Jeoffrey

Mr. Holmes, they are the most Holmesian of all Holmeses! If I had a shot of Captain Morgan’s Rum for every Holmes-san, I would be really fucking hammered every Monday... Otherwise, this is kind of an average whodunit crime drama with some slightly naive incidents, where Mr. Kiyotaka, the antique dealer (known as Sherlock Holmes), in addition to simply estimating the price of certain items, searches for the ubiquitous forgeries he knows are around, and is fighting a terrifying counterfeiting genius. He gets to solve more than one serious crime in the process. At times it is quite interesting, at others it seems to be quite amusing, because of the cases Holmes is trying to solve... Besides, there is a bit of a romantic subplot, and surprisingly, that is more interesting than trying to uncover forgeries, using deduction, and solve crimes all the time. I am almost happy I am not Mr. Holmes from Kyoto because then I would have perhaps found some counterfeit items in the fridge or even inside the toilet, and my life would never know peace and quiet, and I could never be truly happy. This way I can just smile, tell myself it probably was not as crappy as I had expected, although at the same time it was not as interesting, intense, or romantic as it could have been. So, with that being said, I am just going to walk away now and leave it to other antiquarians to judge whether it was a great or terrible imitation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's writings... 5/10.

“MEOW, well at least I saw something very original."- says Sensei. "MEOW, although in a way it has a certain charm too." - says Sensei. "MEOW, the narrative is also quite strange." - says Sensei. "MEOW, a kind of anti-war propaganda." - says Sensei. "MEOW, MEOW, above all, everyone should forgive, leave anger behind, and above all stop eating meat!" - recommends Sensei. "MEOW, even the animated 3D model of the mecha was interesting." - says Sensei. "WOOF, I quite liked it all." - says Generalissimo. "MEOW, except for the dragon, that was weird" - says Sensei ------- 6 MEOWS out of 10 WOOFS.

The next time I refer to someone as the most incompetent loser, tragic, and total beta male protagonist ever, please remind me of the existence of this anime series and that there is this tragic parody of anything remotely male called Aki. This is not a beta male, this is an omega male! Aki is a boy who has perhaps not an ounce of testosterone in him, so the other female characters in this show do whatever they want with him, abusing him with all sorts of obscene bullshit. In the end, the embarrassment I initially felt for the main male protagonist in time turned into despair, and the only embarrassment I feel now is that he is the same sex and species as yours truly. In the beginning, I even found myself stupidly entertained, mainly because I thought that if the creators of this anime series had any balls, it could have been high-end hentai, even if it would be for me a completely inappropriate shota (very young boy) hentai show. The ecchi scenes are so well devised that a person who has actually watched any hentai could easily see exactly where this show should be heading. However, this show never really goes anywhere, because this is just an ecchi anime series, and Aki is a character who specializes in being tragic... He could have an entire harem around him, girls literally offering themselves up in every conceivable way, and still, nothing would ever happen, Aki would just allow himself to be abused, and once again for the umpteenth time become the biggest fuckwit I have ever had the misfortune to watch. My patience was slowly running out, however, the moment his own sister appeared and the main male protagonist became an even sadder and more tragic figure, the proverbial cup ran over. So I quit this show less than halfway through the eleventh episode (I know I did get quite a way through it), and I am probably never going to know if cross-dressing Aki finds his "peanut balls" and becomes at least man enough to brush off his sister with all this ladies’ dresses to hell so that he can be a real fuckwit to other much older and more well-developed women without them needing to make him model the women's clothes they make for him, and while he is at it, he can even dream that one day when he finally grows some hair, he might even also grow a pair and even dare to give a little kiss to one of them... This was the stupidest ecchi anime series I have seen in years... 1/10.

This is much more than just an ordinary anime series - this is art! Granted, I always got like a C in art class, however, if this is not Expressionism being used in anime, they never taught me anything of any worth. The expressions of the female protagonists are as dramatic and powerful as Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream. Sure, some will find it ugly, perhaps they will think the animation is rubbish and everything is unnecessarily dramatic, extremely shocking, and insane, etc. However, that is the purpose of such works! That is just how it is supposed to be! The whole of this anime series is something completely out there and original, and it is often quite intense and really absurd. As for the jokes, the humor is sometimes even more insane and extreme than the jokes in Gintama, for example, and nothing is sacred in Gintama... In addition to this, the ending of each episode is perfect, with one hell of a kick-ass song and, in the last episode, there is the addition of another small in-joke for the attentive viewer, which is a reference to the preceding narrative. Does it work? I guess it depends on who is watching it. Some people are going to be disturbed by it's visuals and give up on watching it, other people are going to be disgusted by the teacher tasting that mysterious liquid under the door in the very first episode and give up on watching it, and then there will be people like me who will be thoroughly entertained, who will gush over the originality, rawness, and the absurdity of it all... So if you want another classic slice of life anime series about cute girls doing cute things in their own club, then this show is definitely not for you. However, if you are looking for something hardcore, unexpected and brutal - welcome to the Freakshow. 8.2/10.

