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Set in yee olde Tokyo of 1948 comes this detective story.

Kanna, our main is a student and plays Watson to the Sherlock Holmes inspired Sensei Chuuzenji.

The episode starts with a hint of the supernatural or urban legend then Sensei walks on and logics it all down to earth, the end. And there is a white haired dude in there that is clearly supernatural but we don't talk about that!

While the artwork is... fine, just fine. The animation is stiff as a board. It actually brings the whole show down.

Sensei's job is to mug at the camera. No really, that's it. He's a pure ... Sherlock Holmes dupe and nothing else to where it's actually boring.

The premise of the show had potential but between the stiff characters, the obvious "mysteries" and the poor animation it just too rigid and not entertaining enough to keep you interested in what's going on.

Normally I'd give this a meh 5 and mixed bag since there is nothing REALLY wrong with it, however there are better detective shows out this season that by comparison this one just doesn't hold up.

What a round about way of doing things.

The detective genre has a few famous troupes. You have the Sherlock Holmes, the flashy know it all detective that gathers seemingly irrelevant clues until he bares all at the reveal.

You have the Watson, the sidekick that is actually the brains of the operation and hides in the shadows of the stupid wanna be Sherlock for whatever reason. Think Detective Conan or Penny from inspector gadget.

Less common is the hidden talon detective. Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple by Agatha Christie. The one that purposely gets underestimated and hides their wits till the end when it's time ... to strike.

Ok so.... lets have them all in one show.

Kyouichirou is our flashy Holmes wanna be and set up as the stupido of the show.

Reiko, our Watson that tolerates him to hide her true status of rich heiress. A bit weird because they're both Heirs for high end companies so they should run in the same circles. Add to that she's the klutz trope, no literally. Her character intro is to fall flat on her face 30 seconds into episode one. AKA don't take this person seriously, she's just supposed to be cute... and nothing else.

Kageyama, This is our hidden talons. Because he's a butler/servant his job is to be invisible. More so to the upper classes. He is the actual detective of the show though they couldn't help themselves and made him the "cool dark prince" stereotype. So, not really a hidden talon just one from the point of view of the mains.

Does it work?

Kinda? I mean, the butler seems redundant to the dynamic of Sherlock and Watson. An extra step to enforce that our main is "just a girl"... god I hate that saying, but here that's what this show is pushing.

The murder mysteries are a bit dumb but not too bad. The dynamic between Sherlock and Watson is the best part of the show and I wish they just committed to making the girl the real brains instead of outsourcing that part.

SUMMERY

Episodic in nature, it's a mixed bag with quite a few redundancies. The Character interactions are entertaining but the murder plot usually is not. Art is nice and animation lively, Dub is rather bad so stick to the sub.

TLDR = Cute anime and it subverts the usual rom-com tropes.


Plot = 7/10
Nothing new here. Girl likes boy, they contrive a reason for them to live in a two story house alone, boy is oblivious to her romantic advances to keep the story going.
Twist here is that she's a witch and he's a oni.
It does get one extra point because the "seduction" parts depend more on cuteness rather than jiggle mechanics like others with the same plot.


Characters = 7.5/10
... Both leads are very cute. Also I do like that they are written like actual people not stereotypes.

Nico is ditzy and a bit stupid but not annoyingly so. Also while she is trying REALLY hard to seduce her partner she still acts like a person rather than throwing her panties at him or something.

Morihito is the now obligatory stoic and stiff character but here it's more that he's the straight man to Nico's silliness. Also he has his own interests and hobbies which already makes him more interesting than the boring stereotype he's based on.


Art & Animation = 8/10
Beautiful art, fluid animation. Everything is very livily and fits the vibe. no budget cuts are noted so far. There are some shots however, when they're outside, that the world feels empty. It would have benefited from some background work.


Fun Factor = 9/10
The jokes land in this one. Also for anime fans they drop a lot of HxH references which I wasn't expecting.
One of the things I like about this anime is that it will present you with a trope just to laugh it off as silly and unrealistic. This subversion keeps things fresh and interesting.


Overall = 7.5/10
This show is very cute and rather funny. The story is light hearted and doesn't take anything too seriously.
While the plot of "girl drooling over oblivious boy" is hardly new, I do appreciate them taking the cute route instead of the usual heavy handed fan service so rounding up.

Ichi is a mountain child. To survive he learns to hunt in said mountain where the law of eat or be eaten is all there is.

