Ping Pong: The Animation

Type: It’s like mini-Tennis

Synopsis: How come Mini-Golf doesn’t get the same respect? Is it because it’s a little goofy? Are we SO afraid to be silly that we can’t endorse something built on fun? Because no one, in the history of Earth, has ever enjoyed Ping Pong. Even the boys in this anime don’t seem to enjoy it. Well, Peco does. Everyone else treats it more like a job, obsession, or personal mission statement. God, Ping Pong sucks. The game, not the anime, which is actually pretty great.

Pros: The big hook for this anime is that it was directed by Masaaki Yuasa, the director behind stuff like Kick-Heart, The Tatami-Galaxy, that one episode of Adventure Time, and 2018’s Devilman Crybaby. The guy’s know for having a unique style to say the least. And that’s the best way to describe this anime. It’s not groundbreaking or revolutionary, but it is unique. There is not other anime out there like it, and that’s surprising given that it follows the sports anime cliches pretty closely. But since it’s based on a Manga, that’s not surprising. The story follows Peco and Smile, two friends on the school’s ping pong team. The arrogant Peco is beaten one day by the new imported ace from a rival school. Humiliated, Peco quits the team for a while, leading his coach to focus on Smile, a talented but reserved person. The story follows their and their rivals’s growth as individuals, using Ping Pong as an analogy for life, like any other sports anime. Peco learns the value of humility and hard work. Smile learns to accept vulnerability and desire. And other players learn other things, like accepting your limits, being part of a team, or learning that fun and drive aren’t segregated concepts. The story’s not complicated, because it focuses on the character’s inner turmoil and conflict, and uses the “dramatic showdowns” to further along the character’s emotional arc.

The animation is the other hook this anime has. It uses a sort of rougher sketch style that accentuates the character’s movements and stances to enforce exaggerated realism. No one really moves or looks perfect. In fact, sometimes characters move and stand oddly. Which is exactly how people move and stand in real life! Everyone in this anime looks different, moves differently, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that. For example, Peco moves loosely, while Smile is stiff and a bit uncomfortable. But amazing, both of these character’s postures change to reflect their growth at the end of the series. Seriously, you can compare how each character stands to check how the events of the story affected them. Despite looking obviously drawn, this anime may also be the most realistic looking anime I’ve ever seen. (P.s. A great example of this is the killer opening). I honestly thought this was made in 2017, it’s that good looking.  It looks weird enough to scream ANIME, but is well made enough to say Anime. In fact, this is one of the few anime I’d recommend you introduce to any of your non-anime friends or family members.

Cons: I know I talked a lot about stances, but for real. This anime does stances right. Speaking of stance, one draw back about this anime is that there are a lot of still frames where characters just stand around and talk. Or a lot of jump cuts to static action scenes. Classic cost cutting measure. Another thing, I’m aware that I made fund of Ping Pong at the start, but I actually didn’t mind it in this show. The exploration of Ping Pong was entertaining. My personal research (the internet), revealed the Ping Pong is actually pretty ping overseas, particularly East Asia, Europe, and Africa. Not being from there (USA #1!), I don’t really get it, but I liked it nonetheless. I fact, this anime made me realize something: I don’t really hate sports anime. Every sports anime I’ve watched for this site has been enjoyable. I think I only hate The Prince of Tennis. Yeah..Screw you Prince of Tennis!

Watch it: Literally the most fun you’ll have with Table Tennis (5/5)

MVP: Dragon

I’m really glad he mellowed out in the end.

Best Episode: “Yes, My Coach” (the real turning point, though honestly almost any of the episodes could be watch by themselves and be marveled at. It’s that good.)

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High School DxD Hero

Type: This show is stupid

Synopsis: I loved ever minute of it!

Pros: Just by looking at it, you should know what to expect from High School DxD Hero. It’s a comedy-action show about a pervy high school boy how became a thrall for the buxom student body president whose also a high class demon. Being the fourth season, a lot of things have changed from episode 1. Issei, our protagonist, has gone from an unknown servant to a famous warrior. He’s also now treated as one of the most eligible bachelors in the underground. All the main female characters have gone through their individual arcs, and are in total love with Issei. This is so pronounced, that most of the characters will immediately enter a room and strip in front of Issei. That’s right! The pretenses are over. It’s basically naked boob town every episode. Now, normally, I would decry a show leaning mostly on fan service as lazy at best, and misogamist at worst. But High School DxD has always been very honest about what it is. It’s a fan service show where the protagonist gets powered up by grabbing breasts. That there’s a certain…nobility in it’s honesty. Yeah, let’s go with that.

