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Let me tell you about the anime I finished during the previous month and inspire you to watch or skip some on my list. This month was all about romance!
I didn't have any theme or anything, it just so happened that most of this month's show were all about romance. Let's take a look at what I'm talking about:
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Marmelade Boy Movie
To copy paste my reaction on Anilist:
Thank God for this pilot "episode" because if I had to watch 76 episodes of this stupid plot I would kms. You're telling me a husband and a wife that have a good relationship and a nice family with their son (that is no trouble at all) fall in love with another set of parents that are in the exact same situation. Just like that, randomly one day. Without being unhappy or anything. And what's more they all decide to live together happily as one big family. And the son is completely okay with that??? What is this?? Did they try to make it harder for the main couple to date??? Dating your step-sister is bad enough, why complicate it???
A prequel to a TV show of the same name is only 30 minutes long, but in those 30 minutes they managed to woo me, confuse me, disgust me, surprise me, and make me wheeze, dying from how hard I was laughing.
It could be such a wonderful romance, it could have a potential to be an interesting TV series. Instead, it was... just a mess. From the premise to the execution, through some really bad writing, and off-looking characters... it just didn't work at all.
If you don't mind it though, then it might be a really nice love story. So idk, I am not stopping you but I am definitely not encouraging you. If you want a better romance, take a look at my Dumbasses in love anime list.
4/10.
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Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer)
The best description of this anime can be put into one simple sentence: "Love triangles are shit, but love isn't."
Love triangle? More like love octagon...
From the first episode, just after the first opening finished and up until the very end, the love between our five main characters was painful, soft and gentle. Watching high schoolers figuring out their feelings has been a very popular trope for ages. It mostly works, earning animes at least 70% popularity, it works in books (from classics to modern literature), it works in regular movies...
What makes this love story different? Well, for starters, most of the characters hide something about them that is not apparent but shapes them in their friendship group in some way. We have an alien, a nudist, a secret agent (I'm talking Man in Black type of secret agent) and adorable sidekick whose species cannot be specified.
Ano Natsu... starts out as a Slice of Life anime about a group of friends deciding to create a movie together, then it takes a drastic turn to Coming of Age Rom-Drama... and in the end, it's more of a Supernatural/Sci-Fi type of thing.
Even though the genres change, it's mostly a smooth bridge that you will not notice, and just keep enjoying the story as they bring it to you. It was honestly more entertaining that I thought it would be.
In the end, we do have at least some happy endings - enough to make you happy, and enough to make you want to read the Light Novels. Oh and by the way. It is one of the best LN adaptations I've encountered - where everything felt in place, nothing seemed to rushed and the story didn't disappoint me once.
What more do you want to hear? Go watch it.
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The bonus OVA is just a look in the past, when they were filming. Scenes intertwine with the present, where they get together, talk about their future and their past... and we got a little sneak peak of something rather important that's to come.
7/10.
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Paris no Isabelle
This was the most random watch on my list this month. I had no idea what I was getting into, I just knew I had to watch it. It's an anime from 1979 and unusually only 13 episodes long. It's another anime set in France (which I notices is more than usual for that time, or for Japanese well of ideas for historical shows).
Set in 1870, during franco-prussian war it follows a story of a young noblewoman Isabelle and it made me relive the trauma from my bachelor's thesis each episode. It's a story about love, tragedy, strong will and women empowerment... and some bad choices and awful plot twists.
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[I knew too... that this will be shitty.]
Here are the notes I took while watching:
- This anime wants to be too much ends up a bit confusing.
A lot has been happening each episode. And I told you how I feel about that while watching Bucchigiri. Too much has been happening all the time, giving me very little time to actually understand all the relationships, twists and turns Paris no Isabelle brought to the table.
- It has romance, action, a bit of war.... you do get to see a boobie.
To be honest, I was entertained by the love triangle and I cheered on the relationships that were happy. We all know how rare being happy was back there. And when Genevieve decided to be happy & poor, rather than rich and unhappy, I wished her happiness.
You do not need money to be happy. You need lots of love.
But war was the main plotline, and the men had to either fight, or face different issues, because they had no other choice. That means Jules, Andrea and Victor all. It was sad to follow their stories, but it didn't reach the point they probably wanted us to hit.
- Overall it just didn't do it for me, but I would not say it was bad.
- Isabelle changes too much, from a lady she is a "murderer".
Isabelle went through the most drastic change. And I don't mean that in a good "character development" way. I mean it in a "what must happen to make a person react this way" scary way.
