Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? Episode 8 Impressions

This episode is a good representation of what this anime is.

It's light, breezy, and safe.

This is illustrated by how the hack on Rusian plays out.

Ako immediately figures out that the hacker who was using Rusian's account was not the real Rusian.

A darker and more dramatic narrative would be for Ako to believe the hacker and be emotionally destroyed.

This would change everything and perhaps would be a wake up call for Ako.

One could say this would have been the better choice.

But enough episodes have gone by for the audience to have a feel for the show.

It's a comedy romance show not a drama.

And some of the best rom coms in the world are safe, light and breezy.

Personally I think the audience would be upset if anything really dark happens.

To be honest I'm not sure how Ako immediately figured out it was not Rusian.

While we the audience sees dynamic sprites with changing facial expressions and tone in their voice; Ako would have seen a static 2d character communicating by text chat.

In reality I would think it would take Ako a lot longer to figure it out.

Ironically Rusian's character trait of being frustratingly slow with his love for Ako was the thing that saved Ako from a potentially dangerous situation.

I think Rusian is not only slow for his love for Ako but is frustratingly slow in general.

For example it bothered me when Rusian basically told Ako that they are divorced because his account was suspended.

I mean how you can you say that to a girl you know has trouble differentiating the game with real life.

I felt that this episode did a good job showing real world concepts like ip addresses, RTM, and dummy sites for hacking.

Like hypothesized in my episode 7 impressions, the hacker used an identical looking dummy site to steal Rusian's user name and password.

I think big websites and mmos use https (secure) pages instead of regular http pages. So if Rusian looked at the url maybe he would have figured it out.

I know that's what I usually check to make sure a site is safe

Apparently the admins were having a hard time finding the hacker because he keeps changing ip addresses.

Rusian eventually catches the thief by hacking the hacker.

Apparently Rusian magically has some super hacking, html, css powers and was able to recreate the hackers entire site and put it on the hacker's computer for the hacker to mistakenly enter his user name and password.

The other part of the plan was to create his own original nefarious website of a fake hacker.

However all of those items shown on the fake blog weren't really stolen but probably given by the members of a friendly guild and the teacher's online mmo friends who worship her as some sort of cat god.

The real time money transaction is what really got the hacker in trouble.

Rusin sent a request for a real money trade, and the hacker responded thinking it was legit (pun intended).

Rusian gave the hacker's ip address that accesses his hacker blog to the admin and found that that ip address links to a character called Ronten who was seen earlier trying to sell Rusian's stuff.

Then the hacker used another account and a different ip address and tried to make a trade online.

Even though the transaction didn't happen, the admin was able to charge the user for a RTM because of the tipped information.

Therefore the RTM trade request was now linked to the new online trade request showing intent.

This is enough for the admins to charge the hacker for what he has done.

What I don't' think makes sense is the anonymous (Rusian's) tip for the ip address.

Just because a tip says it's the ip address of the hacker blog doesn't mean that it is.

It's not real evidence/proof.

Therefore I believe this is really only half the battle.

I believe the admins must convince the police that there is enough evidence to get a warrant to actually backtrace the blog.

I didn't get how Rusian revealed himself to the hacker. In the show he lifts up his hair. So i just imagined the hacker seeing a 2d sprite lift up his hair and him saying "Oh my god!", it's ridiculous. Therefore I think Rusian must have sent an image of his face to the hacker.

I loved how when the characters were swearing in the game it just came out as "oinks". Because I think in some mmo's there is a dictionary of words you can't say that just comes out ***** (asterisks). Lastly I found it ironic that Ako had wanted Rusian to come to her room in the game and have a "couples chat" when that is exactly what happens during the aftermath of the hack. Rusian and Ako are alone together in Ako's room and talk about their relationship. I think the online game room was made to look identical to the real life room because it had the same jellyfish wallpaper. Therefore the scene was symbolic in its own right.

Twin Star Exorcists Ep 8 Impressions

     This episode is a real turning point for this anime.

