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Jan 18, 2026
Nande Nanda-san > Otr > Red Hood. That said, while Otr is much better structured than Red Hood, it does fall into being a much more bland piece of work. The concept is more interesting than the execution. It opens with the power of flames in a world which suffers from neverwinter, how not everybody needs to be a warrior, and how Otr can keep the army strong from the kitchen. If it went in that direction, while I don't think it'd fly in Shonen Jump, it'd probably be a more personal and intriguing story. It is easy to write a story where you must
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gather power and kill the enemy, while ones where killing isn't in the picture need much more creativity to move and work. My ideal Otr probably isn't a Shonen Jump series and isn't a battle shonen.
What Kawaguchi Yuuki seems to be weak at is starting a story, while he is very good at ending them. Both Red Hood and Otr were more interesting at the finale, in spite of their axing, than at the start. Secondly, he has become very good at writing the villains. The male cast isn't memorable, the women are big and muscular and that's very good, but it doesn't keep the series afloat. Doadoa is the best character in all of his series, while Colerio and Fimbul also were interesting. Suruld is a much more common archetype, so while not a stand-out, still another one in the count for villains that felt better to read than the heroes.
Perhaps Sensei should try veering towards Dark Fantasy, and have the main characters be the questionably evil guys that you can cheer for. The courage, determination and friendship battle shonen formula might not be for him. (I also believe in his comedy, though I don't know how he'd handle a comedy serialization.)
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 18, 2026
Very interesting while idol Light Yagami keikakus her group together and ruins their lives. The amount of plot conveniences and summaries may feel lackluster, but certainly it's because the movie's core is actually when the group falls out, not when it is formed, right? Incorrect, it is just that rushed indeed.
There's a bomb under the table, and when it finally explodes, only confetti comes out. Then we clean the confetti for 30 minutes and go on with our lives. If Azuma was allowed to be an evil creature that actually drains other people dry, it could have been an interesting movie. If assembling the
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team actually took effort and each member was very fleshed out, their downfall and recovery could move the viewer. But it's not the case, resulting in a movie with cheap, flat payoffs.
Not bad enough to be torture, doesn't have something good among the bad to justify it, it really is the flattest, most average viewing experience possible. The voice performances of the main cast doesn't stand out, and some supporting cast is terrible, so all the movie really has going for it are the visuals, but there are still better animated movies to watch if you just want to waste time with pretty moving pictures, which is why I can't find any reason to suggest viewing this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 18, 2026
An one-shot and a serialization are two beasts of course, but it is frightening how much better and instantly charming this was compared to Icehead Gill. The author's art also improved a lot, the characters look appealing and diverse in silhoutte, and pose dynamically yet comprehensively.
Gill left me with no future interest in the author's works, but seeing a work of this grade shows how much they must have practiced since the cancellation, and if their next work is to be closer to this, even a series version of this could work personally, then I feel I'd be interested in it.
However, having recently read
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Wandance, I must say the portrayal of the emotion and intensity of dancing could still be more accurately represented. Only half of their number seemed to flow through the pages, and Ranra's solo, which had the intent of being an overwhelming performance of a greatly talented individual, didn't transmit that. Just a little more skill, and I feel this author's day on the sun will come.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jan 17, 2026
An absolute downgrade from Junkhead that honestly adds nothing to the world. I have the impression it is connective tissue for a third part that continues from Junkhead, but a paragraph would suffice for the little it did.
Most importantly, the real voice acting and overreliance on exposition and explaining completely sour the great things done on the first movie. Even the humour which landed because the delivery was done swiftly in gibberish falls flat, despite staying the same, as there are actual words being spoken, some by very bad voice actors.
