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.
Now an example of how to make good world building with a terrible idea.
Tsugumi discovers that she can turn into a weapon prompting an enrolment into Death Weapon Meister Academy. Unlike the original Soul Eater, it is explained that not everyone attending needs to be combat ready.
The school is divided into two classes, traditional Soul Eater focussed on the EAT class Especially Advantaged Talent while this season focusses on the NOT class Normally Overcome Target.
The difference is that the NOT class are only learning to control their powers and abilities not necessarily for the goal of becoming a hero, this is also a prequel so much of the original cast are relegated to extras bar the Thompson Sisters who are still adjusting to Death City and are still being recruited by Death the Kid.
Back to Tsugumi, she meets two meisters named Meme and Anya, one is a forgetful klutz whose goldfish memory gets old really fast while the other is a tsundere runaway princess with an obsession for commoners, the bulk of the show focusses on Tsugumi trying to overcome her fears and accept the new life she now has, while the other focusses on a witch possessing town's people to cause havoc for the academy reminding you that, oh yeah, this is the Soul Eater world.
Like I said at the start, it's really good for world building, making a solid ground work for a franchise that previously left things unexplained and answers questions a fan would ask, but using a moe school girl sitcom format really makes for a painful experience until Shaula Gorgon reminds you that you are watching Soul Eater, so they had you in the first half not gonna lie.
Dub is pretty cookie cutter; Soul Eater Not at best is a prototype for the main series and at worst a self insert trashy yuri fan fiction.
Final Verdict: Only watch if you really care to know how the Soul Eater world functions outside of the stylish combat action of the original, otherwise you can find much better school girl sitcoms in other anime.
This will officially be the oldest anime I've ever reviewed circa 1967.
Speed Racer is a racing driver with a desire to be the best in the world, driving the gadget filled car the Mach 5, but every race brings it's own challenge as many unscrupulous characters stop at nothing to prevent Speed from winning, joined by a close family of Mom, Pops, Spritle and Chim Chim along with close friends Trixie and Sparky along with Racer X who is secretly Speed's older brother who ran away from home as the anime would like to remind you, watching over Speed.
There's alot to bear in mind when watching something this old, the animation is choppy, the voice acting is suspect and dated, the actual show is bonkers, so really you have to view this with a pinch of salt.
But for what is a 60s anime it's actually really well made.
So we got a breakdown of things it does right.
1. The depiction of motor racing being dangerous is accurate to the time period considering that an average motor racing discipline in the 60s always had a fatality, all the deaths although not explicit is kept in the English version and the death toll is higher than quite a high number of more famous anime titles.
2. Trixie is a strong female character and one of the earliest examples of the independent female character in anime.
3. The speed of the English speech just adds to the charm of the show and is incredibly meme worthy, keep in mind, four voice actors did everything.
So does it have any faults?
Spritle has too much screen time, the plot tends to repeat itself too much, it doesn't always let Trixie be a strong character, too much shouting and screaming and Speed Racer himself being remarkably dumb.
On it's own merits, it's far better than it ever has any right to be.
Final Verdict: A curiosity, a piece of history and a meme worthy cartoon, Speed Racer more than earns it's reputation.
This has been quite the ride for me.
Rika is a young girl with a secret lineage to a fantasy Kingdom known as the Doll Kingdom, however it's currently in possession of evil forces led by Devaul who uses his minions led by Scarecrow to constantly try to kidnap Rika, luckily Rika is protected by the Doll Knights led by title character Super Doll Licca-Chan activated by Rika's Grandmother.
This series is offensively 90s, not that it has any dodgy content, it's pretty safe for the most part bar Rika's lack of Stranger Danger senses, it's just the style of the whole thing is just so 90s, not helped by the fact that the Doll Knights choose to dress as teenage mall dwellers over a form that would match their status as royal knights.
This is actually based on the fashion doll of the same name that's been going on just as long as the Barbie doll and like Barbie this is a weird entry in a franchise who at the time in the late 90s were struggling to stay relevant, new wave girl power bands like the Spice Girls and game changing shojo series Sailor Moon being the main rivals.
There are no dubs for English regions only Europe.
Final Verdict: A show already dated by 90s anime standards, it's hardly offensive but hardly a thrilling watch as it becomes a tiring marathon of watching the same failed kidnapping plot every episode.
I've been waiting to do this review for a while now.
Legend tells of the Bandit King who can steal anything, even the stars in the sky, the title of which held by Jing, a young thief alongside the smart mouthed crow Kir who can bond with Jing to become a powerful blaster, each episode focusses on a rare treasure of which Jing is after, more often than not obtaining said treasures among a carnival of misfits and creative characters all named after cocktails and alcoholic drinks, it lacks the brute force approach of regular Shonen anime but makes up for it in creative art and philosophical story telling, there's more to it than just obtaining the treasure but leaving a last impression on all who cross Jing be it a dreamweaver in a prison, a princess in a town plagued by endless battles or even protecting a creature that could explode at any moment.
King of Bandits Jing is the absolute master of leaving such a lasting impression that you can never have a bad ending, it's a shame that the author never did anything else, dub is pretty good as well.
Final Verdict: An underrated classic that deserves way more praise for always leaving the reader satisfied after every story, easily top ten best anime in creativity, characters and story, there's no anime like it anywhere.
