Sengoku Youko
Premise
An aspiring samurai with no connections ends up meeting a 9-tailed fox who likes humans and a humans who likes spirits (and doesn’t like humans). Seeing their power as they decide to fight monsters and defuse conflict between human and yokai, he decides to join them in the hopes of becoming stronger.
It Gud?
It is a terribly generic yokai shounen adventure series. Keep in mind, that doesn’t make it “bad”. But unfortunately, it does make it uninteresting. The script, animation and direction are competent and straight forward. Heck, it’s so efficient, it clearly started getting into the second story within the first episode. That does give it a bit of a weird structure but I guess I do appreciate it for not stretching things out unnecessarily.
The series is trying to have interesting characters; a misanthropic human who would rather defend yokai, a yokai who wants them to repent and bring out the rest of them and a powerful swordsman hampered by his own feet of clay. And yet, as the end of the day, I just have no interest in revisiting these characters or this world because it feels like if I wait a few months, I will be getting something like this again, hopefully better.
So, yeah, it’s not doing anything “wrong” but it fails to be unique. This series could have come out 20 or even 30 years ago with no changes. It’s weirdless timeless in its convention. I’m not even going to call it bland. The animation is a bit better than that. It has a flavour. This is more like getting a store-bought pizza; it will do in a pinch but a lot of these store-bought pizzas taste the same, regardless of branding. If someone decides to keep watch it, I get it; it seems like it isn’t a bad watch. I just… don’t feel like I need this one.
Cherry Magic
The Premise
A 30-year-old office worker virgin who is awkward with women has a magic power: he can read minds by touching people. He soon accidentally uses his power on a co-worker and realizes despite his straight face, he is secretly SUPER THIRSTY for him. And it might be a reciprocated feeling but our lead might find this sexy older man a little intimidating…
It Gud?
Cherry Magic is a show that teeters on the edge of being… not good. I’m reminded of another BL rom-com from a few years ago that seemed promising and then ended with a wacky sexual assault. Frustratingly, a lot of BL series make a lot of questionable choices in terms of consent and power dynamics and Cherry Magic gets really close to hitting that area but manages to rein itself in before getting REALLY uncomfortable.
The main interesting thinks REALLY THIRSTY thoughts but he isn’t actually acting on anything in an inappropriate way… mostly. A lot of series would just have him making off-colour remarks (or even some inappropriate advances) but the show is a bit better at balancing its titillation and sweetness for that tension that people love in their rom-coms. It’s not without it’s flaws; yeah the boss doesn’t act on anything but apparently he bought some pajamas in the hopes that one day his co-worker would come over and wear it. Seems like a red flag.
Overall, I won’t be sticking with it but I keep thinking while clearly keeping inappropriate thoughts nearby (to the point where the main character admits to being afraid his senpai might be making a movie… and not like nervous, he seems a little afraid for himself), the show is mostly just kinda sweet. I don’t think the way it’s built that the lead will do anything bad but I am a bit bothered by the power dynamic or the way it is trying to excite the audience by bringing the possibility of something bad happening. Still, in the end, I’m leaving it not for that but more because… I don’t know if the show is going anywhere that interesting to me.
Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable
The Premise
Hokkaido Gals? They are super adorable.
It Gud?
Yeah, the preview was unfortunately male gazey but there are a few of those series that despite having issues in this regard have still been charming in other areas. Hokkaido makes gestures toward making the relationship between the leads charming but… it is clearly much more interesting in “boy, this chick is cute” and doubles down on that until she’s running around in the snow barely dressed. It’s pretty exhausting in this regard.
And it gets weird. OK, so the girl spills yogurt on her face and boobs and it looks like sperm? Yeah, that’s some basic stuff. But also making it really “erotic” when she blows her nose and it gets everywhere? That’s getting specific. And I don’t want to kink shame anyone who might enjoy that but it just shows that this show is just really thirsty before anything, doing the obvious thing of having stuff getting on the woman and then the guy staring and getting embarrassed about it.
Hokkaido Gals is not One Room, thank God, but I think it is trying to get a feel more akin to My Dress-Up Darling, a show I like but have issues with. But this show is almost exclusively those issues and I feel completely lacks what charm that show does have. It is only excited about the boobies and the fluids. Its only modes are “she’s cute” and ramping up to horny on main.
The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil
The Premise
A demon goes to school under cover as a human and falls for a human… who turns out to be an angel, who vows to make him her slave.
It Gud?
Man, if only this show was as funny as it thinks it is. Then we would have a funny show. As is, it is completely intolerable. For a show with such a high concept, it is willing to slow-play it and that’s the one choice I respect. The execution of that choice is intolerable. The characters are completely unlikable, for one but beyond that, it tries to get them to be wacky before what their whole deal is. One is supposed to be a big reveal but the other seems to just confuse the issue of what the main character is trying to accomplish.
Like, he comes in with a bald wig but I’m not sure what the point is. Is he supposed to be garnering sympathy? Was it a confusing practical joke because demons are capricious? It feels like a joke for the sake of a joke because the writer thought it would be funny. It’s not just unfunny, it is confusing, especially when trying to introduce characters. A skilled writer might be able to toy with this swerve rather than a conventional introduction (which is funny because “transfer student introduction is THE most standard character introduction in anime”) but this is not a skilled writer.
I think that’s the problem. Humour is treated as purely affectation. They are trying to create charm in the show through quirkiness but quirkiness unmoored from anything. There are series where I come in not understanding where it is coming from but I can feel like there’s a method behind the madness, sometimes bringing me in despite the weirdness. Conversely, this show seems completely desperate to make me think it is funny but it’s just covering me in flop sweat as it dances around and it makes me feel sad for it as it also makes me feel mad at it for aggressively doing this. It’s just a very unfunny show.
Mr. Villain’s Day Off
The Premise
A villain of tokusatsu heroes has vowed to end humanity. But today is his day off. He just needs some down time.
It Gud?
Of the five shows presented here, I think this one is my favourite. And despite this, I won’t continue. Before I explain why, let me explain the good points. 1) it’s a really chill show. If you want a wacky premise but a chill vibes show, this is it. It’s a fun little series about a villain enjoying the beauty of a day without work, completely cutting loose from work life to just enough life. 2) the main character is enjoyable. He’s a villain who wants to destroy humanity (except the pandas) but whenever encountering humans, he can’t help but being kind to them (begrudgingly) and helping people out (most of whom are his Super Sentai-esque enemies, who are also quick to recognize he’s a nice guy). And 3) sometimes, it’s… not laugh out loud funny but a sensible chuckle.
So what are my issues? It’s almost too chill at times. Like, I don’t often complain about that; some shows try to be and are more boring and lack the vibes. This has those ASMR vibes. But sometimes it just doesn’t sustain my interest. The first episode improves as it gets going and fills out the cast but sometimes I’m just zoning out. But I think that’s partially because of problem 2; this is one of those shows I’d enjoy a lot more if it was shorter. It already is a series of short sketches between 3-5 minutes long but there are certain series that when expanded to full episode length, I kind of get exhausted by. Usually I’d say that about a more frantic show but I just feel like this show would be better served being a 5-12 minute short.
Overall it is a good enough show but the length is the tipping point for me. I do like a good short show and I feel like a lot of four komas or series where the original manga chapters were about 8 pages (or were longer perhaps and just translated to short amounts of time due to pacing) are best represented in a shorter format. It is a pleasant show so I will say if you find the premise inviting do give it a try; you might not have the same bugbear as I. But for me, I would be more willing to watch it if I stopped midway through an episode and gave it a week.