Strike the Blood

This manga is an adaptation of a light novel series that has also received an anime adaptation. Strike the Blood itself is a fantastic story full of great action and characters alongside some pretty good worldbuilding. However, I highly recommend experiencing it through the light novel or anime instead of through this manga.

This manga adapts volumes 1-3 and 6 of the 22 light novel series. The light novel on the other hand has been fully translated into English other than the Append side story volumes. The manga also only corresponds to episodes 1-12 and 20-22 of season 1 of the anime. The anime actually adapts the entire series, though it definitely has to rush towards the end to get through everything. My point is that this manga only adapts a small part of the story, while the story in other mediums is much more complete. Thus, as you’ll have to go to other mediums to get the full story eventually, there’s very little reason to start with the manga.

If the manga was a great adaptation then it could be worth recommending. But it’s simply not. It’s not a bad adaptation, but it’s not a particularly good one either. It conveys the main story decently enough, but it’s missing a lot of the small details even when compared to the anime, let alone the LN. The art also isn’t terrible, but it’s just really plain. The designs from the original light novel are great so it can still look good, but not as good as the LN illustrations or the anime. Thus, on top of being the shortest version, the manga version is also the weakest. So there’s really no good reason to bother with it.

An adaptation of a great story that’s pretty much pointless.

7/10

Spy x Family Season 2

Spy x Family picks up where the previous season left off and continues showcasing the lives of Anya, Loid, and Yor. Each of them is still keeping their ‘true’ selves secret, but despite that they’re still coming closer together as a family. The highlight this season is a single arc that spans episodes 5 to 10. My biggest complaint with the previous season was the lack of fleshing out Yor, and this arc fixes that in a big way by not only having a Yor focused arc, but giving her the best arc so far. It has great character development in her where she reflects on her motivations and reconciles both of her selves. On top of that, this arc flows incredibly well with good pacing and a good balance between it’s plot threads. It has great action too and the climax involves a fight that’s a genuinely amazing spectacle.

Outside of that however, this season for better or worse doesn’t really do anything new. It’s just more of the same of what the previous season had. It doesn’t really introduce any new major characters. Nor does it really flesh out anyone other than Yor to any significant degree. There are episodes that focus on Bond, Franky, Yuri, and Desmond, but they’re more just the standard fare and don’t really do anything that the previous season didn’t already do to some degree. It’s all still handled pretty well and thus enjoyable from start to finish and it hasn’t quite gotten to the point that it’s started to get stale. However, as things seem to be reaching a sort of status quo and not really deviating from it much, this season doesn’t really have as much of a wow factor as the previous season did.

The art and animation are really good, with the big fight scene with Yor being the obvious highlight. There’s nothing particularly new or interesting in terms of designs. The OP and ED are interesting, but I’m not all that fond of them in terms of the song or visuals. The soundtrack is also great and has more variety this season.

A season with a really great Yor focused arc, but that is otherwise more of the same.

8/10

Spy x Family

*This is a review of both parts of the first season.*

Spy x Family is an anime that excels in terms of how several very different stories intersect. The first story would be of the spy Loid, codename Twilight. He is one of the best spies of Westalis and is operating in the middle of Ostania — wherein Ostania and Westalis are essentially fictional versions of Cold War East and West Germany. As such, Loid is constantly given high stakes missions. These range from hunting down national secrets to preventing assassinations. This isn’t always taken completely seriously, and occasionally you get things like the missions involving extreme tennis tournaments. But for the most part, the spycraft is authentic as you would expect from a spy anime and is quite exciting. The writing even deals with some pretty heavy topics like the horrors of war, and although it doesn’t spend all that much time on these or get too deep into things, it’s able to convey the intended messages incredibly well.

The second would be of Anya, a five year old girl that can read minds. She starts attending Eden Academy and begins going through the standard stuff an elementary school student would. She makes friends, gets into fights, and struggles with exams. She also loves watching cartoons and even gets a dog. What this anime does really well is that she genuinely seems like a five year old girl. Anime — and fiction in general to be honest — is pretty bad at having realistic children as main characters that retain their own agency. Either they’re completely tied to other characters, or they end up especially smart or mature for their age. It was refreshing to see a story focused on an elementary school student that behaves like a simple elementary school student, despite her having supernatural abilities. It’s adorable and heartwarming.