To begin with, this anime series is an adaptation of a Japanese light novel series that, like the anime series, does not start until two years after the main male protagonist appears in another world. It was probably an attempt at a marketing ploy (after all, Star Wars also starts with Episode IV) to draw attention to itself, and maybe the author and creator just did not want to start in the usual way, with perhaps the most boring passage of the whole narrative (because let us be honest, the beginnings and making up a supposedly original way for someone to get from the present to another world is pretty tired, and mostly involves the main male protagonist just kicking the bucket or it must be "magic" anyway). Likewise, it probably would not be anywhere as much fun to follow the beginnings of our perfectly ordinary main male protagonist, when all he can do is look up solutions to his problems on his solar-powered smartphone. I mean, there is going to be plenty of that in future episodes... So in the light novel series, they solved that particular problem by keeping that for the second novel and skipping it altogether in the anime series. For the attentive viewer, all you need is everything to be shown quickly in the opening plus a few flashbacks at the appropriate time... Is that a good thing? I do not know, however, I certainly did not mind it! So now we can go straight to the action and it is just another sub-par isekai, which I would subtitle "Cockblocked in another world with my SOLAR-powered Smartphone". I have highlighted the word solar on purpose because they repeat that word so often in this show to explain how a smartphone works for so long without worrying about charging it (apparently we simply need to leave it in the sun for an hour or so and then the smartphone is ready to use again - although do not let the reviewer DaweForeman know - he is ignorant of this...). ​​The smartphone plays a really important role in this show, the main male protagonist himself admits that his actually just a big cheater and self-critically admits that without searching for wisdom on his smartphone he would be just an ordinary nobody (I commend him for this self-criticism, the main male protagonist is OP, even though he is not actually OP). This is diametrically opposed to another with my smartphone-based anime series (my attempt at a modified title is a parody of that show’s title). In that other show, Touya is OP even without a smartphone, and he has superpowers which are embarrassingly straight from God himself, and the smartphone is only there just as a cool accessory to attract the youngsters - which is obviously garbage and the height of lameness. Here, the smartphone is a crutch, albeit a stupid one, even though it is still better than, say, "divine magic". Now, let us take a look at the girls. I hear Yuuto is useless at picking up women?!? I do not think so. Yuuto is in love with his childhood friend, the narrative hints at this more than once, and he even admits that because he is in love with his friend he does not want to be in a relationship with someone else. Is that weird? For someone who has been in love and knows how a person in love is usually oblivious to other partners (or even just oblivious to anyone who is not their dream partner) very much, this, on the other hand, is quite real. This is a pretty sweet way to (at least partially) refuse or ignore all the sexual advances from other people in a graceful way, and not in that typical way like the aforementioned Touya, who does nothing but suffer nose-bleeds. I think Touya is quite a useless main male protagonist when it comes to women! Yuuto is just loyal, monogamous, and perhaps boring... It is also worth noting that the "harem" in this show is designed to be more like a family, they call each other brother, sister, and father, and, in all honesty, if there was anything which smacked of incest even if the characters were not blood relatives - sorry, however, I really do not want to watch that... Personally speaking, I thought that there was some other nonsense and for example, at the moment when the battle was won by a camel that came out of nowhere, I thought about lowering the rating. However, I am not going to do that. I have seen the horror show In Another World with My Smartphone, mentioned several times before, and this is at least a level above that. 3/10.

To enjoy any sports anime series, I usually expect it to have some sort of suspense. In other words, I want the individual matches, fights, races, etc. to have the right amount of tension so that it keeps me glued to the screen, and so I can look forward to the main protagonists kicking everyone's ass or even losing so that they can become even stronger next time. I also demand intense training montages, discovering new strategies, and some interesting storylines which develop away from the pitch, race track, stadium, etc. I grew up on the Rocky movie franchise, so what else would you possibly expect from me? So that is why I am quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this relaxing and enjoyable sporting affair, which is packed with friendship, smiling, sunshine, sand, and girls in swimsuits. This is not a typical sports anime, this is more of a "cute girls do volleyball" kind of thing. There is a search for lost confidence, the power of friendship and partnership, and we find out that volleyball is no place for aces... It is heart-warming, pleasant, and a little bit educational. Plus, the last episode could have easily been awarded five stars. There is a brilliantly orchestrated (and even quite dramatic) showdown, an important match, as well as the post-match excitement, including a collective reconciliation and a promise for the future - in other words, this ending will leave you feeling satisfied and positive (with a slight wink at a possible second season, or at least an OVA, because there is definitely one more big game waiting for the girls). Furthermore, at one point the soundtrack is absolutely great, so one of the final scenes featuring Kanata and Haruka is the best of the whole anime series for me. Oh, and a few words about the fan service - beach volleyball is played in swimsuits (just for the people who don’t know that) - so sometimes the camera does find itself wandering and ending up with shots of those interesting and beautiful places on the female body, which we gentlemen are naturally able to locate ourselves. However, these shots are in no way overused, cheesy, raunchy, or in any way objectionable. So, as an ordinary healthy man, I would only comment by saying: "Was there any fan service? Well, the only thing I saw was just some girls in swimsuits!". This was a charming, enjoyable and surprising show - 7.2/10.