After an abysmal previous episode this episode makes me feel hopeful for the series.

In this episode we discover that Rokuro, via what is known as Kagere corruption, turned into a Kagere and killed his friends in the Hiinatsuki incident.

This revelation does a number of things to make this series way better.

The first reason is that it explains why Rokuro acted the way he did.

There is a scene where Rokuro tells Mayura that it was his fault his friends died.

Prior to this episode I just assumed that Rokuro meant that he failed because he couldn't protect his friends and now we know it's the exact opposite.

There was great build up to this because it directly contradicts Benio's debate with Mayura over Rokuro being an exorcist.

Benio says that Rokuro should be an exorcist to save lives, but in reality he took lives.

Also throughout this series so far I didn't believe there was any chemistry between Benio and Rokuro and that whatever chemistry the anime forces us to accept was not earned or genuine.

However in this episode we also learn that Benio's twin brother died during the Hinatsuki incident.

Benio's whole purpose in life is to rid the world of Kagere. And I think a major reason why is because she believed that Kagere killed her brother. However supposedly it might be Rokuro who killed her brother.

If this is true, this will change Benio's whole view towards Kagere and towards Rokuro.

I think one of the only ways to get chemistry from leads who initially don't have chemistry is after they go through some sort of incident. This incident can be dramatic but it doesn't have to as long is it creates strong character change/growth.

And it wasn't just these revelations that made this episode so great. We are also introduced to Mayura's father, Rokuro's master, Seigen Amawaka who is one of the 16 guardians of something I am not entirely sure of. The 1st guardian we met was Shimon and I'm sorry to all the Shimon fans out there but when he was introduced all I could think of was Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. He just seemed like the standard shounen second male lead. However Seigen is something entirely different because he seems like an amalgamation of both a good and a bad character which makes him very interesting. Initially he beat up the other exorcists in the dormitory so I thought he was just a bully. But then we discover he's Mayura's father and Rokuro's master, we see that picture of father and daughter, see Rokuro's reaction to Seigen. All of this makes it seem like he's a good guy. However Seigen goes on to beat up Rokuro as well as telling his secret to Benio. Maybe he didn't know about Benio's situation, however for all we know he could be just evil and told her knowing her situation.

In regards to Mayura's side of the debate. Personally i think Rokuro has more chemistry with her and to be honest she's more my type so I might be bias. There seemed to be a hidden meaning in Mayura asking Rokuro whether he really wanted to be an exorcist.

It sounded like Mayura was really asking if Rokuro wanted to be with her or with Benio. To be in her world or Benio's. But we do find out that Mayura may have some special power and she is the daughter of an exorcist so she might join in on the Kagere killing fun.

There seems to be this shift in tone to darker themes.

That scene of Mayura being taken to the Kagere world was like a well executed scene from a horror movie.

The Kagere's look so far has been very polarizing. While I don't love the art, I admire the creativity of the different types of Kagere.

I thought the Kagere looked creepy but never scary, and I thought it was intentionally because it's a shonen.

However I will say that the little boy who was only visible in mirror and grabbed Mayura's hand was downright scary.

Before I watched this anime for the sake of not having watched a shonen in a number of years.

But now I am so excited about this series and can't wait till the next episode airs.

Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Ep 8 Impressions

The episode starts with Suburu waking up from bed.

Before he wakes up he see the dark hand about to grasp him.

Not sure if this was a dream or side effects after having rewind time so much.

Every character seems to see something is off with Subaru.

It frustrates Subaru as well as the audience.

Similar to Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, Suburu is also seeming to have his own emotional breakdown.

He doesn't seem sane anymore and the others characters notice it.

This is the first episode where I found Suburu annoying, and I think that was intentional.

He reminded me of a lot of people I know who just talk and talk, with little substance, trying to hide how they are really feeling.

It just comes off as being fake and desperate.

To be perceived as being genuine is something even good liars take years to accomplish.

Speaking of which, time is the constant motif in this anime.

