Back to JimmyKillsAlot's Profile JimmyKillsAlot's Profile

The show is pretty but it's entirely teen/young adult male fantasy. It's not bad, it knows exactly what it is, but there is little substance outside of "this is a cool idea, how do we get there?" There are weird choices like breasts big enough to make Tite Kubo tell you to tone it down, or characters drawn with large feet and calves as if they are shot from a low angle but being seen from head on.

The story runs quick to get to the next fight, often sloppily (The school training to in the field is so fast even in universe it's way ... too short). The characters that are supposed to be rational and level headed are easily swayed by a single guy saying "Yeah but he's a bad guy." The main character and his group are almost unequivocally painted as the good guys doing things like saving children from runaway trucks.

It's fun if you go in knowing what to expect, but it's very turn off your brain and look at the cool shit.

The Good:
- The show is visually pretty. It's not STUNNING but there are some very good visuals to keep it entertaining.
- The world is reasonably well established compared to a lot of isekai.
- The hero is not alone in a vacuum, there are other people from his world that are brought in with him and they are actually effective.

The bad:
- The story is the weakest part, it's so paint by numbers cliche that it is almost a parody.
- Things move a little too fast. The studio and director clearly had a specific point they wanted to reach and they ... ran to get there.
- Most of the build up to big events and fights leaves them feeling anticlimactic.

Overall the show is just kind of there. It takes itself too seriously to be funny but does not lean into the dirty world it is built in. Do I think I will ever find myself wanting to watch the series again? No. Will mean I stop someone else from watching it? Also no. Want something from this same year that is funnier? Let this Grieving Soul Retire. Something that actually embraces the characters and their grit and issues? Clevantess.

Is it this a fun power fantasy? Sure.
Is there some interesting world building? Totally.
Are there compelling characters? No.

When it comes down to it this series tries it's best to moralize on "Well the humans are treated like shit so it's okay" but this is just a power revenge fantasy. If you want some 6/10 fights or some 6/10 character designs that you can just turn your brain off and enjoy then there are worse things to watch. But also know, the first few episodes feel like a disconnected mess as the plot takes its time to get started.

The story itself is a slow burn but if you like the characters then it's not a drag. The world building is nice and the way the cast are introduced is natural and really works. All in all there is a lot to enjoy if you are just into stories awkward people overcoming some problems to be better and find people that they care about and care about them along the way.

The only reason this is not a flat recommend from me is because of the animation on the digital rotoscoping for the dancing. It's pretty obvious they recorded dancers to map the animation onto, ... which is great because you get a real feel for the weight behind each movement. But the problem is the animation style changes just enough that the 3D dolls they used stand out and it takes away from the actual performance if you are sensitive to it in any way. Lines cut off randomly, disappear or appear at a whim, the shadows don't quite line up. It could have used a specific filter that capitalized on it being different from the other animation or another pass to make sure it sits more cleanly but the product as it stands feels like a Loony Toons short where you know THAT rock is the important one because it was painted on a different layer.

Non spoiler section:

When I first started reading this manga I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. But since the anime came out I have found myself discussing it more then I thought I would and while it's not the greatest story ever, there is a lot more too it then the love triangle, situational comedy that some might infer from a simple synopsis.

The basic outline is high school boy likes girl in his class, she secretly likes him too, then his long lost childhood best friend and crush shows up and makes things complicated. But to think of it as just this is ... entirely missing the point of the characters.

Spoilers from here on out:

The truth of the series is that the manga is practically a character study on people overcoming different types of trauma and how they can still help each other grow. Everyone who we meet has some baggage, everyone is trying to hide and/or overcome these issues and grow.

Naoto: Dealing with his parents sudden death, raising his little sister, and his family basically hating them both. There are also massive trust issues with Satsuki early on because he still remembers her destroying the family garden then disappearing from his life only a little while before they suddenly died. He's been forced to focus on keeping himself and his sister taken care of to the point he doesn't even see a future where he is not working to support her final years of school.

Satsuki: We find out that her mother made a living as an escort, a companion, and she likely never even wanted a daughter. The woman would often leave her alone for days or weeks and when she got a "real job" working as a housekeeper for an inn in exchange for room and board for her and her daughter, she fucked off and abandoned her child. The girl has no true frame of reference of what normal relationships should be.

Yukari: The popular, big titty girl from school. But she had to deal with her mother being emotionally abusive at home for a long time because of a sick little brother putting a ton of stress on the household. She was left to become a quiet, meek girl. Her "boyfriend" in middle school turns out to have just been an asshole who told everyone they were dating and she never had the courage to correct them. And the only reason she likes Naoto Watari is because she feels like he doesn't objectify her.

Makina: She's got the easiest issues to identify, imposter syndrome after being the best runner at her small town middle school and now facing a high school of people who are as good as or better then her through training, practice, and even innate skill.

Shigenobu: Is basically Naoto's best friend and Yukari and later Satsuki's confidant. But he has issues with refusing to let go of unrequited love for a woman 3 years older than him that he had a single summer fling with.