The third story would be of the assassin Yor, also known as the Thorn Princess. Due to her parents passing away at a young age, she’s had to take care of herself and her younger brother on her own. And that led her to becoming an assassin. On top of that, she’s also maintaining cover as an office worker at city hall. However, unlike Loid, she’s not all that great at faking her personality and such. Rather, she’s somewhat of an airhead. Thankfully, despite being an assassin her natural personality is really nice and cheerful so she’s able to get along with her coworkers and neighbors. Her story I felt was the weakest of the stories, because while there is some focus on her relationship with her brother, we see essentially nothing of her being an assassin or any fleshing out of the associated organization.

The final and most important story, is the story of them together as a family. The basic premise of the anime is that they come together as a family of convenience. Loid needs a daughter in order to infiltrate Eden Academy and a wife in order to better maintain his cover. Similarly, Yor also wants a family in order to seem less suspicious. And Anya just wants a family after having spent most of her life in a bunch of orphanages. The thing is that neither Loid nor Yor know of the circumstances of the others. Only Anya knows due to her mind reading abilities. Thus, while their motivations may be different, they do their best to act as a family together. They have their ups and downs, but what family doesn’t? The important thing is that they’re definitely making progress. The family dynamic they’re developing seems really cozy, and as a result you can’t help getting really attached to them and invested in the show overall.

But as mentioned earlier, where this anime really excels in is in how all of these stories coexist. This definitely helps in terms of variety, as you get things like an episode focused on a dodgeball tournament followed by one focused on stopping a terrorist attack. And thus that helps the pacing too. But just as importantly, there’s a lot of interesting things that happen where the plot threads intersect with lots of very unique storylines. These intersections also often produce a lot of great comedy, especially when they involve side characters crossing the boundaries between stories. As a result, this is very much an anime that’s more than the sum of its parts.

The art and animation are great, both for the slower moments and the more intense ones. The character designs are also generally pretty good. The first OP definitely has a lot of style, but I wasn’t much of a fan of it. The first ED is decent. The second OP and ED are great in terms of the songs and visuals. The soundtrack was also really great, though that could just come down to me really liking ‘spy music.’

An anime that manages to combine a number of contrasting stories very well.

8/10

Shinigami ~Shibito Magire~ (Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II)

The titling differences between the English and Japanese versions in this series are pretty interesting, but it gets somewhat complicated so it is beyond the scope of this review. Thus, for the sake of convenience the English terminology will be used henceforth.

As one would expect, Death Mark II is a sequel to the first Death Mark. It isn’t strictly necessary to have played the first Death Mark in order to understand the plot in this one. However, it features the same protagonist and many of the same characters so you’ll have a better understanding of who people are and why they’re behaving the way they are if you have played the original DM. Furthermore, this game has major spoilers for the first game, so if you’re ever planning on playing the first one it’s better to play it before this one.

This game is also technically the third game in what is dubbed the Spirit Hunter series, with the first Death Mark being the first game in the series and another game titled NG being the second game. However, NG takes place several years after this game and has barely any connection to it, so it really doesn’t matter if you’ve played it or not. As such, this review will assume the reader has played the first Death Mark but will make no assumptions regarding NG.

As with the first Death Mark, this is a horror focused adventure game that involves exploration to find clues regarding the truth behind spirits and then facing off with them. However, the actual gameplay is very different. For one, the adventure component is primarily a side scroller instead of first person point and click like in the first game, though certain areas shift back into point and click when investigating. This new type of gameplay isn’t really any better or worse, but it is fully functional without any major issues and that good enough for a story oriented game like this. The only major complaint I have is that only being allowed to save in a single location was kind of annoying.

The ‘combat’ with spirits is also less nonsensical in that it involves simply picking what actions to do. However, the game is still trying too hard to be gamey, and has percentage chances on whether the actions succeed as well as health bars on the player character that can decrease in response to actions by the spirit. There are items scattered around that can increase the player’s level as well as be exchanged for better equipment. As such I suppose this makes exploration more satisfying, but it still largely felt completely unnecessary and just unnecessary friction when the real meat of the game is the story.