Suburu goal for today was to gain the trust of all the members of the household.

However trust takes time, from their perspective they barely know him and are wary of him.

The whole day seemed to keep getting worse and worse because of Suburu's attitude.

It reminds me from the line from Keanue Reeves in the football movie called The Replacements:

"One thing goes wrong, then another, and another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move, you can't breather, because you're in over your head. Like quicksand."

This is literally what is happening to Subuaru the harder he works the more suspicious people are getting.

Why is he trying so hard? What is he hiding?

I found Puck's explanation of magicians vs spirit users and the explanation of mana to be very well explained.

It was easy to understand and follow.

The fact that Suburu has an affinity towards shadow is symbolic.

He's a character who appears to always be happy on the outside, but in reality there is a shadow of a cloud from above.

We also get confirmation about a possible connection between Emilia and the Satella Jealous Witch

This show reminds me of SNAFU where the characters speak so fast you sometimes miss key points.

Suburu asked why someone (Emilia) would use the name Satella, Beatrice says because they have no fear of death and be considered insane.

Subaru believes that Emilia wants people to perceive her as being insane so she wouldn't have to be part of the royal selection.

So is Subaru right, does she not want to be the next to take the throne? If so why does she not say that, is someone forcing her?

Lastly we find out that a curse must be made via physical contact and that once cast on the person it can't be undone. Suburu connects the dots and hypothesizes that someone at the village must have touched Subaru or Rem depending on the timeline.

The on thing I will say is that in every other timeline it was just Rem and Subaru or Rem by herself. How does it alter when 3 people go to the village? Why did Ram want to come along as well? And who benefits from killing either Subaru or Rem and why?

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk S2 Ep 8 Impressions

The episode starts at the start of the final battle of the festa between Ayato and Julis and the 2 puppets.

In the beginning I kept thinking I wanted them to start fighting already, too much talking.

The fight, like all fights in this series looks amazing.

What I like most is the use of strategy during battles.

Ayato and Julis attacked RM-C to force AR-D to use his shields on her leaving him vulnerable.

AR-D also used his shields to block paths and thereby trapping Ayato and Julis.

I do wonder when the 2 were trapped on 3 sides by shields, why didn't they just jump out of there instead of trying to block?

Also I thought it was a little early for the 2 puppets to combine but I guess they didn't want to take any chances.

In this episode when the puppets combined RM-C's armour came off leaving her defenceless.

I don't remember this happening during the semi finals so I was a bit confused by that.

I thought she combined completely with AR-D.

Oddly I was more interested with Saya's and Kirin's confrontation with the assassin.

I just think the concept of an assassin with control over the shadows to be very cool.

If you think about it assassins and thieves work in shadows so it makes a lot of sense.

That one scene where he used Kirin's and Flora's own shadow to pop out and attack them was amazing.

And Kirin's final attack was very reminiscent of Rouani Kenshin's sword drawing style.

I don't know if it was intentional but I loved this allusion.

I just love the sounds Ayato's Ser Vesta makes, it gives me goosebumps.

I would think now that he has it the battle will be more in his favour, now that his power is unlocked he just seems so overpowered.

But I'm sure Ernesta must have thought about this and has taken precautions.

I like how AR-D already has data about Ayato's sword style from Ayato's fight with those puppets way back in season 1.

Lastly I never noticed but Ayato's perception on the battle field seems very similar to the puppets data predictions on their opponents next moves.

This, along with the puppets personalities really seems to close the gap between humans and puppets perhaps fulfilling Ernesta's wish for her puppets to be accepted and be more human.

Twin Star Exorcists Ep 7 Impressions

Disliked this episode.

I don't believe the chemistry between the 2 leads. In fact I feel there is none.

Like bad actors with no chemistry in a film, it's just awkward and not believable.

The episode was useless I'm sure there were better ways for the 2 to build chemistry and gain backstory.

The whole thing feels juvenile, I don't mean in theme because it's a shonen it's to be expected, I mean in execution.

Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? Ep 7 Impressions

An enjoyable episode with an intriguing cliff hanger.

I believe whenever the characters say "that's what a normal student would do" etc the anime means that's what a standard romance or harem trope would be.

I like how the anime is self aware of what usually happens in a standard beach episode and pokes fun at it.

In regards to Ako still thinking she's married in real life I secretly ask myself what is wrong with that?

She fell in love with the mc as person, not a character sprite.

The love is now reciprocal so why not just go with it?

Perhaps Ako is right and the others are wrong about this.

Yes ako should be able to differentiate the real world and game, but perhaps changing her perspective of her marriage with Russian is the wrong approach.

If I were Rusian I'd be happy, and if their relationship ever gets "downgraded" to a normal bf/gf relationship I think he'll miss it.

It was funny how the whole event was basically just a cash grab for people to buy things at the hotel. The teacher says perhaps this is getting too real, I think this is foreshadowing the ending of the episode. My guess is that someone hacked into Russians account. Russian had trouble entering his password right? I think someone put a dummy site on the computer that looks exactly like the login for the game. The hacker stole Russian's user and password. Besides the obvious possible identity theft, the danger in regards to the anime is that Ako believes the hacker is Rusian, she may get emotionally taken advantage of or get her feelings hurt. What I really hope doesn't happen is if the hacker tells her to go somewhere in real life and she gets taken advantage of physically.

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri Episode 6 Impressions

The show keeps getting better with every episode.

The frustrations of the lack of communication between characters in the early episodes continues to diminish as the characters begin to trust one another.

I never blamed Mumei for acting the way she did with other characters because she was probably raised differently.

With each episode Mumei seems to become more human which is ironic considering she could turn into a Kabane.

I hope we soon discover who Mumei's master is.

Was Mumei's group some sort of black ops special unit against the kabane, which is why no one has heard of the Kabanari?

I thought Mumei was bitten by a Kabane and became a Kabanari, but in the episode she said she was never bitten.

Therefore I wonder if experiments were done to her, given some injections in order to artificially become half Kabane.

Are there differences between people who get bitten and people who artificially become a kabanari?

Would people who got bitten be stronger because they have a more direct strain?

What I am loving the most is the action.

The action is always the best when they are fighting on top of the train.

The speed of the train, the fast moving background, always makes the action feel more fast paced.

Also the animation is so smooth in conjunction with the continues change in camera angle. It's jaw dropping.

In one scene one of the trams of the train fell down a cliff.

What was in that tram? People? Supplies?

At the end of the series will only the head of the train be left?

Lastly I guess Ikoma killed all of the Kabane otherwise Mumei would have found them feasting on his body.

Ikoma said they bit into his stomach or something.

I do hope to have one scene where he's inner organs like intestines are falling out of his body like in the walking dead and him continue to fight.

That would be graphic, maybe too graphic, but I think it would be pretty awesome.

Is Konosuba misogynistic?

Preface:

I watched the Winter 2016 season without paying attention to any anime related website or related source. After finishing Konobu I was surprised to see it as a favorite among many of my friends and people I admire and respect in the anime community. So let me first start of by saying I didn’t connect to the series as well as others. I thought it was a fun quick anime to pass the time. This high praise made me start to really think about how I feel towards the series. At a certain point I asked myself “Is Konosuba sexist or misogynistic?” This question surprised me because I am a die hard harem fan and have watched more harem anime than I can count. I write lengthy reviews on random harem shows that no one ever reads. I’m a guy who doesn’t consider myself a feminist. I’m for equal pay for equal work but I’m tired of the media’s frenzy over feminism and personally think many supposed “feminists” have gone too extreme and equate feminism with man hating. I am hesitant to even write this because I know I’m going to anger people, many of whom will scoff at the title and comment on how stupid I am to even question this.

