I'm so happy I get to talk about this, we start the first real review of the year, Dirty Pair Project Eden.
The feature starts with Kei and Yuri stopping a smuggling operation of a substance called Vizorium, a necessary ore for space travel, with Yuri's delayed arrival the younger smuggler gets away while Kei and Yuri arrest the other with copious amounts of collateral damage.
The mining operations on Agerna are being disrupted by xenomorph like creatures created by a mad scientist named Dr Wattsman who believes that he can revive the species locked within the Vizorium substance but is no closer to succeeding.
Kei and Yuri are sent to investigate the labs, running into the smuggler from earlier named Carson, as they learn more from Carson about Dr Wattsman, it's left to the three of them to stop the evil genius, even if Wattsman does end up mistaking the three as his creation.
Right off the bat, the effort made for this feature is astounding, this released in 1986, and while I did have the luxury of HD quality, that doesn't take away from the sheer amount of effort each animator went through for Dirty Pair's sci fi world, aesthetic and soundtrack.
The story on the other hand, isn't anything special, Wattsman does mix bumbling and intimidating quite well but the actual Dirty Pair seem to stumble their way through the campaign, it doesn't help that Carson has a habit of taking the edge off the Dirty Pair's bad ass reputation and plenty of very dated 80s writing can very often make some scenes not so fun to watch, the climax more than makes up for it though.
Dub is pretty solid at least.
Final Verdict: Gorgeous looking for any sci fi anime fan but very dated writing can make this tough to get through.
I really wanted to like this anime.
Kashou and Shigure would like to welcome you to Patisserie La Soliel, a unique cafe staffed by catgirls, things seem normal for the catgirls until a stray kitten wanders into their lives after lead catgirl Chocola takes pity on her, the kitten later named Cacao joins the extended family of catgirls and adds more fun to their lives.
To get the giant cat out of the room first, how does this world function?
The Catgirls look pretty human for the most part but quite often their behaviour isn't much different to regular cats and it's shown in the ending theme that they grow at the same rate as a house cat, I really shouldn't think too hard but it is distracting, with that in mind, how old is Shigure meant to be? Her body suggests teenager but her mannerisms, her network of friends and the fact that she owns the business suggest she's closer to her thirties, just another thing to think about.
But what about the catgirls themselves?
Honestly you couldn't pick a more generic set of personalities for these catgirls.
With the exception of Vanilla who is best catgirl every personality has been done to death and doesn't stand out anymore than other anime characters of their types.
Probably the worst of the bunch is Maple and Cinnamon, Maple lacks any personality at all while Cinnamon is the only character reminding me that the Nekopara game is supposed to be a H-Game, the problem with that is that this anime is played like a straight up slice of life anime with no lewd situations, this is especially jarring when Cacao, a kitten, takes the spotlight more often than not.
Nekopara really fails to win me over as it always seems at odds with it's gaming counterpart along with one too many distractions from the world building side, thank god I've never heard a dub, it would be unwatchable.
Final Verdict: Nekopara is slow, uninspired and constantly giving me too much to question in regards to world building, I really wanted to like this but in the end, I only like Vanilla.
No one is ever ready for this anime.
In 2040, Reito is put into cryostasis in order to cure a rare disease, after five years of cryosleep, he reawakens in a very changed Earth, a virus known as the Male Killer virus wiped out the world's male population with Japan alone having only 5 males left as they were all in cryostatis during this time.
With each male having their own story, Reito is trying to locate Elisa and discover more about how the virus came to be all the while being encouraged to repopulate the Earth.
Oh boy, this is the death of harem shows right here, have you considered the idea that most harem shows don't actually behave like a harem show?