He accidentally acquires a magik one day and becomes a witch... in a society where only women can have magic.

The interesting part here is that this isn't a reset button. Ichi just shifts his focus from hunting animals to hunting magical creatures (magik) using the same principles. This contrasts with an entire society built on arcane practices.

I want to note that the author (Nishi Osamu) is also behind Mairimashita! Iruma-Kun, a story about a human boy in ... demon hogwarts. They very much are into the displacement thing, I call it displacement because "fish-out-of-water" doesn't work. You need to keep splashing the fish with "because plot" or it'll die. But with Osamu the person introduces ideas and practices to the new world/society and things develop from there with both parties learning from each other.

It's a well written manga, even more focused compared to Iruma-kun and the artwork is amazing.

Also, like iruma-kun, the adults here are responsible. They don't endanger children just because this is a shonen. Something so basic yet I rarely come across it in this genre.

Tokimeki Tonight, or what it was called in the Arabic dub, Ranze the amazing (رانزي المدهشة)

I grew up with this anime back in the 80s so it was a real throwback to come across it again 40 years later.

The show masquerades as a shoujo anime but it's really a circular gag show, similar in style to Urusei Yatsura by Rumiko Takahashi (of Ranma 1/2 fame).

The characters are introduced, they fall in love, the relationship never advances past the introduction and its used as an excuse for comedy to happen. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if it was inspired by Urusei Yatsura as the character ... dynamic and situations are pretty close.

Summery = Ranze is a daughter of a vampire father & werewolf mother. On her first day of highschool she falls for Shun the bad boy, because he's human and she's a monster it's considered forbidden love. Love rivals are introduced to complicate things and hijinks ensue.

Plot (7/10) =

Episodic by nature and very character driven. A situation is set up and the characters are left to run amuck. Similar to Urusei Yatsura (and Ranma) regardless of what happens no lasting harm is done and the relationship status quo is maintained. The episodes are memorable though, If I can still some of them including one off characters over 40 years later then the show must be doing something right. Ending was rather lackluster though, I always thought the arabic dub stopped at an odd point so imagine my surprise to find out they were actually faithful to the OG.


Characters (8.5/10) =

This is the show's strong point. Not only are they solid but memorable, they're not stereotypical at all. If anything every single character is created with some form of conflict in mind so the relationships and interactions are very dynamic, explosive in some cases.

Ranze's mother is headstrong and tries to force her daughter into a more traditional marriage, which is hilarious when you find out that she herself rebelled against her parents and married for love. A man she now uses as a punching bag whenever the full moon rises (gee I wonder what that symbolizes... subtle...)

Ranze herself has a strong sense of self and doesn't let anything or anyone get her down. She is sure both of herself and her parent's love (to her and to each other) & very internally motivated. More than can be said for 90% of modern heroines sadly.

Even Shun the love interest, I didn't like him as a kid as it seemed like he was just leading the girls along. Well yeah he is but he isn't your typical bad boy jock either. He actually has a personality and just because he is the love interest doesn't mean he HAS to like the girl back.


Art and animation (7/10) =

So... yeah. This came out in 1982 with the typical low to moderate budget animation of the time. I suspect it was funded by what change they found in the couch cushions...

Characters often walk in space. Backdrops are missing in none essential shots. repeated animation to cut on costs...etc.

They did try to stylize it though. Lots of English signs to hint at this happening in the west and the characters will often drop english words randomly. The backgrounds have a stylized look, style of something drawn by a 5 year old sure, but still stylized.

The characters have this long thin body with a large head typical of 70s animation.

It's a date look but even with all that it's still charming with a lot of attention to detail. The characters expressive and the animation matches the show's energy.


Sound (8/10)

Another strong point for the show. The music and sound are really catchy and memorable. I would score it higher but I feel like the japanese voice acting brings it down a little.


Fun Factor (7/10)

This is a cute show with lots of gags that still land. It's of it's time but a cheap laugh is still a laugh. Also while the characters can be a bit much at times they are never unlikeable.


OVERALL (7/10)

A cute gag show from the 80s, good characters and doesn't take itself too seriously. It's of it's time for sure and more a curio rather than a hidden gem.

I came across this series by accident so went in completely blind.

From the images I thought this was BL. Well, it's not... there is not yet a word to categorize how gay it is though.

The premise is that Momose, previously employed in a black company, was traumatized by his previous horrible boss and poor work environment.

Transferring to a new place he starts the healing process with his new "goofy" boss.