Why Konosuba can be perceived as being misogynistic:

Literally every female character is portrayed as being dumb. I don’t even mean the main cast, even the secondary cast falls victim to this. The only smart one as the anime points out is the male protagonist Satou. When I say dumb I don’t mean not being smart it terms of understanding magic, I mean being generally clueless and lacking common sense. The female lead Aqua is said to have a low intellect, you see her leveling up water tricks instead of more important stats. Another female named Lalatina is a masochist and wants to be abused making her entirely irrational. Megumin is a witch who uses too much magic and needs Satou to carry her, there is a weak submissive female lich named Wiz, a thief girl who becomes a baby once her panties get stolen. In fact multiple females in the show are shown as being helpless and require Satou to come save them. They constantly beg and whine to Satou. There is not one strong female character.

The running gag is that everyone in Satou’s party is helpless making the team dysfunctional. It can be argued that this is the whole point of the comedy show, that is why it is funny. I give comedians a lot of slack when it comes to comedy. Personally I think it’s ok to be sexist in a playful manner but not in a way where there is apparent ill will to whatever group you are making fun of. If you look at Konosuba 90% of the time, the girls are the brunt of the joke. Even Satou the male protagonist constantly berates Aqua. When this happens over and over again at a certain point you begin to wonder if this is becoming misogynistic. Which might be why I was slightly annoyed and frustrated when watching the show. I got bored and tired of it. “Oh look Aqua’s being dumb again, oh look Lalatina wants to be abused again, oh look Megumin needs to be carried again.”

Since watching Konosuba I have watched a random harem anime called Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance and it made me confirm my stance on why I feel the standard harem treatment of women is different than Konosuba. I would say harem anime are sexist, you have girls inexplicably falling in love with the protagonist for no apparent reason. Females can be clueless or stubborn, even the standard strong female falls in love with the MC. But I could never call a harem anime misogynistic. I think a big part of why is because in a harem anime there is still a plot even if it is pretty thin and weak. Throughout the course of a harem anime you begin to connect and care for the females. You see their faults and insecurities, you see how they grow in order to rise up and meet some goal. You mostly laugh at the MC and not at the girls themselves.

On a final note this is all very subjective and your opinion probably differs than mine. My problem with Konosuba is not that it is sexist but that it is misogynistic. I do not believe that every anime needs to have a strong female, I think a lot of recent tv shows and movies have a strong female lead for the sake of having one. However in Konosuba the girls are all perceived as being dumb and in a country like Japan where there is a high degree of gender inequality, where you see females on japanese variety shows just there to smile and look pretty, it all becomes a little jarring. Konosuba is a comedy, a parody in fact so I get where they were going with this; but personally the gags got old over time. Maybe they are parodying the role of women in anime, but honestly I think that is a bit of a stretch. I don’t think the anime is smart enough for that, and if that is true it was never tasteful or clever. Here’s looking at you Succubus whore house and the gratuitous Lalatina bath scene. In Konosuba the girls are always the brunt of the joke, I laughed at first but over time it changed from being endearing to just being mean.

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk Impressions

Note this is a first impressions based on the first 4 episodes.

I was told not to watch this series. I was told it had nothing to offer. I was told wrong. This series has a lot going for it if you are a fan of the harem genre and can get over the standard tropes. The most glaring aspect of the show is its art and animation. The show is drop dead gorgeous. The action sequences flow effortlessly and it’s a joy to watch. Just take a look at the opening of the show to get an idea of the art. Speaking of which the show has one of the best opening and endings of the season. Therefore in terms of production the show is at a extremely high level.

A negative I have with the show is the story. In recent years there have been an influx of shows with the same type of story and characters. A variety of shows I can think of with a similar storyline and feel is “Absolute Duo”, “Freezing” and “Infinite Stratos”. I have also been told another show this year called “Rakudai Kishi no Cavalay” is copy and paste of Asterisk. The show also suffers from an overpowered protagonist. This is another trope that has been increasingly popular particularly in light novels where so many of these anime are based on. Therefore my gripe is not of the show specifically but more of the Anime industry as a whole. With this amount of production and quality you have to wonder if the money could have been used for a more creative and unique series.