Cons: That being said, this show is one big a lazy boob joke. Now that all the characters arc have ended with the girls falling in love with Issei, I feel that the fan service has gotten a bit lazy. Akeno isn’t quite the tease anymore. Koneko isn’t as annoyed anymore. Asia isn’t as shy anymore. As one character said, “you see their boob’s every night Issei! Why are you still trying to sneak a peak?”  I mean, real talk, there was a scene were these girls found Issei in a room, started a conversation, stripped naked, and then continued their conversation. It’s pretty much soft core hentai at this point. In addition, besides Issei, no other character gets any character development. The cast is now mostly there for fan service. Story wise, we get two arcs: The Kyoto Arc and the Rating Game Arc. The Kyoto Arc was pretty good, as we got to see Issei in a leadership role, which really reminded you of his growth as a characters. The Rating Game Arc was less interesting, as it was mostly a tournament arc with no real stakes. Issei did get a powerup, but mostly out of pride than anything. However, this arc does get points for developing Issei and Rias’s relationship. (p.s. The animation style changed, but I don’t mind!)

Watch it?: Even though a lot of fun characters didn’t get to do anything, it’s still a fun watch for the English translation alone (3/5)

MVP: Issei

Boobielingual. Yeah. That’s a major plot device this season.

Best Episode: Ep. 8 “A Girl’s Heart is Complicated” (the turning point for the season)

Ai Tenchi Muyo!

Type: Sponsored by the city of Takahashi, Okayama

Synopsis: Come visit beautiful Takahashi, Okayama, home to the beautiful Bitchū Matsuyama Castle. Be sure to also visit Raikyū-ji, a Buddhist temple with a historic garden. That’s all I could find on the Wikipedia for Takahashi!

Pros: This anime is also based loosely on the Momotaro, or Peach Boy, legend, and serves as a 20th Anniversary special for the Tenchi Muyo! series. We’ll get to how well the show represents the franchise later. Since Tenchi Muyo! holds a special place in my heart, this entry has been on my list for a while. As luck would have it, it’s got an English dub with all the original actors (except for Ayeka). So for a long time fan like myself, the best part was hearing Petrea Burchard play my girl Ryoko one more time. And the story really is the strongest when the original Tenchi Muyo! cast take part it it. The core characters get updated looks, which are pretty good (though Ryoko and Washi apparently grew a few cup sizes during the franchise break). And while the show says it has 50 new episodes, there’s about 8 minutes each with credits. So it’s really more like 10 regular episodes.

Cons: First of all, the show did a poor job of detailing Takahashi, Okayama natural splendor and charming locals. If I was the city council, I’d ask for my money back. Because all I know about Takahashi right now it that it has all girl’s high school that is severely understaffed, may have buried treasure, and suffers from dimensional breaks. It makes be reconsider my planned stay at one of their numerous and affordable 5-star hotels (free wifi included upon request). As for the show itself, the length of the show makes watching it inconvenient. While the episodes divided up, the story lines aren’t. So 3-4 episodes are really just one big story cut up to bloat the episode count. The plot isn’t all that special: Tenchi becomes a student teacher at an all girl’s school, and sexy misunderstandings happen. Being anime, the teenage girls naturally all hit on their new teacher, making feel all types of uncomfortable. To it’s credit, the show does try to utilize it’s short episodes by mixing in two parallel stories every 3-4 episodes. One parallel story follows Tenchi escorting a young girl in the past, while another shows Tenchi’s home life with the original girls. These serve as nice breaks between stories, though they do make you wonder they can’t be the main plots. Teenage anime boobs is probably the answer, I guess. Things do ramp up towards the end, with all the story elements coming together rather nicely. Except for why the Feudal Japan girls look exactly like the student council. Speaking of which, how are the new female characters? Ai Tenchi Muyo! basically adds a new harem for Tenchi to interact with. And it falls into the typical harem overcrowding problem because of this. Five characters in a harem is fine, moreso is hard to follow. But let’s review anyway: Rui and Yuki are nice comedic foils, Tori is pointless, kinda the same with Hana, Hachiko is fine, Beni is a good stoic addition, and Momo is…Momo. Yeah, Momo’s good girl “let’s all be friends” gimmick was not fun, and doesn’t really mesh well with Tenchi Muyo’s humor. Even Sasami has a playfull side. Plus, Momo’s speech defending the love between a teacher and student was weird. Ultimately, I just don’t know who this anime is for. If it’s for long time fans, then why focus on a new cast. And if it’s for new people, why use Tenchi, Ryoko, or the others in the first place? And easy fix would probably be using a new main lead, like GXP and Geminar did, but it’s a little late for could ofs.