As for the story, this entry is set almost entirely in Konoehara Academy, a high school that is being haunted by a spirit known as the Departed. However, rather than harming people directly, it instead strengthens the resentment of other spirits within the school. As such, the protagonist — who is technically nameable but is canonically named Yashiki Kazuo — must deal with these spirits while also investigating the Departed.

Other than the Departed, there are three major spirits and one minor spirit. Each of them shares a name with a Japanese legend, but beyond that there isn’t all that much of a connection to them. The stories of these spirits were decent enough. They flow pretty well and manage to be sufficiently horrific. Individually, they’re simpler than the ones in Death Mark and are also less memorable.

However, the strength of this game comes from how everything is connected, the lack of which was my biggest issue with the first game. Since all of the mysteries are centered around the same school, all of the legends build upon each other ultimately leading to the truth behind the Departed. Since everything occurs at the school, you slowly unlock and explore more and more of the school from chapter to chapter and grow more accustomed to it.

On top of that there’s a lot more in terms of reoccurring characters. The main characters are important from the beginning to the end. A lot of the cast of the first game also come back as side characters that are important for a chapter or two. And even many of the minor characters that only have proper roles in a single chapter will be shown just hanging around school and such during the other chapters.

Due to all of this, the finale is significantly better built up to than the previous game. There’s much more foreshadowing in terms of the final mystery regarding the identity of the Departed. But even more importantly, the twists here are actually interesting because there’s a lot more investment built up into the characters and circumstances that lie at the center of them. Things hit a lot harder than in the first Death Mark and leave a stronger final impression.

There are three endings: A Bad End when you don’t manage to figure out the identity of the Departed; A Good End for when you do; And then a True End for when you replay the final two chapters with some new dialogue choices unlocked after the Good End. Ultimately, I was very satisfied with what the Good End and True end accomplished and I hope we see more of the series in the future.

There are also two DLC episodes, but neither of the two have all that much content and are nothing like the DLC episode in the first Death Mark. The DLC episode that’s included in the English release, Princess Mach, essentially has Yashiki and a character from NG, Momo, go around visiting locations from the first Death Mark. You don’t need to have played NG to understand what’s going on, but this episode is basically just fleshing out Momo’s background so without any investment in her the chapter will feel completely pointless.

There’s also another DLC episode, Mary’s Makeover, that was only released to backers of the Kickstarter in Japan but has a fan translation on Youtube. This is basically an epilogue to the finale of the first Death Mark with a bit of hinting about where the story would go in a new Death Mark entry. As such, this only really has value for those that are fans of the series as a whole and are looking at big picture beyond just the story of this individual game.

The art in this is just as solid as in the first game, a good blend of gruesome horrific and beautiful horrific. I feel the amount of art was fine this time. The soundtrack was pretty solid too, and for better or worse there were a lot of tracks repeated from the previous games. The vocal tracks were pretty good and fit well enough. There’s almost no voice acting though, but at this point I feel that’s fine. The translation had a lot of small errors and was stiff at times, but read well enough.

It played perfectly fine without any bugs or crashes. The UI was also smoother than the first Death Mark, though the lack of ability to control text or autospeed was still annoying. Also, the game gives a content warning before each cutscene giving the player the option to skip them, but the content of the cutscenes is less gruesome than a lot of the game so it’s basically just a strange cutscene skip feature that you can only use before cutscenes and not during. The jump scare feature from the first game also returns but it’s even more annoying so you’re probably better off turning it off.

A sequel that’s narrower in scope but is able to tell a much better story.

8/10

Gyakuten Kenji (Ace Attorney Investigations Collection)

The Ace Attorney Investigations (AAI) Collection is a remake of two games originally released on the DS around 2010, though only the first was officially localized into English. They are a spinoff of the original Ace Attorney trilogy that is similar to it but with major differences both in terms of story and gameplay. In terms of story, AAI takes place about a month after the end of the original trilogy but instead of being from the perspective of Phoenix, it follows the prosecutor Edgeworth.