And not only Isabelle. But Genevieve too. At one point they both grabbed a gun, ready to take someone else's life.
- I guess there is this "idea" of woman empowerment because she and her sister do a lot of dangerous things, or follow their heart even when it will hurt them... but its meh.
Isabelle is only 15 - and she did climb up a hot air balloon to patch a hole that was in it... so maybe she should not surprise me as much. It's obvious she isn't thinking when she is backed to a corner.
But Genevieve?? She was so scared of loosing her husband... And his reaction was silly as well. Do you really forgive something like this so easily?
- The love triangle (another octagon) is kinda stupid, plus the brother Andreas is pretty stupid as well.
So, to paint you a picture. This is Jules: 👨🎨. This is Genevieve: 👧. This is Victor: 💂. This is Isabelle: 💇. This is Andrea: 🦸♂️. This is Irma: 🦸♀️. And we also have Jean: 🤡. (Get the octagon now?) Now, this "➡️" shows romantic attraction.
Paris no Isabelle gives us this relationship chart:
Jules👨🎨 ↔️ Genevieve 👧
Victor 💂 ➡️ Genevieve 👧
Isabelle💇 ➡️ Victor💂
Jean 🤡 ➡️ Isabelle💇
And since Isabelle💇 loves Victor💂, she is angry with Genevieve 👧 for "ignoring Victor's feelings", while Isabelle💇 is always pursues by Jean 🤡, whom she hates for being a crybaby, and constantly reminds him that Jean 🤡 is not of status, thus they can't marry.
The arguments that come out of this are stupid and always too dramatic. Unnecessary dramatic.
Now you might ask, what about Andrea🦸♂️ and Irma🦸♀️? Well, that's for my second point: Andrea being stupid.
He was supposed to die on the battlefield, but the "gypsies" saved him. He fell for a woman that was taking care of him and together they became Zorro (Pomstiteľ, bitch) and decide to go against everyone to become the ultimate winner of the franco-prussian war.
His re-appearance and new plot line seemed kind of off. It sounded interesting and I cheered on his new found love... but something just didn't sit right with me about it.
Which was a constant problem of this show.
- The villain's skin is green, the other villain is a baldo that looks like a sorcerer.
- This whole story and plot has been done many times, and its been done better before as well
In other words, it is very "fairytale generic".
- The saddest part has to be the death of their mother when their father decides to burn in the fire with her body.
Again, something that happens a lot in this show. The deaths are... incredibly sad. Sacrificing themselves, accepting their fate, wanting to stay with their beloved even after the very end of things. There is no way to explain how those things made me feel... Let's just say, it saved the anime.
I do not recommend this anime to anyone. But I don't think it's an awful watch.
5/10.
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Caramel Honey
This 30 minutes long OVA follows a story of two boys - Ayato, who is cursed with eyes that make everyone instantly fall in love with him, and a delinquent Horiguchi who is immune to the curse, yet falls for Ayato.
From what I seen, it is frame to frame just the simplest animation of manga panels, it looks like a TikTok video and you are better off reading the manga.
Still, a very cute and adorable love story, with too many plot holes that feels like a brain fart rather than fully thought out love story. Pity, but still watchable.
P.S. it's fully available on Dailymotion.
6/10.
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Baoh Raihousha (Baoh the Visitor)
One episode adaptation of a manga with the same name, that deserves a full adaptation, rather than this ad. It follows two runaways, 9 year old psychic Sumire and 17 year old Ikurou who is basically immortal and changes into a huge beast.
And that is... practically everything we get, unfortunately.
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The manga is only 17 chapters long too... but I hope it will give me some more content because from what I've seen it slapped.
7/10.
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Aozora Shoujotai (801 T.T.S. Airbats)
OVA consisting of 7 episodes, that again didn't give us much... but enough to stay interesting. It's your usual 90s anime, with good boob animation, unlikeable male protagonist and two girl that create rival camps for those who are watching.
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[Can you guess what team I am on?]
Fanservice back in the day was not too different from the fanservice we have now.
When MC said that "one of the girls will be my gf and the other my lover" I almost lost it... but they kinda kept that up for the rest of the show, and there was no more fighting for MC's affection... so I guess... good for them and the MC won again??
Anyway. A decent watch.
7/10.
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Shichinin no Nana (Nana: Seven of Seven)
I don't know how I got to this anime. (I lied, it was the only dubbed anime that fit Archeologist Challenge on AWC that I could find. But that sounds uncool.) I don't know how I got to this anime, but it's actually very fun!