By itself it's just a very boring uninteresting movie that goes nowhere, but as a
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sequel to Junkhead it's a bleak representation of what continuing a indie hit with a bigger budget does to one's creative vision: certainly easier for a general audience to swallow now, but it is devoid of flavor and wit.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Dec 22, 2025
In 24 episodes, I don't believe I was moved even once. In many ways, I think it's a perfectly crafted "shonen that hits all the right beats," but lacks an indivituality and personality to make it stand out among every other shonen crafted to be a hit with shonen readers. The concept of a tsukumogami-based power system itself is interesting, but not executed in a satisfying way. Rudo loving trash in general and thus having the power to have any power falls a bit flat when his starting level is already like that, and his "upgrade" is putting all his energy into having one weapon
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instead of a three-spread. Not to mention how it goes from A to B without any transitioning or showing how he developed that. He uses his power differently, and other characters tell us that they found out how his power works better some point in the past. And even the naming of his skill, which was said was something important to make it even more beloved, happened in the past and we're told it's been named after the fact. For a series about loving the small things, it brushes over the small things again and again to be flashier and more appealing.
In this setting, the more sensible, if not more logical, approach to characters would be showing who they are, and the identity of their weapon/tsukumogami. They're all emotionally tied to them, but we, as viewers, don't get a glimpse of their love for their weapon. Even Rudo's gloves are in a gray-ish zone, as there is his bond to his uncle caring for him in them, but once you make these gloves to have been holy ancient weapons anyway, it's almost like how Naruto wasn't an underdog dunce who grew through hard work, but actually the descendant of every powerful being and person in the world + best friends with a supplier of infinite amount of chakra. Out of the main cast, only Zanka got a proper past and link to his gear, while Enjin and Riyo are mostly setpieces that do what the plot needs them to 90% of the time. Zanka loses a fight and gets a flashback to show who he is. Riyo pulls a gun and tries not to kill someone, and the story just goes on without addressing it or showing who she is.
At the end of the season, the most fleshed out characters aside from Rudo were, in this order, Zanka, the gardener guy and the villain. Everyone else either doesn't move from where they've been established to be when introduced, or walks a single step forward to show you they're there.
Which leads to another issue: The world is full of mysteries, but they're not really cared for or addressed for most of the runtime. The characters all need to have a past in order to exist today with their gear, but none of that is shown or told for most of the runtime. There is no relevant worldbuilding and no relevant character building, things just keep happening to start fights, which will mostly be talking while exchanging pointless hits, or talking while looking at each other.
Why are they pointless hits? Because nobody can die. Fatal damage doesn't kill the weakest of jobbers, and then we're introduced to magic symbols that save you from lethal damage once per expedition. Anything can happen in a fight, and it never feels like anyone is at risk because nobody is hitting to kill, and when they do, there's magic that stops it. Fans of wrestling probably would enjoy Gachiakuta and vice-versa, there is no tension or stakes in fights, just style and flashiness provided by cool weapons (and a safety net in Rudo never fighting the same way twice, arguably a cheap Sakamoto Days, since it doesn't require real creativity with real mundane objects. Any object can be a huge sword a gun or a big fist if you try just a little to abstract it and turn it into a massive weapon.)
Another issue that adds to how unserious everything feels, is how the comedic timing is so awful, and the jokes so cheap, that it becomes impossible to actually care for the fights going on. I consider the bits to be the Japanese equivalent of "erm, well that just happened" in being ironic, irreverent and beaten in how many times you've seen it before since the 2000s. Serious events get the same tsukkomi as the dumbest jokes, so it almost feel as if there is an equalizer filter active, that makes so it's never too goofy nor ever too serious. (The best joke is when they just let the scene happen i.e. the car scene in episode 23). The funny faces are pretty good, though they disappear for some 20 episodes. I must say, it is not deprived of good things entirely, there are episodes I like in both the action department and character interaction department, but there are loooooooong lulls between something good happening. The only sequence of two good episodes was near the end, with the one-two of Zanka's past and Riyo's mask slipping, but then it slides a slice of slowdown so we don't get too spoiled.)
The pacing is a nightmare, it takes five episodes to feel one thing has happened, or that a single event went through its start-mid-finish. And to make matters worse, it rarely ever even has a payoff that's surprising to make the dilly-dallying worth it, it really just takes its sweet time walking the royal road. This issue I wish to believe is an anime adaptation problem, perhaps the manga actually advances in a timely manner and is pleasant, but as this is about the anime, it must be said.
Overall:
Characters: Eh
World: Eh
Animation: Alright
Artstyle: Style is pretty much all it got. I imagine eyecandy is its selling point, considering how lacking it is in everything else.
