not exactly for everyone.

I think the issue with this anime is over emphasize on self-narration to make jokes. You will hear a lot inner monologue or something very long descriptive talk to explain event happen on the screen. As usual, comedy anime doesnt have plot so this one tackle each episodes with a theme / subject matter, and make fun of it. Too bad there isnt much stuff what i would consider cute & innocent type of jokes. The anime managed to make me chuckles a lot of times though.

I think I can recommend this although i dont think it is the best comedy. Too many stuff are just hit & miss, while most of the stuff feel cringey, although i really appreciate the animation quality.

Alternative : Asobi Asobase & Nichijou is the first two better one i remember while watching this. If you want another similar school girl comedy anime premise, then Joshikousei no Mudazukai & Azumanga Daioh (one of my evergreen favourite comedy anime)