Watch it: Skippable, but maybe hunt for the Ryoko scenes (3/5).

MVP: Ryoko

Because she’s always MVP

Best Episode: The Tenchi at Home episodes (a little too dispursed to track down the episode numbers).

SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist

Type: NSFW

Synopsis: In a world, where smut has been outlawed. Where phrases like “putting your yogurt tosser into the butter boat” is blaspheme. A world of prudes. A world of abstinence. Only one person will be able to bring back the raunchy. Follow our heroes on their trip towards an uncertain end. THIS SPRING, STAY TUNED FOR HIGH SCHOOL KIDS DISTRIBUTING DIRTY PICTURES AROUND SCHOOL CAMPUS AS A FORM OF PEACEFUL PROTEST.

Pros: Where has this been all my life. Why was I not informed of this anime sooner! What am I…what am I even doing here!? Shimoneta is half brilliant, half stupid, and all parts entertaining. The basic premise is that Japan has outlawed lewdness in all forms, forcing our protagonists to rebel through pervy behavior and inappropriate language. And I mean INAPPROPRIATE. I watched the English Dubb, because sometimes this world is a beautiful place. The words that came out of Ayeme Kajou might be THE filthiest collection of saying that I have ever hear. I did not know that the English language was capable of making that many euphemisms for sex, penises, or vaginas. Aside from the admittedly sophomoric charm of the show’s content (sex, masturbation, etc), the program does have a good message. Kajou’s group, SOX, fights in the name of personal freedom and sexual education. They don’t necessarily want to bring the government down, they just want to be explore the subject of sex without punished. Which is a good thing to say. Sexual education is important. And while issuing every teenager a box of sex toys and a porn subscription isn’t necessarily a good option, neither is pretending that lust doesn’t exist. The show argues as much. You have characters like Fuwa who are so ignorant about sex that they need to study the reproductive habits of bugs to better understand it. Or you get extreme cases like Anna, who becomes a sexual deviant after her first taste of physical romance because she has no background knowledge to help moderate her new urges. And as a side note, I liked the organic relationship that developed between Tanuchiki and Ayeme, especially since it’s based on comradery  and not idealization.

Cons: I mean, this is basically smut. Well, that’s too harsh. I’ll downgrade to softcore porn, not unlike American Pie or Not Another Teen Movie. You know, the classics. Aside from Ayeme’s amazingly dirty dialogue, a lot of the jokes come from Anna. After episode 3, Anna becomes a sex maniac who constantly tries to share her “love nectar” with Tanichiki after an accidental kiss. This girl is so turned on whenever she even sees Tanichiki that she immediately undergoes vasocongestion, causing her to secrete a combination of carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins, and other acids produced by the normal lactobacillus bacteria. Clean up in aisle 3, am I right! Normally I would say this goes overboard, but given the context of the show, it actually fits right in. I do kind of think that it’s messed up that Tanuchiki losses interest in Anna after her “pure image” is shattered, but the exaggerated nature of her character change makes it work. Story wise, I feel that the last arc involving Gathered Fabric is not very strong, and I didn’t really like them as antagonists. I would have been perfectly happy if the show had followed a scheme-by-scheme narrative.

Watch it?: Does a footlong taste better with mustard on it? (5/5)

MVP: Anna Nishikinomiya

L-O-V-E  N-E-C-T-O-R.