Story: Between Eh and Bad
Love for the small things: None
A perfect example of the modern shonen formula and what shonen audiences want in how vapid it is. Style 9:1 Substance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 21, 2024
*Recommended in case you're looking for good animation. I feel this is what they set out to do, and it is what they delivered. It wasn't set out to be an ambitious poignant philosophical piece, just a well-animated action show, and it achieved that. The humor is mostly misses, but serve to keep the show lighthearted until things are flashing on the screen again.
While there's very little to actually say about the show, I think the bisexual love triangle was very fun and well done, there could have been more of that and less world-ending perils and I wouldn't mind. If the show did more
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for itself than what it did, maybe there'd be room for waifu warring a bit. Not Rei-Asuka, but maybe a bit of Ichigo-ZeroTwo. I don't see it happening, but wish it would.
The main villain pales in comparison to the pre-final boss, Amaryllis carried the antagonist side, and the writers clearly love her too, as she's as stubborn as a cockroach. Her voice acting and her role in the show outshines everyone else's and is probably the most memorable character in the show.
P.S: I have to applaud the courage to figure out you're most likely not getting a second season, so you do it via slideshow during the finale ED.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 21, 2024
Starting with the good:
-Watercolor backgrounds really give it a unique visual identity.
-The OP is unskippable, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi still got it
-Prominent doses of Horie Yui
Now, onto the intrinsic factors of it:
This show was sadly dragged down by its main plot. So much was dedicated to the evil lurking beneath our daily lives and the magic to solve it, that what actually was well done in it was lost. Episode 5 was the best episode in the show, worth of being the finale (though the finale did also do it for like 2minutes) even. The ensemble cast of various gimmicks often faces two issues: More
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characters than the writter can develop and/or more characters than there's screentime to share. Episode 5 showed they actually could write these characters, and use their gimmicks in interesting ways, but refused to, to focus on a The Great Evil plot that had no punchline, point or climax. It all just happened because it had so been written.
The proper execution of this show can be found in Princess Tutu: The darkness shouldn't manifest in random objects which are then exorcised and forgotten, it should envelop the members of the cast, and focus on clearing the darkness in them, developing their characters and through the clash of personalities show both who they and the MC are. Somewhere in here there is an Ahiru Kurumi Mirai and Rue Yuzu Edel, I can see it, but the show just rolled without any more profound developments.
Lastly, what I found most disappointing personally, is that the premise was "we're all magicians," Horie Yui was here teaching the entire class magic, we had an entire colorful cast, and the finale they cooked didn't include all the students gathering together to use a spell that saves the school or the world. They seem to want a second season, which I wouldn't believe to be likely to come, and if it does, I don't think that's the direction they'll take.
Yet another show that didn't notice what it was good at and didn't capitalize on it. It looks pretty, Horie Yui sounds like an angel, but even if my eyes and my ears are pleased, it rings nothing in my heart. Watch Princess Tutu, instead.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Dec 21, 2024
Spiritually another one of Yoko Taro's EoS'd mobages.
Starting from the finale, the last two episodes are all it had to be. If you finished the first season and will jump into the second, you could just not waste your time, lost as you may feel by doing that. By rewriting it properly, about three episodes would be needed to conclude the first season, if this was the goal it was heading to, but for some reason they did 12 more without any content do so.
It's easy to imagine how the script was written as if it were either a VN or the VN segment of
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a mobage, as there's no visual direction. The characters have no movement, the angles and visuals are always still (sometimes literally a slideshow), and they just keep talking and talking exposition. The first season may not have been the best show ever, but it clearly had much more of a vision, as in, the world was alive and so were its characters. Considering the metastory that takes place here, I can't even tell if it wasn't a cry for help from a writer that needs to write a second season after accidentally finding closure on the first one.
If I had to say something good about it, it made me realize how Goro and Sawa carried the first season. Not having them in the cast across so many episodes was a slog, a bore and a torture. Nothing interesting happens, nothing interesting is said. It's also kind of funny to see when the writing took an unexpected turn mid-production, because plot-relevant characters will use generic faceless colorless 3D models used for mobs, or show up as 2D sprites that change like you're on Powerpoint. They didn't plan for the character to be there, so they didn't have a model ready and had to improvise.
