"The Otaku Noob Blog"

"Eyes on Anime"

                           "Working!!" Information

                                              "February Edition Review #7"

 

 

 

 Synopsis...

 

Souta Takanashi is a high school student that gets asked by Taneshima, who appears to look like a little girl but is older than him, to work at a Family Resteraunt. Due to his love for small and cute things he accepts. He is now working part time with some unique co-workers. Each day for him ends in a unique experience.

 

 

 

For a slice-of-life Anime this stood out among the rest. The reason being because it is tied into where the story takes place a family restaurant with workers that are anything but normal. This new setting is different from the trend we have been seeing where the school serves as the focal point of the story. The story itself is from the perspective of Souta Takanashi a worker at the family restaurant, but we change to other characters every so often giving a different feel.

 

Due to being a slice-of-life there is no real dilemma to be solved here just us sitting back watching the daily lives of the characters. It approaches this through comedy a major part of this Anime. The type of comedy seen here has to do with misunderstandings and character gags. The only problem with character gags is that they serve as a good hook but can grow old. The Anime makes an attempt at this issue through putting the characters in different situations as they work to depend on character interactions as a source of comedy. It is pretty much the value of the character's personalities that helped out the comedy.

 

There is also a hidden dose of romance in this Anime well if you can call it that at first. I didn't expect this Anime to turn towards romance and it seems neither did the characters involved. Please note that there are slight spoilers ahead on who is involved in the romance here. The romance that starts is between two unlikely hosts Inami Mahiru and Souta Takanashi who share nothing in common but being scheduled at the same time. It should be important to note that Inami is a known or her condition called androphobia, for those who don't know it mean hatred of men. Whenever she is around one in the work place she will get frightened and punch with surprising strength. Souta has to deal with this once he gets put to work. The romance was a very slow development only gaining real momentum in the second season. So if you could manage to enjoy the first season you'll see the romance then. This romance starts from the bottom in which neither character likes each other but as time passes they gain a certain respect you would for people you spend a while with. I'm not going to say how the romance between the two ended up but it did get somewhere.    

 

 

 

The characters for this Anime are it's spices. Each character in this Anime has a certain set of thoughts affiliated with each character in the end this results in a large web of character interactions on which this Anime thrives. As mentioned before character gags can grow old unless the character remains interesting. The Anime does well at keeping it's characters fresh in your mind. It does this by either developing the characters or putting them temporarily under the spotlight in an episode so that we can become more affiliated with them. This effect works well for the most part.

 

The personalities of the characters are all different yet they don't follow any stereotypes fully and have quirks that make them feel oddly original. This may just fall down to how I observed it though. The characters are the beef of this Anime so it makes for each one to feel special. I'm glad to say this Anime doesn't fully follow the Moe route in which all the interactions between characters are cute and warm. Rather we get a contemplation of different experiences the characters go through with their reaction being the entertainment.    

 

 

 

-Visual: It's not so much the character designs that jump at me but rather the choice of color. The palette of colors here was very warm and soft giving me a comforting feeling while watching. 

 

-Animation: Considering this wasn't of main importance in the Anime it was a nice touch that made the Anime feel smooth and helped portray the characters actions. Even in the the fast pace scenes the animation kept up wonderfully.

 

-Auditory: The choice of music in this Anime was well done since it was highly energetic and had this tune that was different from what I hear in other Anime. To this day I still feel an urge to hear it to brighten up my mood but this may very between people who listen.

 

 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this Anime myself. It is always upbeat and doesn't require much thinking making is great to just sit back and relax. The comedy was well done but it would either be a hit or miss unless you liked the character which is why I'm glad it always switches things up. Also that opening song is still playing in my head. This is definitely a personal favorite! I suggest you give this Anime the time it will be a great experience because it does well at what it aims for.

 

 

 

 

( After some calculations including my own overall enjoyment I have come up with this score.)

 

 

 

"The Otaku Noob Blog"

"Eyes on Anime"

                           "B Gata H Kei" Information

                                                    "February Edition Review #6 "

 

 

 

 

Yamada is a girl in High school with a weird goal in mind which is to have to have sex with 100 men. She wants to get started but is afraid people will make fun of her because she's a virgin and thus rejects every man. So she plans to find another virgin to be her first. She then runs into Kosuda by accident and plans to make him her first. As she tries to seduce him she finds her self feeling awkward around him as she learns there is more to life than sex.

 

 

There is a twist on the romance here as we see s love story unfold from a girls's perspective, of course its a very awkward love story. One thing that is important is how the story moves forward through Yamada as she concocts schemes to get Kosuda's "heart". Oh course from the Anime's description you can tell she was simple out to get her cherry boy, as they put it, at first anyways. Every episode is different then the last due to the events in the last which gives the Anime a smooth move forward. You would thing that watching Yamada keep trying to pull off plans would grow boring but thanks to the forward movement we see Yamada develop to be much more mature on the subject of love.