Lots of airheaded and cutesy moments, the show is less episodic in nature and more a series of vignettes strung together to complete the required run time. It's the kind of show ... made for 5 minutes anime shorts to be honest.

Regarding the "goofy" boss... Ok, so I'm not a fan of the airhead character so I just found him a bit too forced. The show would have done better to endear him to the viewer first instead of deciding that he will automatically be loved from the first frame.

The show is fine, the focus is on "cutesy healing". The characters are just a vehicle for the cute interactions.
It's just not for me, I want a little more from a show than that.

Combatant Six is evil henchmen.... number 6.... anyway he is sent on a scouting mission for evil Corp to a new earth-like planet slotted in for the next invasion.

Right of the bat this is not just a comedy but also a parody anime so lots of references and they are more than aware of the tropes.

They do it right because the jokes land, the characters interesting and the show as a whole very entertaining.

Elephant in the room, 9 time out of 10 the joke will involve some form of sexual harassment with a system that, because Six is literally part of evil ... Corp, he actually gets paid for doing evil deeds. So the show is aware that this is wrong but it's funny so they'll do it anyway. Six even says when one of the girls complains about him always targeting her "because you're our designated fanservice!"

It's a cute show, the fact that evil corp not only has this system but ALSO sexual harassment laws is ridiculously hilarious.

Sometimes they go over the top with the harassment scenes but it's always done in service of the jokes, also with them being firmly slotted in the villain role.

Overall it was a fun show and I was sad to see it not end but suddenly just stop. I would recommend it though humor is subjective so keep that in mind.

This was a different angle.

After rising to the top and achieving NEET-dom thanks to some smart investments followed by setting up ive income our hero is Isekaied. Broke and in debt he must now work overtime for da man like the "little people" he used to look down on. Dungeon grunt edition.

The different angle here is that our hero was never a salaryman nor did he have any interest in being one. He was always a hustler, borderline con man and the "don't work hard, just exploit others!" kind of guy.

It's an odd take to have the "hero" of the story use the ... same exact tactics of exploiting staff and unpaid overtime as big corp does... which is the villain in this anime so... brave choice.

A few things.

1. The show is aware that he is in the wrong and will call him out / punish him for it.
2. His actions do have consequences so no MC-kun powers of Making the world stupid for some power fantasy. It has to be earned and earned in a way where people will have a solid reason to help.
3. It was entertaining.

The ending was bit rushed but otherwise this was a solid show. The writing more on the mature side with an interesting main character.

Gegege no Kitaro is a manga first published in 1960. Kitaro is the last of the ghost tribe, a link between humans and Yokai. He is not one nor the other but stands on the line between.

The manga and the anime (which the latest was the sixth iteration aired in 2018) hardy allowed more than one chapter for his backstory (manga) and the anime decided it was so iconic that it didn't even need one, it was just rehashed in one of the OPs visuals.

The movie starts before this as Mizuki, a reporter, is sent to the countryside to investigate a story. This ... turns into a murder mystery ignited via a dispute over inheritance with supernatural elements hanging over the tale.

Story is great, animation is amazing without the use of CGI.
It has some dark elements which include Incest and body horror so something to be aware of before going in.

Do you need to know anything about gegege no Kitaro to watch this?

Honestly, no. The only link is that the ending is the iconic birth of Kitaro that is the starting point of the manga but that's about it.

I do think fans of horror, hand drawn animation & yokai will like this. Fans of the show will love it though the usual cast barely make a cameo as this isn't their story so don't go in expecting to see them much.

Overall a very atmospheric movie.

The Hero's party defeat the demon lord ushering in a era of peace to the world.

A decade later the demon lord is resurrected (in chibi form) and is off to find his great hero... who is now a bum has-been living in filth. Refusing to give up on him the demon lord settles in to make a hero out of him once again!

You know, I think someone had a lot of love for the source material. While the animation budget did seem tight in spots a lot of care and attention was given to the artwork. Mostly though this was just a very cute ... and sweet show.

Someone who was past his prime, who got stepped on by life, and yet.

From the promo I worried about the loli aspect of the demon lord but thankfully it wasn't that.

The characters sweet, the plot fluid and the jokes land. I might have laughed a little too hard at a recurring "The Ring" joke to be honest.

I think if the show had a flaw it would be taking the setting from medieval times to modern japan in just the span of a decade. Seems a bit fast but they were clearly trying to tell the story of someone past his prime just needing a little to try again.