Despite it featuring a different protagonist, I think having played the original trilogy, or at least the first game, is critical to understanding the AAI games. I can see the argument being made that it’s not strictly necessary for the first AAI game, but there’s no room for argument that it’s needed for the second. After all, further exploring the background of a case from the main series, the case that set Edgeworth on the path to being a prosecutor, is one of the highlights. And on top of that, Edgeworth’s character arc in the AAI games is a natural continuation of that in the original trilogy. Thus, this review will proceed under the assumption that the reader has played the original trilogy.

In terms of gameplay, the biggest differences come down to how exploration isn’t first person point and click, but rather involves controlling Miles as he moves around to investigate different points of interest. The advantage of having an overhead view is that it allows better showing the player a dynamic view of what’s going on in terms of what characters are doing what and where. This is important because the AAI games don’t have investigation and court room phases, but rather involve investigating and piecing things together while in the field, often in the middle of changing situations.

Though despite not being in a court room, things ultimately do still proceed as if they were in one, with Edgeworth cross examining people of interest at which point he can press them or present evidence just as in court in the original trilogy. AAI2 adds a twist on this with Mind Chess, which is a timed back and forth with a person of interest that is centered around quickly choosing the right responses based on what they say rather than in using evidence. This adds a bit of variety I suppose, but that’s about it. Ultimately, as in the original trilogy, the quality of the games comes down entirely to the writing.

The writing in the first AAI game is decent. There are definitely some high points. The main newly introduced characters, Kay and Lang, are pretty fun and Kay’s story especially is great. There is some great fanservice as well in terms of a bunch of cameos of characters from the main series as well as a flashback case featuring a younger Edgeworth and Franziska. However, none of the cases were all that great. The third case especially is pretty bad. But what I think hurt far more was the not-so-great writing for the final case since that’s usually the highpoint. It isn’t bad per se, just not final case worthy. The final case has the length of an epic finale, but neither the background of those involved nor the tricks used are all that impressive. Furthermore, it doesn’t really feel there is any depth to the overarching story. The main theme seems to be vigilante justice and how prosecutors should deal with those that the law can’t touch. However, this is handled incredibly superficially. As a result, it doesn’t really feel like Edgeworth went through any growth as a character either.

The writing in AAI2 is a vast improvement. The cases overall are much better, with the third and fifth case being right up there with the best cases in the main games. The complexity to everything is higher than in the first AAI, but things still flow really well. The main newly introduced characters, Eustace and Verity, aren’t exactly fun characters, but they have a surprising amount of depth with Eustace especially having a really good character arc despite initially seeming incredibly annoying. Edgeworth also had a great character arc centered around whether he truly still wished to be a prosecutor and why. In examining that, the game explored the meaning of justice and what the true essence of the law should be. The first AAI is just a spin off that doesn’t really do all that much differently, but AAI2 makes great use of all the ways it’s distinct from the main series to deliver a story that the main story wouldn’t be able to and fully justifies the subseries.

The art and animation are pretty much the same as in the main series, which I would say is pretty good. The crazy character designs and animations return of course. This remake has two types of art for the overhead view, pixel art from the original DS game and remade modern art. I very much prefer the modern art and think it captures the spirit of the rest of the art quite well. The OST was pretty solid and had some good new tracks as well as a lot of the main tracks from the original trilogy. These games don’t have voice acting, just as the original trilogy did not, and at this point I would say I’ve gotten used to it and don’t mind. The games ran well enough, which shouldn’t be surprising considering the type of games they are.

However, these games still have the issue of by default providing no control over text speed or any other mechanism to have text appear faster, and the text speed being incredibly slow. The only remedy is to turn on the option that allows skipping through unread text, as that enables the ability to click/press X to make the text slowly crawling into the textbox immediately appear. I think I would have been frustrated to the point of just relying on a guide to get through things as quickly as possible and would have enjoyed the games a lot less if I did not do this, so I highly recommend others also keep it in mind as an option. It really shouldn’t be necessary though.

A duology of games with a somewhat weak first entry, but a second entry that really hits its stride in a big way.