The idea of men being wiped out bar one isn't anything new in the realm of fiction, there's even variations where every male becomes a female, the problem with World's End is the motive behind the events of the virus, a group of women discover a way to reproduce without the need for men so they kill off the male population only to take humanity as a whole down with it, it's the Thanos snap scenario where no one considers the ramifications of creating such a catastrophe, such extremist views do not create the scenario that should be associated with harem anime, none of the female cast are interesting and the only three men we follow, Reito doesn't participate in breeding, Kyoji does but we barely see him, then there's Shota who ends up becoming a monster, also I don't think I see a single woman get pregnant and actually repopulate the planet, this is an anti harem anime, what makes this anime ten times worse is having gone through a real life pandemic makes the whole anime in very poor taste.
I hope it never gets dubbed either, I'd rather not imagine who they would get to voice these characters.
Final Verdict: A horrible attempt at trying to insert social commentary in a genre well known for being crass and devoid of plot, it kills any dignity the harem genre had left as the characters are dreadful, you're better off watching Kampfer, Sekirei or even Skelter Heaven, all terrible anime that are better than this.
I'm glad to find a series like this and you'll see why.
Letty is a red dragon who is a pacifist and a cowardly creature, failing in his family duty to protect an egg, he gets kicked out and forced to find a new home on his own, he comes across an elf called Dearia who specialises in architecture and real estate as well as the added title of Demon Lord who accompanies the dragon in finding the perfect home all the while secretly building up his confidence in a world of heroes constantly wanting his head.
This is an incredibly wholesome anime, Letty is a far cry from anything we've seen previously in the fantasy genre in regards to lead characters as his fish out of water story is not off the back of an isekai, throwing in situations where the world makes Letty out as a tyrant only to be shown saving a princess and becoming a father to a young eagle hatchling just makes the journey all the more fun to watch and is yet another modern title to restore some faith in a medium plagued by very mediocre offerings.
My only pet peeve is the subtitling, I'd like to think Dearia is well spoken but adding words like "cringe" and "come at me bro" reeks of Funimation adding things that are unnecessary to the setting, thankfully it's a minor thing and doesn't keep going; the dubbing is surprisingly good as casting feels like they are going for more outside talent instead of using the same group.
Final Verdict: Dragon Goes House Hunting is a wholesome comedy with a fun cast that just makes you smile the further you go into it, providing Funimation doesn't go off script.
This anime left me with much to talk about.
Chiyuki dreams of being a super model but is cursed with short height which for a model is not enough to succeed, too stubborn to give up one day walking down the Paris Runway, she runs into Ikuto, a high school student who dreams of being a designer but is too poor to attend any fashion school.
After making Chiyuki a dress that goes viral on social media, Ikuto gets scouted into the fashion world with the end goal of making it as a designer, but the world ain't so kind to dreamers as Ikuto will soon find out.
Three characters make this anime and they each have different issues.
Chiyuki doesn't really earn her victory at the end, she ultimately goes against Ikuto to prove a point which ends with Ikuto's low rank in the fashion show, I also find it strange that a model in a country where women have lower average height than western nations can't find work.
Then there's Kokoro who suffers with miracle rookie syndrome where she is handed her victory for hard work, at no point was she ever in danger of losing anything and despite hating modelling, she's a natural at it.
Ikuto suffers from what I call Princess Nine syndrome, this is named after the Princess Nine ending where there is intense emotional build up to the finale but ultimately gives no payoff, we know Ikuto will eventually get there, but losing the fashion show, turning down a fashion school to go straight into a design studio with his rival despite turning him down to keep some level of pride feels a little off considering that his turmoil was heartbreaking to watch, everyone is very mean spirited from grumpy inpatient designers to bitchy managers who bully you.
I get that you can't always go by emotion alone and no one is going to hand it to you but I felt that Kokoro and Chiyuki robbed Ikuto of the ending he deserved as it's his story not theres.
Dub is okay, everyone is pretty good in their roles.
Do I like this anime? It's fine but expect to be disappointed.
Final Verdict: An okay anime where the character you should be rooting for doesn't get the ending he deserves.