Best Episode: EP. 1 “Whom Public Order and Morality Serve?” (I have my own favorite [ep4], but I feel that this one tells you everything you need to know about the show)

Interviews with Monster Girls

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Type: Surprisingly realistic

Synopsis: High School is rough. Well, I assume. I was near 6 ft tall at 13 and pretty smart, so I had a pretty chill time. Then again, all I did was play video games and watch TV.  Too poor and shy to date. Never did get to go to prom either….ah, but were veering of course again. This anime is about three monster girls (demi-humans) who befriend their biology teacher. Wanting to help the girls out with their respective situations, the bio teacher becomes they’re unofficial school counselor. He helps create a parent network, allows them to use his office as a safe space, and even tries to use his scientific knowledge to help them out with any physical issues they might have. Sure, he is kind of using them as for xenological/sociological research, but what’s a few research papers among friends?

Pros: Is it me, or are “monster girls” becoming anime short hand for minorities? It’s like with mutants with comics. It’s not a terribly bad thing, as most social messages in fiction work better through metaphor (prevents your story from sounding too preachy), but it’s something I thought I’d bring up. But while were on the subject, the show’s strongest aspect is the very believable way that the monsters girls and the humans around them interact. Basically, three demi-human girls end up going to school together. Thanks in part to their teacher, the form a friendship, though they probably would have naturally gravitated towards each other eventually. It’s not that they don’t have any friends, it’s just that sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone going through what your going through. Their teacher, Mr. Takahashi, proves himself to be a very adept educator who takes a special interest in making sure that these students with, I don’t wanna say disabilities, maybe unique physical conditions?, have an easier time in school. What surprised me about the show it that it didn’t go for the easy plot point of having the girls be openly discriminated against. No one is yelling “blood-suckers!” or anything. What the girls have to face is more of a subtle awkwardness and feeling of discomfort. They get stared at a lot, sometimes their friends try to be nice by ignoring their physical condition, and people ask them a lot of questions about what they are. And the girls, in a realistic fashion, simply give a polite smile and laugh and basically soldier on. This is especially well handled in Ms. Sato, the only adult demi-human and new math teacher. Ms. Sato is given two episodes from her point of view, allowing her to narrate what it’s like to have to be overly conscious about your image and actions in almost all aspects of life. I guess what I’m saying is that I really liked the characterization and themes that were explored, and am really happy that I got to experience this story.

Cons: Even though what Mr. Takahashi did for a group students who needed extra help and guidance was sweet and his actions are a great example for any individual that wants to work with young people, this is still anime. So of course, most of the monster girls have a crush on him. To be fair, he is packing major GUNS underneath his lab coat. And it’s not uncommon for a student to develop a crush on a teacher, but can we not? Having each of the girls ask for hugs and stuff just weirds me out. Luckily, Takahashi explicitly states that he would never reciprocate their feeling on ethical and moral grounds, so he’s not a perv. Just the author. I KID, I kid. Kinda. The only romance I really invested in was between Takahashi and Sato because A) Their both adults and B) They seem to share a level of intellectual comradery. Outside of characters stuff, the show is a slice of life, so it doesn’t really have a deep narrative and sorta just ends after a bikini episode. (P.s. I also found Sato’s status as a succubus with zero romantic skills very cute).

Watch it: I’m glad this exists (4/5)

MVP: Sakie Satō

Yes, she’s obviously designed to be Best Girl. And your point is?

Best Episode: Ep.3 “Succubus-san is a Real Adult” (I’m guessing succubuses aren’t the only type of women who have to worry about how they look and dress around their male co-workers.)

Please Tell Me! Galko-Chan

Type: Girl Talk

Synopsis: A nice girl who happens to dress a certain way and another nice girl who happens to dress a certain way are best friends, because screw you society!!