While the show’s story may be copy and paste from previous shows there are hints of it being superior to its predecessors besides the improved art and animation. The concept of a world ruled by companies is intriguing as massive conglomerates tend to be corrupt. In today’s world companies like Google, Apple and Facebook are having increasingly more power and influence to the point of many countries relying on the business of these companies to stimulate and elongate economic growth. Ursula K. Le Guin (Nebula and Hugo award winning author) stated that “Science Fiction is descriptive not predictive.” Therefore the concept is exactly what good science fiction should be. The issue is that there has so far only been passing mention of this concept. There has not been any great detail or implications shown which is worrying considering I’m 4 episodes in and the show is only 12 episodes long. Another positive is that the protagonist does have a weakness (possibly multiple weaknesses if you are paying attention), I hope these weaknesses get exploited to combat the trope of an overpowered MC.

Lastly I feel there are two sides to the protagonist. There are times where he acts like the stereotypical dumb harem protagonist however there are times where he uses diplomacy/speech in order to get out of a potential conflict. This frankly is a breath of fresh air in the genre. In battle he is able to analyze and understand strategy showing that he isn’t as dumb as he looks. This is a side I want to see more off.

Therefore I feel as though this show could turn into something that might not be great but might be at the top tier of its category. In recent years similar shows to this series are decent and fine at best, but this series could actually be good. I wonder if this concept has been rehashed to such a degree that the imperfections have diminished. Analogous to a chemist purifying or concentrating a certain solution. Perhaps so, perhaps not.

6.5/10 (so far)

Feel free to friend me on MAL: http://myanimelist.net/profile/seal308

God Eater First Impressions Ep 1-4

One of the most hyped up shows of Summer 2015, but does it live up to expectations? 

The show is about a group of hunters called God Eaters who hunt monsters called Aragami. The concept is fairly simple and quite frankly generic by today’s standards. It’s the classic theme of mankind bringing it’s own ruin via technology. In terms of setting Attack on Titan comes to mind, where a walled city is protected by an eclectic band of heros from monsters. You have the protagonist who wants to save everybody, the mysterious european beauty with an excessively long name, the new recruit, a carefree leader, the bad boy and a strict commanding officer. Nothing in this series in terms of plot and characters screams unique. This is completely fine by me, being generic doesn’t mean it’s bad, it all depends on execution.

The biggest issue with this series is pacing. A comparable series from a previous season is Terra Formars. It was a show many had high hopes for, besides the awful sensors, one of my biggest complaint was the pacing. The show felt extremely slow, this largely had to do with the amount of exposition even though it was an action show. God eaters has been known to have some production issues, with change of hands in production, episodes getting delayed etc. The slow pace of this series so far is reflective of the production problems this show has been having. It is as though the producers had to slow down the pace in order to keep up with production. Like Terra Formars, screens seem to take a few seconds too long, you have times when no one is talking and the camera is set at a particular character posing or staring off into empty space. As a personal preference action anime should be fairly fast paced; heavy exposition, slow plot progression, long setup are all unwanted.

The saving grace of this series is the beautiful art and animation. The cell shaded art style can be polarizing at first but there are certain scenes where it all seems worth it. A scene that comes to mind is when the protagonist is aboard a plane and sees a gigantic aragami emerging from sun kissed clouds and diving back in like a whale emerging from the waters of the ocean. Also the action sequences are gorgeous, you can perfectly see how the sequences work, what is going on, everything seems crisp and clear. The 2 main types of weapons are swords and guns, what I hope is that new weapons are introduced or existing ones evolve to bring more diversity in terms of action.

Taking everything into account, I would say the show is very average at the moment. Setup up to this point has taken too long making the pacing seem too slow. I think i’m going to start liking the series more as the action starts to pick up. The only value of this series so far is it’s art and animation which again is polarizing and takes some time to get used to.