Anime Review Blog (Spring, 2023)
Welcome to the shortest blog in my series! I had a LOT of priorities to manage the past 3 months, and beyond that, I also have gotten heavily invested into Breaking Bad, which takes up a lot of the time I would otherwise spend watching anime. Don’t let that fool you though! I’ve got a handful of amazing and cursed anime here!
(There are literally no images on google that aren’t cursed, and are uploadable file types!)
I knew it was bad. I knew it, and I still thought, maybe there is something that isn’t so far down bad about this anime. I let my weak thoughts get to me. I watched My Life as Inukai San’s Dog. I thought, surely, this is just a guilty pleasure horny show that I can shove into the C tier, right? It has shorter episodes anyways. It will be fine, right? Right??? No… this show is so far gone. For once, the MC is actually not the down bad horny one. It’s the girl. She wants to be intimate with the DOG. THE DOG. This show is genuine trash, you are sick in the head if you enjoy this. My eyes have been tainted from just 2 episodes. For the first time in 3 years, we have a new member joining the depths.
Verdict: F TIER!
I really expected more from The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. Somehow, this is the most “nothing” anime ever. Literally NOTHING happens. Even by slice of life standards, nothing happens. It’s literally just cute characters talking. For 12 episodes. More than 70% of this show happens in the dude’s apartment, on his couch. Mahiru was also kind of annoying. She has a bit of a tragic backstory, but also tries to dance around every question, every answer, every feeling. Like just spit it out lady, good grief. Every one sentence response she should have is like four sentences instead.
Basically, this felt like an anime where they wanted to make it about a young husband and wife, but then adapted that into highschool romance. And I think it is poorly executed. It is only cute. But cute cannot fully save from boring and long-winded.
Verdict: C
I’ve once again watched another Makoto Shinkai film in theatres, though I didn’t get a poster this time like I did with Weathering With You. So, Suzume. If you watch other Shinkai films like I have, you’ll notice a pattern with how his films flow and develop characters. I definitely felt that way as well. Despite that, the stories he tells continues to be amazing, with amazing soundtracks and visuals to accompany it. It isn’t as comparatively good as Weathering With You was, since we’ve had some amazing animation lately, but it is still top tier animation that looks absolutely stunning. Really, it’s just a good, fun story. I found that Suzume held on to it’s light-hearted phase longer than Weathering With You and Your Name did. This led to a more wholesome feeling at the end of the day, and the ending felt more appropriate than the ending of some of Shinkai’s other works. All in all, it's great, give it a watch, especially if you like fantastical fiction. I think it just barely edges out as Shinkai’s best work when everything is placed in a vacuum, though the comparison between works in 2016 and 2020 are much different than they are now. To me, Suzume has the least impact on the time it was released, but had the best and most cohesive narrative.
Verdict: S!
ODDTAXI is one of the most underrated, underappreciated anime out there. It looks really weird at first, looking like some Beastars wannabe. But aside from a simple thematic choice of using humanoid animals as the characters, the two shows couldn’t be any further apart. ODDTAXI has an incredible story that is elaborate, deep, and keeps you hooked for every second. It covers a wide range of problems within it’s narrative and sheds some light on them, such as gatcha game addiction, the yakuza’s influence on Japan, corrupt cops, the idol industry, and even obscure medical diseases. It truly encompasses the entirety of weeb culture! Partially kidding on the last one :)
I was ready to give this anime an A+ rating for its elaborate, but somewhat odd stylistic choices. But episode 13, it is insane. One of the most incredible episodes I’ve ever watched, I’ve never been so dumbfounded as I have when I watched the first half of episode 13. Somehow, someway, it ties all of the countless and numerous plot threads together in a nice, neat package.
All I have left to say is, don’t get any spoilers whatsoever beyond what I’ve mentioned, and make sure you pay attention. This is not a brain off anime, but it tells one of the best stories I’ve ever witnessed in media.
Verdict: S
F, C, and two S. An unusual combination for sure. I’ve almost finished Breaking Bad in these few months, and I will take a break before starting Better Call Saul, so the next anime blog coming out in September will be more like the usual length. And honestly, it’s not all Breaking Bad’s fault. I’ve been horribly Tik Tok addicted in the past couple of months, and my schedule has been getting increasingly busy and stressful. Enough about that though, I hope you all enjoyed my blog! See you in September! :)