Pros: Galko-Chan is a typical 8-minute anime series about high school girls talking about nothing for 12 episodes. The gimmick here is that the group of girls is comprised of a “Lady” character, a female “Otoku,” and “Gyaru,” which is roughly just a girl who likes make up and fashion (a flashy girl). The interesting thing about the show is that Galko, the titular character, is often judged due to her physical and cosmetic appearance. She has a big breasts and likes to dress nice, so everyone thinks she’s promiscuous, or at least hopes she is. The entire anime’s moral is “just because someones dresses a certain way, doesn’t mean they are a certain way.” Because, in truth, Galko is super nice and gets flustered easily. She’s more like that really good looking person you knew in high school that was nice to everyone, but you were always too intimated to talk to [and you can’t think of anyone, guess who you were ;)]. Most of the show’s comedy comes from the talks between Galko and her friends, particularly Otako, who likes to tease Galko with inappropriate topics, like nipple size and the like. Now, not having been privy to much girl talk in my time (I’m just not a “girl’s” girl, ya know?), I don’t know how much this appeals to women, but the show does feel like it’s more centered for a female audience than male (Galko’s design aside).

Cons: Like most anime with short episodes, the jokes can get very one-note and repetitive. There are only so many times you make make fun of Galko’s presumably big nipples. There are boys characters in this anime, but they’re mostly around to fantasize about Galko. Like most things in life, this could have used less males around. And from a personal stand point, I found Galko’s design ludicrous. I get that it’s the joke/moral, but come on! I’ve seen—I mean, I’ve heard of hentai with mose subtle designs. And I also think the “lady” character, Ojou, isn’t that important, despite being a “main character.”

Watch it?: As always, short anime are always recommended (4/5)

MVP: Otako

Teasing friends is always fun

Best Episode: As always, too short to chose (all 8 minutes)

Persona 3 The Movie: No. 1 Spring of Birth

Type: The theme is Death. The character’s activate their powers by shooting themselves in the head. Do you get it!?

Synopsis: A movie based on a game that’s based on a mixture of Role Playing Games and Life Simulators, because Japan. In this one, you get to see the life of a character who’s life you would have lived through in the game instead of experiencing your own life, because real life is dull, and the Persona games are, like, a 100 hours. It’s much easier to sit down and give up 90 minutes of your life instead. The crucial part remains: you still don’t have to go outside.

Pros: Fun aside, I actually do love the Persona series. Specifically Persona 3 and 4, when the games got good (you can argue, but you know it’s true). The movie does a great job at integrating the music and layout of the original game. It even uses the calender transitions from the game. Most gamers often bemoan the fact that their will never be a good video game movie, but Persona’s made like 4 movies and 3 anime series. This first movie predictably details the beginning of the game: the protagonist showing up, the main cast coming together, everyone getting their powers, etc. I really liked what they did with the protagonist, named “Makoto Yuki,” here. In the game, “Yuki,” is a nameless and characterless avatar for the player. The move translates this silent protagonist into an apathetic protagonist, which really fits his visual character design. Floppy hair, earphones, hands in his pockets, the kid’s a poster boy for emo teen nihilism. Even more impressive, the movie gives him a character arc involving the power of friendship, which sounds trite, but is actually a crucial gameplay component of the Persona Series (you basically have to go on several dating-sim esque side missions with various NPC’s to level up your character).

Cons: The movie’s biggest positive was it’s ability to turn a silent RPG protagonist into an actual character. But it’s not without it’s flaws. For one, the story flow is choppy. Events sort of jump from thing to another without a smooth transition. This is because the transition is suppose to be the original gameplay, which is obviously absent in the movie. For those not in the know, events in the game are actually about 30 in-game days apart from each other, giving certain revelations time to digest. So the movie ends up covering 2-3 months worth of story in 90 minutes. It’s an admirable attempt, but not quite successful. Certain shots and frames are also a but awkward, almost like the camera man was a 1-2 feet too close to the actors. Cast wise…look, the Persona 3 cast isn’t as charismatic as the Persona 4 cast, but they do grow on you, especially later on in the story. And finally, the big questions: Do you have to have played Persona 3 to enjoy this movie? My answer is Yes. It’s not a bad movie, but without my prior knowledge, I would have found it a bit thin, and a little confusing.

Watch it?: Persona fans would like it. Everyone else could easily live without it.

MVP: Makoto Yuki

God, how many of us went to high school with this guy?

Best Moment: Makoto talking (holy moley, I thought he was mute!)