8/10

Rikudo

As a child, Azami Riku goes through a series of tragic events that scar him deeply mentally and emotionally. As a result, he becomes incredibly withdrawn with a complex about his own powerlessness. In his quest to become stronger, he follows in the footsteps of his savior and becomes a boxer aiming for the OPBF title belt. This manga follows his career from his professional debut all the way to the big leagues.

Boxing matches are the core of this series. These matches have a lot of intense action which can seem really cool in the moment, but I still found them pretty shallow. This is because there wasn’t any logic to things. The boxers hit each other in all sorts of ways while also countering, dodging, and blocking but this is pretty much just a contest of physical abilities. The manga doesn’t really dwell on the boxer’s skills or strategies. As such, a lot of matches had a flow of one boxer being on the backfoot for most of the match until they simply manage to dig deep and turn things around instantly with a KO. This is satisfying at first, but it gets pretty repetitive and thus dull. There is also not really any sort of well-defined ability growth or anything like that. Riku obviously does put a lot of effort into training, but because it’s never really clear to the reader what he gains as a result it’s not all that satisfying. Thus, the action per se didn’t do much for me.

Beyond the actual combat, what’s just as important is the stories of those fighting. And in that regard, I felt this manga was even weaker. The manga does an awful job at conveying what characters are thinking and feeling. As such, it’s hard to understand their motivations and empathize with them. And as a result, it’s really hard to get invested in their struggles. Riku is the most prominent example. He’s a lone wolf that pushes people away most of the time and he has a character arc that involves getting over his traumas and connecting more with others. However, this is terribly written with any growth he goes through feeling completely random and unearned. The rest of the cast is even worse with lots of them taking all sorts of major nonsensical actions, but those actions simply being ignored afterwards. Everything was so messy it was hard to really care about anyone or anything that was happening. That resulted in an ending that should be incredibly satisfying not having much impact.

I also can’t say I was much of a fan of the art style. There are times where everything aligns and the result does look great. However, most of the time it looks pretty bad and is hard to follow. I feel the art works reasonably well for the edgy parts, but the manga actually isn’t all that edgy. It starts out pretty edgy, but once things get moving it’s increasingly less so with major spikes every so often. Thus it’s just not a good fit.

A boxing manga that’s all around okay at best.

6/10

Natsu e no Tunnel, Sayonara no Deguchi (The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes)

Urashima Tunnel grants wishes in exchange for time. More specifically, whatever one desires lies somewhere along the tunnel. However, time goes much faster when going through the tunnel, and thus by the time the traversers reach what they wish for, the world moves on and leaves them behind. This film chronicles two high school students, Touno Kaoru and Hanashiro Anzu, who each have their own set of complicated circumstances but are united in that they each have wishes that they believe only the tunnel can grant.

Still, choosing to go through the tunnel is quite the decision, and thus they extensively investigate the tunnel before committing. This takes up the majority of the film. To be honest, this investigation yields very little information of value. The pair do seem to discover rules regarding how the tunnel works, but during the final stretch of the film I think it becomes clear that these aren’t really hard rules. And that’s perfectly fine. After all, it is a supernatural phenomenon.

So the actual circumstances of the tunnel aren’t what matter. The investigation is simply a backdrop to the pair spending time with each other and getting closer to each other, which in turn also allows the viewer to learn more about them and grow invested in them. Both have messy pasts that they’re trying to overcome. Touno’s are considerably more bleak in that his family has fallen apart and he lives with a violent alcoholic father that blames him for everything. Hanashiro’s on the other hand are more abstract and existential which adds a completely different layer to the narrative. This is conveyed well, and thus its easy to empathize with them and their desire to go through the tunnel.

The two also have pretty good relationship development. Each of the two is pretty strange, and it’s that strangeness that initially brings them together. Touno seems relaxed and easy-going, but really he’s basically someone that’s given up on life to such an extent that very little phases him. Hanashiro on the other hand has this extreme sort of confidence and proactivity. There’s a scene from this film that went somewhat viral that features her very immediately and aggressively standing up to bullies which I think reflects her personality really well. Though underneath all that she does have some major insecurities. Both of them are quite likable at a personal level. And the two match each other quite well and have really good chemistry. And thus, its easy to get invested in each of them and their relationship.