 

The humor in this Anime is bound to it's perversion. The subject of ecchi comedy is rather bland but the Anime pulls it off thanks to Yamada. It is easy to see Yamada is not a pure girl ad her word choice isn't either. A lot of the comedy comes from what she says due to how open she is about what she wants thus creating humor from her perspective on situations. While it does include normal fan-service that is humorous in its own right it's the verbal ecchi that really made the comedy a highlight in this Anime.

 

 

The cast of characters of characters here produce a likable atmosphere which is ties into their reliability and human like reactions. The interactions between our two lovers. Yamada and Kosuda, are more like that of hormonal teenagers in which they are unsure of their feelings and how to make to each other happy with a learning factor in place. These human qualities make them more relate-able which is rare in most romance Anime today.

 

The interactions between the other characters is also worth mentioning. I already told you about the main characters interactions but what about their interactions with side characters? Well in most modern romance Anime the main character, in this case Yamada, have a group of perverted friends who desire to be in their position, this is not the case here. Instead of a perverted friend we have a supportive friend by the name of Takeshita Miharu. She has helped move the plot forward several times by giving Yamada romantic advice. It is important to note that Miharu is mature and has her own boyfriend to base her advice on. Kosuda also has an adviser his older sister who act interestingly enough as an older sister should excpet for her one habit. 

 

Overall the characters here are well done as far as romance Anime go thanks to the realistic aspects of the Anime. A lot of romance Anime would do good to follow this example with perhaps less ecchi.

 

 

-Visual: The character designs were a little exaggerated in certain places such as the chest. The coloration of the characters were bright and correspond to the Anime's atmosphere. The scenery itself was nothing special but could be done better to create a mood.

 

-Animation: The animation flows well here and is rather pleasing. I felt that while that while I watched the Anime it was very fluid.

 

-Auditory: While not my cup of tea the music dd well the bring out the nature of this Anime. It was very energetic and upbeat but none to memorable.

 

 

 

This Anime was a very fun watch for me and was surprisingly better done then I thought. The ending felt weird to me like they were asking for a season two but the experience was great. Having the perspective of the story from the girl was refreshing and with her being a pervert, reversing the role, was even more refreshing. The Anime was consistently funny and as aid before a steadily moving forward. I will suggest this Anime to those who are willing to understand it's characters.

  

 

 

 

( After some calculations including my own overall enjoyment I have come up with this score.)

 

 

"The Otaku Noob Blog"

"Eyes on Anime"

                           "C³ - CubexCursedxCurious"

                                                                           "February Edition Review #4"

 

 

 

Yachi Haruaki is a high school boy who is naturally resistant to curses. After his father sends him a mysterious black cube, Haruaki awakes to find a nude girl named Fear standing in his kitchen. She’s the human form of the cursed black cube and an instrument of torture! Utilizing her special abilities, Fear fights alongside Haruaki to defeat other cursed instruments and their owners.

 

 

The story here held the potential to be dramatic and intense but a flash of pansu indicated the true horror of this supposed horror Anime. The story here is comedy dependent on bland fan-service with the addition of a predictable plot. The fan-service in this Anime is overly used and grows scale in taste becoming an annoyance quickly. If you eat the same dinner for days on end it grows boring as you get used to it well the fan-service here is persistent and ends up like that dinner, garbage. Due to trying to use ecchi and moe as a main support without a good story, comedy, action, or any developed appeal it set itself up for collapse. Ecchi is meant to be a minor element not a dominant theme but most Anime today don't agree with this idea.

 

Now looking past the fan-service the story lacks plot development due to trying to concentrate on other elements. Besides the expected lack of romance development and stereotypical ecchi this Anime includes some darker parts making them stick out when compared to other elements I see. Just because it sticks out doesn't make it a good thing like drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. I feel the darker aspects of the Anime showed the potential the Anime had at the start but due to the nature of the rest of the Anime it never fits in well when the scenes do come around not to say they were bad but it never holds up.

 

So besides this Anime's identity issues about being a serious or light hearted story there is still one more turn down and that is the "side stories". The characters go on a lot of side adventures that always divert away from the main issue. Besides adding more side characters, that serve no purpose, it advances the story minimally. The new side characters are either over shadowed or become fodder to the fan-service.  

 

 

 

The cast here are built like a lot of characters from other series making them less memorable. Besides being forgettable they never really spiced up the Anime with their personalities which I found to be disappointing as it could have made this Anime decent or at least more enjoyable. When watching the Anime the characters personalities besides being weak seem to change, and become more intense when dark scenes come around, this signifies the lack of adaptability in the characters in dangerous situations as they are forced to take on different personas. As far as being a good source of comedy I didn't laugh at most of the humor but it may fall down to personal taste as I just felt the humor was weak and similar to many other Anime of the harem variety.