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou

Type: Typical Light Novel

Synopsis: An art prep school, which I’m sure is sure hard to get into and requires a lot of effort, has a special dorm designated for trouble making students…for some reason. And by “trouble making” I of course mean weirdos. Even by art student standards. One of them has cats. FREAK. That same cat dude, Sorata, has given up on his dreams because he doesn’t really feel good enough to try, but that all changes when a beautiful art genius moves in and becomes the subject of his awe and resentment because she’s a natural born art genius. She also clearly lives with Savant Syndrome, given her explicitly stated inability to take care of herself, but the show glosses this over and calls her “eccentric.” Because hey! Anime!

Pros: The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a melodramatic slice of life story with comedic elements. The comedy comes from a group of eccentrics all living under one roof. You have the energetic one, the playboy, the computer snob, the lazy dorm teacher, the emotionless genius, and the straight man in Sorata and Nanami. One of the trade make gags of the show are the skits between Sorata and one of the other characters, usually involving quick quips between Sorata and one of his dorm mates over an embarrassing or frustrating situation. Like trying to teach the art genius Shina how to cook. Or trying to convince Nanami that it isn’t what it looks like. These are great, and I highly encourage you to look for these short scenes on online even if you don’t watch the show. The melodrama comes from Sorata and Nanami, the two characters how have a dream and must deal with the trials and tribulations that comes with following a dream. The show does a really great job at depicting the emotional struggles one faces with trying to achieve a dream or goal, especially in the arts. Particularly when faced with multiple failures and false starts even after working yourself to your physical, mental, and emotional limit. This is especially true with Sorata, who is introduced as someone who would rather not even try due to fear of failure. The character of Shina is particularly interesting in this respect, as she’s often the subject of resentment and jealousy due to her natural ability and easy successes. She is used to represent the darker and often unwarranted feelings one gets towards other people’s professional or personal success, even though your often not angry at a particular person, but at yourself and the situation. The rest of the show just involves love triangles and the power of friendship of whatever.

Cons: The show’s story beats are very predictable. After the first two episodes, you can pretty much tell how the rest of the episodes are going to go. For those wondering, it goes: silly, sad, angry/resentful, sad again, uplifting, and finally happy. If this doesn’t happen within one episode, it will happen over two or three episodes. But the show doesn’t really break this cycle. It makes a lot of episodes easy to skip or gloss over. And ironically, much like the other characters of the show, my feelings towards Shina are mixed. One the one hand, I liked her emotional growth (even if it was because of “love”), and she was a good comedic foil for Sorata. On the other hand, her inability to do even the most basic personal tasks does not really balance out her Mary Sue like abilities. I get that her not being able to take care of herself is suppose to make her endearing, but it really just made her kinda annoying to watch. Even I found it hard to sympathize with given her amazing art skills. I think that if the show had played her condition as more serious than comedic, it would have been easier to like her. I also found myself not really caring for Misaki and Jin’s love story. They were alright characters, but their plots don’t really impact the plot in any significant way. Maybe it works better in the books? And lastly, I felt that the whole “chasing your dreams is hard” would have worked better with a slightly older cast, like between 18-21. My biggest dream in high school was beating Kingdom Hearts 2 to get the secret ending, not preparing myself for career setbacks.

Watch it?: Good, and maybe even great to some people. (4/5)

MVP: Sorata

One of the realist depictions of emotional in all of anime.

Best Episode: Ep.5-6 “The Serious Girl of Sakura Dormitory” and “The Blue After the Rain” (funny, sad, dramatically over the top, love triangle, a good showcase of the show in general)

Sebagebu

Type: Survival Game Club

Synopsis: In a world not unlike our own, young women must fight for their lives in the cruel world they were born into. Momoka Sonokawa has little to rely on, other than her shooting skills and sharp instincts, in an school club where she must weigh survival against love. The love of not doing anything, money, and her general self interest.

