Hi I'm Dranzerstorm
You may remember me as a regular contestant on the caption battle contest.
Welcome to Retro Retrospective, my world dedicated to the old guard of the Otaku world; expect some reviews of the old & obscure, and in-depth geeky knowledge with the occasional top ten and I now have a logo.

Little info about me
Well I'm British and I'm in to all things animated and nostalgia.
I've grown up with every cartoon going and have watched hundreds of anime.
Oh and to answer a question I was asked once, no I don't wear glasses in real life, I would wear Loke's sunglasses though.

Hula Fulla Dance Review

Based on an actual Hawaiian Themed Resort in Japan.

Hiwa is a young girl with a desire to follow her late older sister's footsteps into the world of Hula Dancing at a well known Hawaiian Resort, joined by a stuck up pro, a laid back Sumo lady, a shy girl and a Hawaiian native, Hiwa and her new found friends compete in contests and grow to become splendid hula dancers over the years of intense training.
You can instantly tell this was made by the Love Live crew with how the idol tropes manage to slip in, thankfully with the pacing, it doesn't become a nuisance and much of the charm of the film comes from the fact that this is based on an actual Hawaiian resort, my only real complaint is the talking doll, I won't spoil it but adding a supernatural element to an otherwise grounded in reality film does take you out of the immersion.
Not seen a dub should be decent though.
Final Verdict: A pleasant film obviously taking as many tropes from Love Live as possible but not stuffing your brain with the melodrama that usually comes with it, certainly worth your time.

The Maid I Hired Recently Is Mysterious Review

Not what I was expecting.

Yuuri is a young boy alone in his mansion following the death of his parents until one day a maid of dark skin, striking pink eyes and modest bust arrives to become his maid known as Lilith, initially suspicious of the beautiful maid and not helped by her naturally teasing nature, Yuuri must work out why Lilith decided to serve him.
This is not what I expected, while they obviously can't go full adult, I found myself feeling a bit bored, Yuuri being innocently honest makes for a running joke that out stays its welcome and suddenly makes this eleven episode run a bit of a strain to view as were spending most of the series repeating the same jokes, Lilith is such a uniquely designed character for an anime that it feels wasted on a safe anime like this, if not for her, you'll forget this very quickly.
Not seen the dub, but as long as Lilith is voiced correctly, should be okay.
Final Verdict: Its pretty boring, Lilith is well done but is stuck in such a boring anime.

Inu X Boku SS Review

Right new review

Ririchiyo is a girl with oni blood, shunned by society, kept in a lonely house and wanted for her status, she goes to live in Maison De Ayakashi with others like her, she is assigned a bodyguard named Miketsukami, a fox demon who is a little too attached to the 15 year old girl despite Ririchiyo's penchant for being an unlikeable bitch as a defence mechanism. Curses, games and wacky hijinks makes Maison de Ayakashi hardly boring.
Although I did wish the anime did more with the setting, it's world building is one of it's strongest traits but ultimately chooses to waste time seeing Miketsukami being creepy, there are characters that help break the tension like Kagero's routine of calling the residents "human toilets" and comparing everything between Sadist and Masochist but even that gets old; a quick look into the manga beyond reveals more than I wanted to see as the story goes off the rails and even starts making it's adult characters into children as there is a subplot about reincarnation hinted at from the final episode, it's fixation on young characters unfortunately is hard to unsee considering how it's adults act.
Its even more baffling that this anime has an all star dub cast that feels straight out of old ADVFilms, so why try for this but not something more deserving, yeah it's a good dub but didn't deserve one.
Final Verdict: It's weird obsession of young characters and a world built to go unused makes Inu x Boku SS a massive disappointment.

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Review

First review in weeks.

Yuna is a socially withdrawn teen who spends all day in virtual MMOs, when you have that much money and your parents live off that, there's no point in doing much else, until she is offered a gift of a bear suit that not only gives her OP powers but Isekais her to a new world, despite her bear suit looking like a pair of pajamas Yuna quickly establishes herself as a major adventurer and looks set to up end the whole order along with her heavy bank balance in tow.
So this goes under, you have all these crazy powers but you're wearing something ridiculous trope but Yuna is a character who quickly becomes endearing when you consider that she's very kind to children, has issues with nobles and has the power and influence to back it up, but also is a little selfish and defeats a Kraken just because she wants seafood or builds a tunnel just to access a seafood town, so when you get a rare glimpse of Yuna in a dress, it catches you off guard how young and normal she looks, I don't know why but female isekai protagonists are just easier to like than the males, she's also a girl boss that works well.
Dub should be fine but I imagine some subjects are played up for the audience more than the original, I can also see this dragging its heels if they decide to do more seasons, there's only so much you can see the same thing every episode.
Final Verdict: A charming little isekai that has a well rounded protagonist and one of the only girl bosses that work, after two seasons, I doubt it could hold its audience any longer, the content we did get is pretty solid.

The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague Review

Would you believe this is my fourth office rom-com anime.

Himuro, a descendant of a snow woman starts work at a trading company meeting the stoic, cool headed Fuyutsuki who he immediately falls in love with but his emotions comes with blizzards whenever he's nervous which comes with his character, navigating a full year of office work, Himuro and Fuyutsuki grow closer with the hope to be more than colleagues.
I wouldn't let the yokai characters bother you as it's just part of this anime's charm and doesn't seem to distract from the main romance, if anything the close friendship group consisting of a Phoenix and a Fox Spirit just makes the whole office environment more believable, what I like the most is these adults are alot closer to the current crop of 20-30 year olds working in the office environment, what they talk about and what their interests are very much matches real life office workers of the same generation, the dub of the anime makes it all the more believable, especially the voice of Fuyutsuki who not only matches her persona but makes her kind and pleasant to listen to, the whole anime feels next level grown up and I really appreciate it, it's a really well thought out rom-com.
Final Verdict: I cannot praise this series enough for really nailing mature grown up romances, especially with a character as beautifully portrayed as Fuyutsuki.