I wouldn't recommend this show to anyone, especially to people who liked the first season, because it'll really ruin what was a good experience, flawed as it might have been.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Dec 21, 2024
Mahou Shoujo only in words, Magilumi is (in general) closer to New Game! and (in anime that aired with it) Trillion Game as a workplace drama anime, rather than close to Precure in any way. But while both New Game and Trillion Game are mostly personal, focusing on the human element of the many working parts in an office, Magilumi is mostly professional and the cast is quite shallow.
This first season was pretty much about a singular thing: Kana's professional growth. She is good at learning the theory, but through these episodes she learns from people, from experiences, from the industry and through working. And
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that's it. Kana as a person doesn't shine through, and neither does anybody* else in the cast. If Kana is to be Aoba, Koshigaya is to be Kou, which is not only Aoba's Vergilius, but also her enemy down the line, making their dynamic ever more interesting; something which doesn't happen in Magilumi. Koshigaya is almost a deus ex machina, she's just there to solve every issue while Kana is still learning the ropes.
The Kaii aren't enemies or antagonists, which can be perceived by how there's no personality to them or their designs. They're just a simple proxy for "problems at work" for the drama to occur. New Game gives its problems solid form, deadlines, art issues, marketing issues, programming issues, concept issues, which gives the problem personality, and allows the characters handling it to show who they are. By making the problems the opposite of Koshigaya, in that they're just there for things to happen and Kana have something to think about and solve or not, much of how we, as viewers, can interpret what is taking place is also lost. In the finale there was finally a good design in the enemy, but the way to handle it was the same as always, in that vague magic shenanigans occur and it's over. It's mostly style over substance, without being very stylish at it (Mechaude, for an example, was also style over substance, but they went all out on the style, so it earned its worth.)
Ultimately, the antagonist of this season wasn't the monsters, nor the capitalist company, but Kana herself. The evil she had to defeat in this journey was her own self-hatred, and becoming a better professional by overcoming it, seeing how her talents aren't worthless and how what she does helps the company. Putting it this way, it does sound Mahou Shoujo-ish, in how she had to regain her own hopes and dreams, but through finding a job that allows her to see herself, and what she can do, and validates and values that. These girls are magical for people that work on terrible jobs, or aren't valued, or are soon graduating and fear what the future holds.
*Shigemoto isn't shallow and carries the show, both in personality and voice acting. Now that the "Becoming a full-fledged professional" arc is over, I can only hope his past and the future his ideals lead to are what the series spins around, as that's what's most interesting in this world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 21, 2024
A very unpromising start that follows every beat of a classic harem anime, it sets expectations very low, but then redirects itself towards how one interfaces with their hobbies, and on artistic ideals and how they clash. It's easy for fighting shonen writers to create stakes and write their battles, bigger power beats the smaller power, then the smaller power becomes the bigger power; everyone will die if it doesn't, it's as simple as it gets, and can be easily mastered. Ririsa however is a battle shonen (or a sports anime, which some may consider to be contained within battle shonen) which doesn't hang its
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stakes on life or death, bigger power and smaller power, it is earnestly a battle about love, and putting your heart into it. Sukuna vs Itadori wishes it could reach the depths that Nagomi vs Ririsa reached (and I bring up Jujutsu because it's in recent memory, but there are many more shonen battles of the MC against a much stronger foe that didn't meet this level; if I had to bring something up like it, Raou vs Toki is what comes to mind first, but Toki wasn't the MC.)
One issue caused by the change of direction is that now the MC which was supposed to be the center of the harem becomes an extra. He can't vanish from the plot, but there's nothing for him to do here anymore. (Kakegurui suffers from the same ailment) Yet, the writing finds something for him to do in the second cour, whilst keeping it true to the central theme of the series: The soul of a broken author can only be saved by directly facing the love of a fan, which is what he does, and nobody else in the cast could, or couldn't happen without him. After that the series directly adresses how he sort of didn't exist in the world, trimming down all the edges created by making a sports anime with a harem romance comedy on the side.
It's incredibly humane and probably any person can understand the struggles in the series, but I'd mostly recommend it to creative people, because they'd relate to it the best, and feel themselves in many of the experiences, doubts and ideals portrayed.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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