Pros: The gimmick of this comedy is that the characters each have guns. This leads to every scenario and skit to eventually devolve into a shoot out. It can be something as official as a shooting competition, or something as trivial as who get to sit in the new fancy chair. Why do these high schoolers have guns? Because the premise of the show revolves around a “Survival Game Club,” in which members pretend to kill each other with airguns. The show, however, depicts these battles as bloody because it’s all in their “imaginations.” The show’s great. It’s hilarious. It’s full of references (flippin’ Predator shows up), and has what TV Troupes defines as “comedic sociopathy.” Meaning that the jokes often end with one extra nasty or mean action. For example, a character could jump out for hug and get hit instead. Classic joke. But in shows like Sebagebu!, the character then lands on the edge of a chair and gets their head cracked open, bleeding out on the floor while the other characters continue the conversation. It’s an extra but of spice that sets this show apart. Of course, the medium for best jokes comes from the main character, Momoka, who skirts the protagonist curse of blandness by basically being a selfish sociopath. She’s shot every member of the club in the back at least once. She’s hilarious.

Cons: The opening does not fit the tone of the show. When I first saw it, I thought I was going to have to lug my way through some NRA nut’s wet dream. Then there’s the “transformation sequences” for lack of a better term, then the girl’s each take out their guns. This doesn’t really work for the absurdist tone of the show and always felt our of place when it occurred. I got the feeling that these sequences where added when the show was running low on time. I should also point out the first half of episode 9 is a real snooze fest. Any scene without either the entire group or guns doesn’t work. Momoka’s solo adventures with her Otoku fan boy Lemon (the only consistent male presence, as the club is in an all girl’s school) works because she often resorts to shooting him. But luckily, ep9 was an isolated incident. The rest was gold.

Watch it: I hate guns, but I do love this (4/5)

MVP: Momoka

There are multiples times when she tries to commit fraud to get rich!

Best Episode: Ep5. “Ascension!? Silent Survival / The Unkillable Twin Tail / Crusade – Raganarok of Angels and Demons” (I also recommend the Yakuza riff in ep6)

Danganronpa: The Animation

Type: Like Hunger Games, or Battle Royale, or whatever reference you prefer.

Synopsis: It’s a survival game with high schoolers…hey! Don’t go yet. You didn’t hear that it’s also based on a visual novel….hey! Give it a chance at least. This one has a sadistic teddy bear in it!

Pros: Danganronpa is a visual novel series based around the theme of “despair.” This anime is based on the first game, “Trigger Happy Havoc,” and is a murder mystery. The set up is that 15 students are trapped in an elite high school and forced to kill each other. Its a mystery because the rules state that once a body is found, the students have to figure out who the killer is. If they fail, the killer goes free while the rest die. The last person surviving wins and is rewarded with fame and fortune. The anime follows a set formula: A murder happens, an investigation happens, and then a trial happens. One of the first things you’ll notice is the art style. The colors are vibrant and each of the characters are given unique designs, which helps make their death a bit more meaningful. The trial scenes, which are usually just the characters talking to each other, are spiced up with cool video game style animations and transitions, masterfully blending two mediums together. Ditto for the executions. And at only 13 episodes, the show moves at a very brisk and meaningful pace. Overall, the show has a unique look, an interesting cast of characters, an intriguing mystery, a sense of humor, and a cool set up. Well worth a watch.

Cons: The anime does get a but troupee. Its a survival game anime where a boy and girl form an alliance early one, the characters each betray each other for no real reason, a suicide occurs, and it all ends like you’d think it would. Even some of the mysteries and twists are cliche, though the show does call itself out on a few of these. In term of characters, a lot of the designs, while unique, also come off as overdone.Their meant to give you a quick visual summary of the character’s traits, as the show doesn’t have time to give depth to all 14 students. So some come off as one dimensional. The show is also very back heavy, meaning the the last episodes, particularly the finale, are stuffed with revelations and lore (and a weird lack of budget). My only real gripe that during the trials, when the murder has been accused, the characters tend to break down and admit it, turning into weird caricatures of themselves. Which again, was on purpose from a creative standpoint. Interestingly, I think this show does recognize it’s weaknesses and addresses them, or at least owns up to them. Everything the show does feels intentional and confident, so these are more nitpicks than anything else.

Watch it?: A strong recommend (4/5)

MVP: Kyouko Kirigiri

Super High School Level Detective

Best Episode: Ep2-3 “Not Normal Arc: Kill and Live” (though I like other arcs better, this one is a good intro to the formula of the show)