 

Now the romance if you could even call it that was horrible. It got nowhere just like everything else in this show. I'm sure you guys heard of the cliche in Anime when the girl freeloads off the guy and they end up together. Well I thought I thought this would be the case but we didn't even reach this point. I'm not sure if I'm happy that this Anime avoided a cliche for once or angry at the lack of any form of romantic development. In the end I don't think any of the characters actually had feelings for each other except for the big-breasted one who was some sort of childhood friend big surprise.   

 

 

 

-Visual: I found the character designs pleasing enough and they were good for the time it was produced. I think the choice of color was good especially during the darker scenes. During the darker scenes the color palette for the surroundings changed to assist in creating a mood for the time which I felt was a nice touch. When the fighting stops the scenery is rather pleasing and nicely done.

 

-Animation: The animation wasn't smooth and this is a problem due to the fact that the Anime has a good amount of fight scenes so good animation can really promote that if it were done better.

 

-Auditory: Due to that dark aspects of the Anime and the lighthearted aspects of the Anime finding a song to complement both is hard. I feel the choice in the opening song was made to appeal to the lighthearted elements leaving the dark half of the show to be discovered. The song itself is nothing amazing either and is soon forgotten. 

 

 

While watching this Anime I was fairly confused and enthralled. I liked when the Anime got dark as it was a change of pace but never did fit in. A lot of the elements were just weak and never left an impact. I would not recommend this Anime to anyone as there are plenty of average Anime that are better then this.

 

 

 

 

( After some calculations including my own overall enjoyment I have come up with this score.)

Score : 3.8/10

 Hello hope this Review isn't a bore to you guys. Also be sure to check out my partner's Blog who goes by the name Ebel we both are working together this Romcon.

"The Otaku Noob Blog"

"Eyes on Anime"

                            "MM!" Information

                                        "February Edition Review #3"

 

 

 

 

Taro tends to be a masochistic due to past events. While he did not care about his condition he changed his mind after falling in love for the first time. So in order to cure his masochistic behavior he goes to "Second Voluntary Club" where he meets Isurugi and Yuno who each have there own special problems to try and find a cure. 

 

 

 

 The story of this Anime is unique and very odd. The story revolves around Taro a masochist as he tries to find a cure for his problem and lead a normal life, it is an odd premise to build an Anime on but it did a fair job to keep you entertained for 12 episodes.

 

Still while the idea was fresh it never got anywhere in the end. None of the problems presented by the Anime ever got a solution making the ending lackluster. The main support of this Anime has to be it's "mindless comedy" but it never fails to make me laugh to see what situation the characters get into next. Unlike some comedy Anime MM! uses a different idea in each episode to keep things turning, which results in me seeing some of the oddest yet funnest scenes in any given comedy Anime. 

 

The romance in this Anime follows like any other harem Anime in which nothing gets resolved. This is not a spoiler as you will predict it very easily. I feel that the romance aspect of the Anime is out of place as it is never developed that well except a select few episodes which were not not well conducted in how the characters fell in love. But when these scenes did come up they built up nice tension.

 

So all in all the idea was original but never well developed. It used it's odd elements to keep us entertained for 12 episodes which it did well I can say. It is like a Mc Donald's burger tastes great but lacks real substance. 

 

 

 

The character here are standard but are made fun to watch through the unique, and odd, traits each one has. One trait we have already addressed is that are male protagonist is masochist. These traits are played around with a lot and help build to the comedy present in the Anime.

 

Since I liked the characters in this Anime I find my self sad at a lack of character development. But it makes sense as the Anime is here to simply make you laugh. One scene that is still brightly lit in mind made me think about how this scene affected the characters, the answer was none. As much as I would like to think it was an important scene it did nothing as everything went back to normal with the issues unsolved as per the loop. This is the case with most scenes similar in purpose. So in the end the characters are interesting but development was low any that occurred only created misconceptions. In the end the characters were a great source of comedy.

 

 

 

-Visual: The art for the characters is average with the normal big eyes plus slim body combo we are all to use to seeing. The double shading technique is rather simple considering when it was made. I normally won't complain about average art but if the Anime isn't story deep then it better be art deep to at least appeal to us in a sense.

 

-Animations: Nothing much needs to be said here as it flowed well throughout the Anime including fight scenes.

 

-Auditory: The opening music complemented the show well but is not memorable. Same can be said for the outro.

 

 

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they like this sort of comedy. The Anime lacked substance in a some areas but I found myself attracted to it none the less. The comedy here is pretty funny but very silly and random so it could turn some people away. Still I'm going to say give this Anime a chance as it is a bit above other some more average Anime due to it's quirks. 

 

 

 

 

( After some calculations including my own overall enjoyment I have come up with this score.)

Score : 5.5/10

Alright I have brought you another review on little known Anime "MM!". Not much to say but be sure to check Ebel's Blog out we are both working together on Romcon this year.

                                                                                                                                                                           T.O.N.B.