When I started watching it, I was positive one episode was enough, because it explained everything and gave us a pretty good image of what the anime was and what it was going to be. And I was right. The anime did not get better in the next 24 episodes, but it grew on me. Wondwrfully.
I realized that Seven of Seven is a beautiful coming of age story about how a young girl can suffer during growing up, mainly when she is faced with difficult feelings, situation and is getting to know herself.
It's a story about mistakes, fun moments, understanding yourself and... It's Japanese Inside Out.
Nana - a young girl with a simple crush and bad academic results - is split into 7, with each Nana representing a certain "emotion" of hers. There is Sad, Sensitive, Smart, Hot-Tempered, Happy and Slow Nana.
Each of them are fighting for Yuuichi's attention, while supporting Nana to work hard and get into Yuuichi's dream high school, so they could be always together.
Out of all the character, I found Hitomi the most important. She recognized immediately that Nana has been split into different Nanas and she knew all of them. Such a perfect image of a best friend!
And then 8th Nana, who appeared towards the end of the story. She represented jealousy, or Nana's evil side.
It was... sad and even though it was silly, it was a deeper look into how emotions can change and shape you, and how hard it is to control yourself and understand that your actions will have consequences.
This anime is a comedy, romance, slapstick, and a bit of Mahou Shoujo thing. It's not boring, and the quality is surprisingly amazing for an anime from 2002. Visually appealing, perfect animation, good voice acting and deep message that "time will bring us all happiness".
8/10.
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Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai
(SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist)
This anime was recommended to me by my ex-boyfriend from High School. He was so proud of himself when he showed this to me as a great comedy.
Back then I gave it a try, but figured it won't be for me. Well, I was not wrong. But I put it in dubbing and decided to give it a try, and see what it's about and if my opinions changed during the years that passed.
It's essentially a TV show about safely and healthily exploring your sexuality. In a world where naughty things are banned, an organization with a goal to change things steps up.
It's silly kind of stupid, the main character makes a 180 turn, the anti-hero girl Anna is supposed to be a good girl, since she is a daughter of the one who banned sex... but she is the dirtiest of them all... The characters are just weird and silly.
This anime really gives me a "what the hell am I even watching" vibe.
But again, it's not bad! It's just... weird, sexual and filled with bad jokes. If you think you'd like it, go for it. It's not exactly a show one would regret they saw.
7/10.
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Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku (Akebi’s Sailor Uniform)
The proportions are just a bit off and the animation is kinda weird. Plus, the whole show screams Foot fetish.
But from what I found out, the anime is very true to how the manga looks like, so I am looking at it with open mind... and it's not bad! It's unique!
Anyway, as for the story, it's your usual Slice of Life, Cute girls doing cute things anime about a bunch of high school girls. Akebi is a cheerful and determined girl that has a deep love for Sailor school uniforms, and she is the only one wearing them in her entire school.
I admit, I expected her friends to wear it as well at one point in the anime.
As an anime, it's perfect. Music, animation, art style, cuteness... every key component is simply out of this world. It looks great and the voice acting is good as well.
But the entertainment value... lacks. It's one of the most boring slice of life anime I've ever seen. Not boring enough to take points off from it, but boring enough that I could not focus most of the times.
I especially enjoyed episode 6 (I noticed those are usually golden in any anime), so I might rewatch just that to boost my opinion about Akebi-chan' no Sailor Fuku.
Overall, it wasn't bad, but I expected some more.
7/10.
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Kinniku Banzuke: Kongou-kun no Daibouken!
Three episodes about two teams that fight against each other, Squid Game type of thing. Entertaining, but too short to like it.
On the other hand, I am glad it's not longer, because it might not work well at all as a "proper" show.
It wasn't bad, it has potential. But you cannot do much in 3 episodes and when you are working with a plot that sounds this good, it is very obvious that the show won't be good.
It's a pity.
5/10.
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I am cutting July short, because I have a family vacation planned. I cannot wait. Drinking with my aunts, being treated both like an adult and a child (meaning I am totally an adult but they will all pay for me)...!! I am excited!
But these family vacations have a tendency to go south. So hopefully it will work out and those 5 days won't be too much... ugh.
Wish me luck and enoy the rest of your July!
But these family vacations have a tendency to go south. So hopefully it will work out and those 5 days won't be too much... ugh.
Wish me luck and enoy the rest of your July!
