masonfewel Reviews

Sakura Trick (2014)

Yuu's sister can go f herself

[7/10 · 24 September 2022]

Oh my god I hate yuu's sister. She sucks so much. Why would you add someone like her to this show? It's so good otherwise. My least favorite thing about any romance show/movie/book or whatever is there being more than two people that are involved in the romance aspect at the same time, and this show has literally no reason for yuu's sister to be such a b*tch and *spolier* like haruka. Why. I genuinely really like pretty much every aspect of this show, but mitsuki kai-chou is just the absolute worst. The main characters have good chemistry and I enjoy their interactions, but yuu's sister really brought down my enjoyment.

Princess Principal Crown Handler: Chapter 2 (2021)

Really good

[8/10 · 27 March 2022]

I'm just leaving this here because no one else has (and if you're wondering you can watch this on gogoanime) but this series is crushingly underrated. It's super fun, interesting, action and mystery packed, the characters are good, the animation is good, there are good concepts that are executed well, idk man I just don't have any complaints really. I can't believe how few people have watched Princess Principal, and I would definitely recommend it.

My Dress-Up Darling (2022)

Yeah, its absolutely amazing.

[9/10 · 26 March 2022]

Basically, this show is better than any romance anime to come out in the last decade. It is the highest I have rated romance anime ever. What the hell, dude? Why is this show so good? I just don't get it. Best show this season. Not going to spoil anything, just do yourself a favor and watch this anime.

Akebi's Sailor Uniform (2022)

Surpassed all expectations

[8/10 · 26 March 2022]

I expected to give this like a 7 based on the synopsis, but every week whenever an episode came out I found myself looking forward to it more and more. The characters, the environments, the sound design, the story, are all way better than I expected. Most of all, the visuals/animation are PHENOMENAL.

Every movement has such fluidity to it, the charatcers are all unique looking and it has a visible style that sets it apart from other similar anime, the backgrounds all have RTX on. I hate to say it, but the animation is better than cloverworks other absolute banger this season, my dress up darling (though dress up darling is overall slightly better).

To put the 9 I gave this show into perspective, out of over 300 anime that I have watched, less than 20 have a 9 or 10. And this is a 9, which means I absolutely LOVED it. Man, cloverworks wasn't exactly my favorite studio before this season, but now it is up there with my all time favorites like kyoani. They did SUCH a good job this season.

In the Land of Leadale (2022)

It finally ended today

[7/10 · 23 March 2022]

Well, it finally ended today. And it was a good, wholesome story about a dead girl and all the fake people she meets and a bunch of overbearing people that like her too much. No but this show was actually pretty good, I always looked forward to it each week it came out. It's not the best show ever: there's no real plot, everything is resolved within an episode or the first 5 minutes of the next episode, and the animation isn't that great. Even though this does sound like i'm ripping on leadale it was a fun ride, and I would recommend it for some lighthearted, wholesome, vanilla fun.

Sound of the Sky (2010)

Better than expected

[8/10 · 10 January 2022]

I kind of thought that this would be just another moe anime except military style, but to my surprise it was a moe anime with an interesting story and complex and flawed characters. By no means is this a perfect show; there were some rushed moments (the story was mostly packed into the last few episodes), and the world that this anime was set in is almost too complicated for a 12 (14 if you count episodes 7.5 and 13, which I would recommend watching) episode anime. There was just so much more that this universe has to offer that wasn't explored in the anime. Other than that though, I appreciate all the thought and detail that was put into everything. Basically, this show just has a really high quality to it, and you can feel that in the animation, the music, the characters, and the story.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this show and would definitely recommend it.

180 Byou de Kimi no Mimi wo Shiawase ni Dekiru ka? (2021– )

Needs better ASMR

[5/10 · 3 January 2022]

The first few episodes actually have decent asmr, but after that there's really not much to look forward to. If you're going to do an asmr anime, then at least pick some good sounds and don't spend entire episodes doing nothing. Other than that, I thought this was an interesting and novel idea, so I give it props in that regard at least.

Sankarea (2012)

Uncomfortable

[6/10 · 1 January 2022]

Do you like feeling uncomfortable? Do you like tasteless fanservice? Do you like unresolved romance? If so, this is the show for you.

Honestly the premise of the show isn't bad, and I really liked some of the concepts, but it just overall was not enjoyable to watch. I felt like I shouldn't be watching it most of the time, which made me just not feel very good. Overall, it could have been good, but I cannot recommend you watch this.

Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (2021–2024)

Better than ratings would suggest

[8/10 · 29 December 2021]

I am writing this on the day the final episode came out, and right now the rating for this show is 6.8 on IMDb and 7.14 on MAL. Honestly, I have no idea why. I know it's not the best show ever made, but I really enjoyed it!

The characters were all fun, the story wasn't amazing but it served it's purpose, and I loved the development of the relationship between rit and red. Honestly that was the highlight of the show, you don't see many romances that progress believably in tv -especially in anime-but I just loved how those two characters worked together.

Overall this show is pretty fun and will not waste your time! I would definitely recommend it.

Kinmoza! (2013)

English?

[7/10 · 28 December 2021]

I haven't finished the show yet, currently on episode 3, but it is really funny to me how terrible this show is at all things english. The characters that are supposed to be english sound like they just discovered the english language the day before they read their scripts. Couldn't you get someone who is actually bilingual, or even better, someone who is bilingual from ENGLAND?

Also, this show thinks that everyone in England lives in cozy cottages or big mansions with colonial architecture and wears outfits that belong in the 18th century. They could have done a LITTLE research other than just using stereotypes from their memories. Also, since when do english people kiss on the cheek to say goodbye?

Other than that this show is funny and entertaining, but it is a little off-putting that the main focus of the show had no effort put into it.

After the Rain (2018)

boring. The other reviews that say this aren't lying

[6/10 · 15 December 2021]

The first two episodes were really good, The art was really good, and the music was pretty good. Everything else was just plain boring.

The relationship between the two "love interests" sucks, not because of their age difference but because they have ZEROOOO chemistry. They even stopped developing their relationship abaout halfway through because the writers realized how crap it was. "I love you" "sorry lol" "I still love you" "I guess you're pretty cool" and then 6 episodes of nothing was how their relationship went. The 45 year old guy, everything to do with him was so BORING. His development was literally "I love books. Can I still write books?" And they spend like 3 episodes on that. I really liked the storyline of tachibana (mc), her injury, and her relationship with her friend, but they somehow found a way to drag that out too. And they pretty much only half resolved that conflict, without showing us any real results!

Let me reiterate this: this show is not bad because of the age difference between the two main characters, it's bad because it's just plain boring.

Astra Lost in Space (2019)

Convoluted

[8/10 · 12 December 2021]

Say what you want about this show, but at least it's not boring. Each episode gets weirder and more convoluted and is packed with so much UNNECESSARY information it's kind of crazy. There's a good emotion core and the characters are good, but this show has way too much going on that didn't need to go on. There's so much that they ran out of time for most of them and just kind of introduced plot points and half-heartedly solved them and gave everyone a fairy tale ending. I thought kanata no astra was fun and interesting, but it was rather poorly written at times too.

Love Lab (2013)

Funny and heartwarming

[8/10 · 2 November 2021]

My biggest pet peeve with comedy anime, which is especially prevalent in moe comedy anime it seems, is when emotional tension is undermined by poorly placed gags or jokes. Sure, I'm watching the show because it's funny, but if a show was ONLY funny and nothing else it wouldn't be interesting. This is something that love lab does extremely well. It's not the funniest show I've ever seen, though it did make me laugh a decent amount. What I love about this show is the combination of comedy and drama, which synthesize together to create the ultimate wholeome and heartwarming anime.

I was positively surprised by the amount (which is not a lot) of romance in this show as well. While it is titled "love lab," that mostly pertains to the activities (fantasizing and experimenting with romance) of the student council of an all-girls school, whose 5 members are the main cast of the show. I didn't watch this for the romance aspect, and I advise you to not expect too much romance either. The "romance" (if you can call it that) that is in this anime is extremely minimal but pretty wholesome. There's no relationships or anything of the sort, but the boys that are included I don't dislike.

One big part of this show that impressed me was the animation. Honestly, in some episodes, this anime felt more like a Kyoto animation production than a random anime studio. That's not to say that the animation is as good as Kyoto's, because it's not, but the fluidity with which characters move is rather impressive.

I've actually noticed that with other anime by this studio (doga kobo) as well, such as plastic memories, sleepy princess, and especially (the exceptionally well done and highly recommended) My Senpai is Annoying, which is very wholesome and has exceptional animation. Other very good shows from this studio, (I love and would recommend all of them) include New Game, Yuru Yuri, Gabriel Dropout, Himouto! Umaru-chan, and Asteroid in love. This is not everything famous by them, but these are the shows I love the most. (Doga kobo rant over)

Overall, This show is criminally underrated, and I would strongly urge you to give it a try.