I think producers should feel free to borrow ideas from a whole plethora of anime series like Sword Art Online, .hack//SIGN, or Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - if they are able to mix it up in an original way or at least create something of the same quality... Unfortunately, this anime series is just an unimpressive damp squib, which is deeply unsatisfying. The first episode could still have been great, it has some interesting twists and with the right treatment, it could have been a mysterious fantasy show dealing with the problems of dear Asahi. We could have had a mysterious atmosphere full of surprises, a decent narrative - in other words, something more memorable... However, we instead get some very fragile relationships, more entangled than the entirety of Beverly Hills 90210, and the main protagonists are involved in a drama worthy of elementary school. Again - with the right execution, this could have been a deeply emotional show, something to shake us up or maybe make us cry - in other words, a quality romantic anime series. However, unfortunately, the relationships would have needed to be better written not just as though the main protagonists had the emotional maturity of ten-year-olds. So what about the conclusion? If you are expecting to see some stuff sorted out, then tough luck! There is just another clichéd ending about the power of friendship and how they all get through everything together - is that it? Instead of meaningful conclusions, we just get more questions, and about the only things that are somehow wrapped up are the supposedly romantic dramas. Well, that is just not enough! Now, because of all the above, I know for a fact that I am not going to even remember this anime series after one week. 4/10.

A tsundere boy has a girlfriend. The girlfriend has a tsundere father. The tsundere boy has a tsundere sister who has an ambiguous relationship with her brother's classmate. He goes to a school where there is an ordinary teacher who is a bit of a tsundere, and his student has a passionate crush on him... In addition, they all meet and like each other, however, because they are all tsundere, they say stuff that they probably do not really mean and that is kind of it... The people who are not tsundere understand almost everything their tsundere counterparts are trying to tell them, they are patient and incredibly nice because they know that when your sweetheart says "you fucking pig-eared ugly monster" to you, it means something like "you are so amazing my darling love"... Well, there is just "Tsundere! Tsundere everywhere...". So the next time someone at work tells me to go to ... say, for example, to go to hell, am I going to have to think about if they are actually professing undying love for me? Unfortunately, that does not seem to be how it works... Anyway, it would not be that bad, perhaps it is even quite cute in some romantic way, however, because the anime series is so short it does not have time to say or show that much, and the intensity of the interesting scenes is just very weak in the end. Plus, I am probably not really that into tsundere (with exceptions like Palmtop Taiga). 4.4/10.

This is a charming show that is pleasant humorous, is a bit over-the-top, has various extravagances, and delivers exactly what I was hoping for. This show is more restrained and chilled out than that other show about school madness released at the same time (Asobi Asobase), yet I still found it endearing, occasionally deranged, often amusing, and is quite original... Plus it has lots of interesting characters, and I am only slightly put out that Chio and Andou did not get more screen time because I enjoyed their supposedly romantic subplot very much. This anime series is just perfect for the summer because it is just (like Grand Blue) very refreshing in its own way. 8/10.

What can I possibly say about this installment, which I have rechristened "Overlord Alternative: Boobies’ Talks"? Well, it is definitely an experience, or rather should I say it is full of experiences... Where else could you see a sequence lasting several minutes where two girls are talking to each other although the camera is simply alternating between the two of them wholly focused on their boobies? All of a sudden you have got some small boobies talking to some big boobies, and I am just thinking how much did ecchi anime series evolved in here. Add to that the sometimes realistic erotic scenes and moments you cannot be sure if you are watching hentai (Yeah, I can feel Diablo inside me...) and I just have to admit that this is "something new" after all. Sure, it is bad, however, it is so bad that it is good, it is quite entertaining and even interesting. Hell, even the dreaded Krebskulm must have massive boobies... Add to that all the irony of the antisocial guy who is not a fan of people but is helping others, the demon lord protecting people from demons, and the total beta male who cannot communicate pretending to be confident and alpha, and I could not help but chuckle again, and end this journey with all its massive shortcomings at a solid 6/10 Why? Simply because, for the first time in a long time, I genuinely had a really fun time watching something like this (isekai + ecchi)...