Most of the film isn’t all that intense and essentially just serves as build up. The final twenty or so minutes of the film is where everything truly happens. All the heavy emotional beats are concentrated during this phase. These hit pretty hard and definitely do leave an impression. However, the film moves very quickly and then ends abruptly right after that. It doesn’t really feel like things sink in properly. If the film continued a bit further and showed the aftermath better I think it would have really helped, both in terms of being better at orchestrating the audiences emotional response and also in tying up some loose minor plot threads. As is the ending is definitely still satisfying, but also feels a bit lacking.

The art and animation in this film are great. Not at the level of the heavy hitters such as Shinkai’s films, but I felt the vision was pretty similar and it got closer than I expected it to. The soundtrack wasn’t as good, but still decent enough. There were a few good vocal tracks that worked pretty well in context.

A film centered around teen angst with a great main couple but a rushed ending.

8/10

Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi (Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill)

This anime is an isekai that like many other recent isekai features a protagonist that at first glance seems to be useless. In this case the protagonist, Mukoda, has the unique skill ‘Online Grocery’ that lets him summon the type of stuff that you would find in a normal Japanese grocery store. And as with most cases of this trope in anime, the ability turns out to be the most useful ability of the group. While the ability to summon groceries doesn’t directly have any combat applications, it allows him to create fantastic foods far beyond what anyone in the medieval fantasy world he ended up in is accustomed to.

As a result of this, Mukoda is able to form a contract with a legendary and extremely overpowered giant Fenrir wolf that he names Fel. Food from the grocery give stat boosts and experience so as a result Mukoda is also able to grow another familiar, the slime Sui, from a weak baby slime into an incredibly powerful one. The food also seems to draw the attention of goddesses who bestow upon Mukoda blessings that protect him and make him more powerful in exchange for him making regular sacrifices of said food to them. After it seemed there was no point in him joining the party going after the demon king, he was left to his own devices to make something of himself. But as he’s quickly able to become powerful enough that nothing is a threat to him, he simply wanders the world with his familiars, taking in the sights and enjoying the freedom he now has.

The way this anime handles the cooking aspect is somewhat strange, in that despite it occurring in a fantasy world it’s pretty much exactly like basic cooking from our world. Mukoda uses ingredients obtained in his new world, such as orc or wyvern meat. But other than the fact that there’s a lot more of it, their meat is essentially the same as meats from our world such as chicken or beef. For the purposes of cooking its treated exactly the same. Furthermore, the cooking isn’t from scratch or using basic ingredients. Rather, he heavily relies in premade sauces and mixes. There also isn’t really any depth or complications to things. He just follows the recipes without really putting any thought into it and everything comes out great. As such, the cooking isn’t really any more special than the typical cooking people do at home. The anime is able to portray said cooking really well and make both the cooking process and produced food look amazing, but it just isn’t that interesting. Especially considering how often it comes up and how repetitive it feels.

Beyond the cooking, there isn’t really anymore to the plot than just Mukoda and his familiars having fun on their journey. I suppose there are some minor overarching plot threads, but they’re pretty meaningless. Fel really wants Mukoda to get stronger and thus pushes him into combat situations. However, Fel is able to effortlessly deal with anything that they encounter so as of yet there didn’t really seem to be a point to this. Mukoda joins the adventurer guild and has to do quests. But Fel is easily able to resolve them beyond what was expected without any tension or suspense whatsoever. Mukoda also joins the merchant guild and does do some business selling things he obtains through the online grocer. However, he makes so much money just selling the monsters that Fel casually defeats that the extra income from the merchant activities is pointless.

As such, this anime is one of those cozy anime that focused on just relaxing. And in terms of that I felt it was just okay. The main party is pretty unique, what with it being one straight laced and cowardly human, one arrogant and battle hungry giant wolf, and one babyish but also bloodthirsty slime. However, I just didn’t find them all that likable, nor did I find their dynamic all that enjoyable to watch. There are also no other reoccurring characters. Thus, the characters didn’t really do much for me. There’s also essentially no world building beyond some vague references. The various towns the party passes through are also all pretty similar to the point it’s not really exciting at all when they reach new ones. Thus, the setting also doesn’t have much value.