Wasteful Days of High School Girls (2019)

It's funny. Like, really funny

[8/10 · 28 October 2021]

This show is extremely funny, and very wholesome. It's not exactly the same, but if you like shows such as asobi asobase, aho-girl, nichijou, or azumamga daioh, then you will have a blast with this one. It depends on the episode, but for the most part this anime is really funny, like laugh-out-loud multiple times an episode funny. Honestly it's hard to remember the last time I laughed this hard at an anime. The other thing that I really appreciate about this anime are the cute and likable characters and the wholesome moments. I love every character, they all fit super well, and every scene, even if it isn't that wholesome or is supposed to be not very wholesome, still feels wholesome (if that makes sense?) overall this is just a really fun, funny, and a little bit moe anime.

Plastic Memories (2015)

Yeah it's tear-bait, but it's good tear bait

[8/10 · 24 October 2021]

I don't really know if this show deserves a 9, but there are a few reasons I gave it that. First of all, this is a really good romance story. Everyone always talks about how sad it made them feel, which really just undermines how good the first 12 episodes are, not just the last one. The romance in this is very well done in my opinion, and if the ending wasn't so sad then it would probably be in lots of people's top spots for romance anime in general. Next, while this show is more of a drama than a comedy, there were actually some pretty funny parts. The animation was very impressive too, the still frames all look professional and well drawn, and a lot of the animation is smooth and flows well. Most anime are not animated this well, so I appreciate it. Lastly, while plastic memories definitely has characters that fit into archetypes, there are some fun subversions from usual romance, comedy, or drama tropes that I appreciated.

Love Live! Superstar!! (2021– )

It's love live

[8/10 · 19 October 2021]

It's love live, and if you love live live then you will love this. Honestly it's probably my favorite since school idol project! It's still filled with meaningless drama centered around feeling and emotions, but that's what I love about this series. Cute girls giving their all to do what they love is what this is about, and I'm all for it.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (2013–2023)

Convoluted

[8/10 · 4 October 2021]

Yes, this was a good show that was interesting and well written for the most part. That's why I gave it as high of a score as I did. However, this is the most convoluted show of all time, none of the things that anything says related to identy or emotions or feelings have any meaning. It's exactly like when they are at the meeting and the people say all that business talk but don't mean anything (a reference from the show), but it's with emotions instead. It's not like you have to be emotionally intelligent to understand it, it's just overly complicated and convoluted. The actual story makes sense, but the words that come out of peoples mouths are just there to make the writers sound smart. The ending was also just ok.

Kageki Shojo!! (2021– )

Good

[7/10 · 25 September 2021]

No one else has written a review for this yet, so I'm going to. Basically, this show is fun and you should watch it. I have literally no interest in opera or acting in plays, and I still thought it was good. The characters are all unique and interesting, and the story is well done too. It's not like this is the best show ever, but I think you should give it a chance.

Drugstore in Another World: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist (2021)

Very cute, very relaxing, very nice.

[7/10 · 23 September 2021]

This show isn't going to knock your socks off, but it's very relaxing, very cute, actually, genuinely funny at points, it doesn't have terrible animation or music, and the characters are all fun. Sure, most people have a single character trait, sure there is no story, and sure this isn't the best show ever, but that's not what this show is going for. It has more of a feel of something like non non biyori (which you should watch if you haven't, it's probably the best relaxing-type anime you will every watch) which is just trying to give you laid back entertainment that you don't have to get too invested into. I don't know if I would have liked this show as much if I didn't watch it weekly as it came out or how binging it would change the experience, but overall I thought it was pretty good.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (2020–2021)

Very fun!..... first season

[7/10 · 23 September 2021]

The first season of this show is not without its flaws to be sure, but I personally really enjoyed it. Catarina is the best mc this reverse harem could have had, I love the fact that she seduces literally everyone (including the girls). I like animation, the backgrounds have a hand-painted feel to them that pleases me, and the music is actually way to good for this type of show. It just feels more professional than your average harem/isekai ost. The first around 5 episodes were around a 9/10 for me, but then the rest of season one brought it down to an 8. (It was still very enjoyable though.

Then the second season happened. It's not like it's the worst thing in the world, but it made me realize so many flaws with the characters. First of all, screw the romance! I don't watch this show for romance in any shape or form, and then adding any at all is infuriating. Every single boy in this entire show (especially blondie) is an infuriating brat that just sucks. Why would I want our kawaii mc to kiss any of them, much less multiple times? Goddamn I was REALLLY pissed off when blondie (and others I guess) kept making their move on her. The only one I would be ok with Catarina getting together with is Maria because that would be absolutely hilarious (and also yuri ;) They also used th EXACT same storyline 3 TIMES. Someone gets kidnapped by someone with dark magic, and the gang goes to save them. It was fun in the first season, but doing it TWICE in the second season really got me mad. That storyline basically covered like half the second season! They also used literally the exact same "the gang gets sucked in to a magic item and it shows all their desires" storyline. Like do the writers of this show have ANY original ideas? It feels like this was written by a competent team of writers for the first season and then given to a grade schooler who doesn't know that plagiarism is bad. And this is all super disappointing because I thought the first season was a blast! The second season is overall a 6/10 for me, which gives the whole show a 7/10. Hopefully the movie will be better I guess.

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (2020–2021)

Bomb ost

[7/10 · 21 September 2021]

I haven't watched the second season yet, but I just want to say that the background music in this show has no right to be as good as it is. Props to the composer and director and all that because the music in this show is absolutely great.

Land of the Lustrous (2017)

Gets better and better, then worse and worse.

[7/10 · 16 August 2021]

Every episode got better and better until about the halfway mark, and then they all get worse from there. Honestly, I thought I was going to be able to give this show a 9 around the half way mark, but then I just kept getting disappointed over and over again. I don't want to go too in-depth in this review, but a lot like with other unique shows they try too hard and end up being confusing, and then everything ends up unresolved in the end. Literally nothing in this show has any meaning, either. Everything that changes is either very small or changes for the worse. The way the main character charged pissed me off too, like yeah she's stronger but at what cost? And they don't even address it very much, it just kind of happens. I had hoped she would return back and everyone would realize that they liked the original her the best after all (even though it's cliche). That would be ten times better than the ending we got.

The main thing that makes me mad is that there is no story. Sure, we follow the emotional journey of one girl in the rock squad, but does anything really happen? Yes, she is changed in every way possible in the end, but is anything else really changed besides that? It would make this show much better if anything actually happened, like there was a showdown between the bones and the soul, or something else happened with the flesh. I don't know, it just feels like literally everything that happened in this entire show has literally no meaning in the grand scheme of things.

One thing I have zero complaints about is the animation. Goddamn is it spectacular. It's not like it's the most detailed animation ever, but goddamn is it awesome. This show pushed the bar so high up for 3D anime, it's not even funny. The second best looking 3D type anime is about forty times worse looking than this show. I don't think that it would have worked any other way either, just with how the characters are designed and how some stuff looks.

Overall, I REALLY wanted to like this show, and I did, but it ended up disappointing me in the end.

Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan (2018)

I thought it was pretty good

[7/10 · 12 August 2021]

I thought that Dragon Pilot was pretty good. Yes, Dragon Pilot has more than it's fair share of issues, but overall I had a pretty good time watching it.

The characters are a bit archetypey, (and before you ask of course I looked up whether that was a word or not before I typed it) but I like all of them just the same. There were a bunch of characters that were made into unnecessary villains, which immediately after their villain phases were turned into friends throughout the show. These characters were only villains to add conflict, and I don't love that because it felt unnecessary, but it's whatever.

I think that overall this show just had too much stuff in it. It was very ambitious, and I can respect that, but it definitely bit off a little more than it could chew. I know this doesn't really happen, but if this show were 8 or 9 episodes and they cut a lot of the filler stuff they had, it would feel a lot more like a complete and thought-out product. There were just some things that I thought that were completely unneeded.

Another thing this show tries, and fails, to do, is to add drama. The drama isn't the worst I've ever seen, but I really feel like it clashes a little with the tone of the show. There is some serious stuff in starting maybe a little before the second half of Dragon Pilot, which I just found to not fit in with what they had established the show to be like. It had mostly been a funny, coming of age type story until they added in the drama, and it stuck out. Yes, every story needs at least a little drama here and there to be really excellent, but it did feel a little forced into this show.

One thing I don't have too many complaints about is the ending. I'm sure that other people do have a lot of complaints, but *spoiler* I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Honestly you don't really get more of an anime-esque ending than this one. It does clash a little bit with the more original and unique vibe that the show is going for, but I didn't really find it too disarming.