What holds up the anime is ultimately the comedy. There’s a good amount of it and pretty much all of it as at least somewhat amusing. The types of humor are also pretty fresh as far as isekai are concerned, so it all lands pretty well. For example, there’s a lot of humor centered around how Mukoda doesn’t like how his familiars are overpowered. This anime doesn’t handle the overpowered moments like most do in that it doesn’t revel in them at all. Rather, Mukoda is often shown as a coward that doesn’t want to have anything to do with what Fel are Sui are up to when they’re occurring, and then feels annoyed in the aftermath because he doesn’t want to catch the eyes of others who may try to push obligations on him that may limit his freedom. Furthermore, while I can’t say I grew all that attached to the main party, I will have to admit that the humor that came out of their interactions was pretty funny in imaginative ways. Thus, while the anime didn’t really leave much of any impression on me, I would still have to say that I enjoyed it.

The art and animation were pretty good. Definitely for the cooking but also for the action. I found the designs in the anime pretty weak though with there not really being any character, monster, or location that was all that memorable. The OP was solid enough in terms of the songs and visuals. The ED is really catchy though. The soundtrack was decent enough but didn’t really stand out.

An anime with pretty boring cooking, an uninteresting cast, and no real plot, but pretty great comedy.

7/10

Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life (Chillin’ in My 30s after Getting Fired from the Demon King’s Army)

Despite the “Second Life” in the Japanese title, this anime isn’t an isekai. It features Dariel, a former high ranking soldier in the Demon King’s army, that was suddenly fired after his former boss retired. After that he wanders into human lands and due to various circumstances becomes an adventurer. The first half of the anime embodies the “slow life” in the title pretty well, as at this point he becomes overpowered and simply lives a relatively peaceful and happy life. He gets into battles, but is able to easily resolve them. There’s no harem, but there’s very easy relationship development with a single heroine, Marika. It’s a solid enough cozy anime, but nothing too special.

The second half goes in a different direction and takes itself much more seriously. One of the main themes explores is the long running conflict between humans and demons and how that’s created a cycle of hatred that’s hard to break free from. This is mostly generic with all the standard elements you would expect such as characters that Dariel knew as a demon and as a human learning to get along. The execution is also only decent.

However, there’s a topic tied into that which was pretty interesting. It’s hard to discuss in detail without going into spoilers so my apologies for this being confusing, but its essentially about how people can be wronged by others without the one that is wronging them actually being in the wrong. Such as if someone gets something important that another rightfully should have, but without said receiver having any choice in obtaining it. In such a case the one who should have received it getting revenge against the actual receiver would not be justified, but at the same time it’s not easy to extinguish the desire for what they should have gotten. The handling of this topic in the anime is interesting in the broad strokes, but it’s ultimately superficial and thus only decent as well.

Beyond that, the anime is very messy. There certainly are likable characters, with Marika being a major standout due to how dedicated and proactive she is, but the vast majority have little to no depth. How the writing handles them is also really abrupt at times. For example, a side character dies off screen with no build up and for what felt like no apparent reason narratively. The associated chibi mini anime is surprisingly substantial and actually helps with this to a degree by providing a lot extra details missed in the main anime, but it doesn’t resolve these issues completely. The world building is also pretty haphazard, with the political structures on both the human side and demon side not making much sense. There’s also really random stuff like magic cell phones suddenly existing, but only for like two scenes total. These issues aren’t really a problem during the first half when things are more casual, but they detracts from the more serious second half and make it hard to really get invested in things which makes the final stretch fall somewhat flat.

The art and animation are somewhat weak but mostly okay. There are some character designs that are good, but overall they were pretty dull. Also, while there is a comedic emphasis on the protagonist loving big boobs, there’s not all that much actual ecchi in the anime. The OP and ED were okay in terms of the song and visuals. The soundtrack was not particularly memorable.

A run of the mill fantasy anime with a cozy first half and more weighty but messy second half.

7/10