One thing that this show is not lacking is originality. Anime can be weird, and this is far from the weirdest anime I've seen, but dragons that turn into fighter jets sounds like a pretty cool concept to me. I also absolutely love the art, I think it works extremely well. Art is not the first thing I look for when watching an anime, but when it is unique I really appreciate it. If it just looks like any other anime I don't hate it, but it's just a lot better when it has its own look. Some good examples of this that I have seen are flip flappers, AOT, Mob psycho, Kobayashi's dragon maid, kill la kill, March comes in like a lion, and others. It just makes the show more memorable in a good way when the art is different. I don't even mind if it looks worse than a typical anime, as long as it's different, and this is something this anime does well. I have no complaints with the music, either.

I know I took some jabs at Dragon Pilot, but overall I liked it and thought bit was worth watching, and I think you should give it a try too. It's not going to blow your socks off, but it's a solid show and it is pretty unique as well.

March Comes in Like a Lion (2016–2018)

Sisters = good, anything without the sisters = boring

[7/10 · 6 August 2021]

The first season of this was a 6. It was extremely boring and too metaphysical, taking 5 minutes to get a simple point across with strange visuals and the main guy just talking about how much he hates himself or whatever. The second season was miles above the first one, with the first half being absolutely phenomenal, mostly because it was about hina, but also because it was incredibly well done. After that there is some boring shogi stuff that sucks, and then the last bit is absolutely phenomenal again.

I dropped this after about 6 episodes, then came back after a few months and finished it off. I don't really know if I'm glad I did it yet, but at least I can stop wondering if I'll really like it, (spoiler alert: I didn't). There is a 100% chance that if I knew how shogi worked I would like this show a lot more, and honestly it sounded pretty interesting, but as someone who knows next to nothing about kanji it was impossible to tell the pieces apart, let alone tell what was going on. If this was about chess, I bet I would have really liked it, and I can see why someone who knows Japanese or who knows the differences between the pieces on the board would like it. Honestly the only reason this show gets a 7 and not something lower is only because the first part and last 4 episodes of the second season was so good. Also, the music and animation are both phenomenal, I don't have any problems with them other than the fact that the music doesn't really fit the mood sometimes. I don't think I would recommend this show, but I can see why people liked it, even if shogi and metaphysical self-hate (for at the least the first season) aren't really my thing. If there was a single reason to watch this show it would be momo, momo is best girl.

Eromanga Sensei OVA (2019 Video)

Did the writers forget how to write?

[8/10 · 2 August 2021]

For the elf celebration episode:

(Major spoilers) The main series was actually pretty good. Yes, it was leading middle schoolers and promotes incest, (which is obviously a no-no) but regardless I liked it. It was kind of a guilty pleasure show that I actually kind of enjoyed. The music was really good, the animation was actually surprisingly great, and there were mostly competent writers. For this episode, animation and music for some reason get twice as good, and then they hired a grade school writer to write the episode. Like what the HELL was this episode! The main series was only laughably bad because ecchi and incest, this was laughably bad because of how terrible it was. The biggest thing is that there is a music number in the middle that makes no sense. The thing elf was singing about only happened like 30 minutes before she got on stage, and a musical production of that scale would take months of work to produce! And then elf's mom, who is basically used as a stupidly basic villain, is just like "ok that music number was pretty cool, do what you want." And then for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON elf and mc dude are in the middle of a park when it lights up and they get surrounded by pretty lights while sentimental music plays while she confesses her love. Like what was going on. These lights have a great sense of timing. They completely forgot about the rest of the side characters too, like that other girl that confessed to mc dude and eromanga sensei. And then do they kiss???!? I don't know?!? Why would they kiss?! Why would they need to imply that? I just don't know what was going on and it was a terrible episode. Also, where I watched it (gogoanime for anyone wondering) had just terrible grammar and stuff for the subtitles. It was incredibly easy to tell that the person doing the subs wasn't great at English. Honestly, this episode was so bad it was good, and I had a great time watching it.

Episode 2:

This episode is almost disappointingly normal compared to ep 1, but honestly it's better than every other episode from the main series, almost by an order of magnitude. It's extremely cute, it's funnier than normal, there are one or two genuinely touching moments, the music, subtitles, and (surprisingly good) animation go back to normal, it has almost no ecchi scenes, and only hints at an incestuous relationship. It also had a fun reference to the ed. I don't think these two episodes could have been any different! The first one was the worst episode they could have made and was fun because of how bad it was, and this was the best episode they could have made and was fun because of how good it was. Both of them I would give an 8/10.