Naozumi: Satsuki's adopted older brother is facing down wanting to find his own path instead of just taking over the family business because it's expected of him.

Yayoi: Is in love with her cousin Naozumi, to the point of wanting to sabotage Satsuki. Turns out she was being harassed and possibly molested by a teacher only for Naozumi to show up and beat up the teacher and save her, putting his own academic career in peril.

Naoto's parents: Oh hey turns out his dad comes from a family of prominent medical professionals. He had a night with his high school girlfriend and she ended up pregnant. He had the chance to just abandon her but she was similar to Satsuki, abandoned by her family entirely and all alone. So they ran off an eloped, and his family practically disowned him for giving up the future they wanted him to have. That's why most of the family hated Nao, he's the baby that "ruined" his father's life.

Tamayo: Naoto's aunt, the only adult in his family that does not hate him. Turns out she is considered a failure of the family too, she was not able to get into medical school and had to "settle" for being a lawyer. But her brother supported her, even though he was living in a shack in the middle of no-where taking care of his family right after dropping out of high school, he was there to encourage his little sister.


And this doesn't even include even more minor characters.

But by the end all the main and secondary characters are on a path to healing and growth. Is this a great series? No, but it's honest as hell.

Just to start off the animation is more similar to an animatic or a visual novel style adaptation, not a full blown, frame for frame, anime. If you are willing to look past that then you can probably enjoy it. So right off the bat, Recommended but with reservations.

The 12 episodes run 15min each and honestly make for a nice brief watch.

For the actual show, the story is cute, if you didn't read the blurb at the top then the country has what as known as "Saintess candidates" women, almost always from noble houses, that are able to heal injuries on others usually ... to their own exhaustion. The main character is one of these but her "broken" status is that she first has to transfer the injury to her own body before actually healing it away. An incident occurs where she saves the captain of the guards life which leaves her bedridden for several days and when she awakens someone else has the credit for saving him and she is chastised for things she didn't do. The other main character is the second prince of the kingdom and he offers her a chance to get back at the people who spurned her while he unravels a plot to upend the kingdom.

It's not a bad story, there is some tension, some romance, and some mystery. If you can look past the animation style then it could be fun to watch along in place of or in supplement to reading the manga. It is very close to the still ongoing story so it is also easy to pick up and read where this leaves off which is around Chapter 24.

No Spoilers:

Okay lets get into this. Bullet/Bullet is set in a Mad Max style world where the main job is collecting junk left over from the past. Gear gets contracted by a woman to help steal something left behind by her father, but not everything is as it seems and Gear and his team end up in the middle of a bigger conspiracy.

The good: The characters have some great designs, from the talking polar bear sidekick, to the random group of assassins sent to chase Gear and his team. The visuals are pretty and the environments are great to look at. And the ending ... song has a weird feeling of hopeful nostalgia to it.

The bad: The story is all over the place, the plot changes several times, and several character motivations are sometimes suddenly revealed with little or no true build-up; this is partly because the story is only 12 episodes long and partly because Sunghoo Park has spent more than a decade with the story and the characters so things have been trimmed down as time went on.

Over all not a MUST WATCH series but it can be enjoyable enough if you understand that it is going to have flaws.


Spoilers ahead:

The starting plot is "Hey kid get your friends and go commit this heist with/for me" but there is no actual buildup it's just
"Do it?"
"Okay"
Done, car chase, escape

Fine so the story is the aftermath and the escape from the wasteland, garbage filled city into the actual wasteland of abandoned civilization, hyper-poluted water and lands, and a handful of refugees all while being hunted down by some Gung-Ho Gun style assassins contracted by an agent of the capital.

Except that isn't the plot either, that is mostly resolved within two episodes with just one small group and an agent of the capital city that the main characters didn't even know existed until that point. Because now it turns out that the person that contracted Gear and team was actually working against the government this whole time and needed this MacGuffin to give to the revolutionaries. So after some back and forth and things happen and BAM Gear is now in the capital, it's a cliche utopia city where no one really has to work, people are young and beautiful and wealthy and clean, all the better to contrast the dirty slums that Gear is apparently from.

Now the team is part of the resistance, plotting to use the thing to help break into the government headquarters and broadcast the the apparently multiple slum cities like Gear's that exist isolated from each other and the capital that almost no one knew existed. And suddenly there is a traitor in the revolution but that's okay because team protagonist break in only to discover that the people running the capital are GASP! evil and are literally stealing the life force from people living in the slum cities with some magical science; twist reveal, Gear's adopted grandad is considered and looks like an elderly man but he is only 35 years old, not the 60-80 you might expect!

The most believable moment is when he tells the world and the people of the slum cities respond with apathy because they don't care or understand and are fine with it because of all all the vices (cheep booze, etc.) that the capital gives.

Quick cut to prison, Gear's robot sidekick with multiple personalities is damaged and one by one these personalities fade, forced to sacrifice themselves by overloading for one reason or another. Turns out the government agent is the hero Gear always looked up to. The assassins are back now in prison with Gear and crew, after a little fighting let's do a prison break, oh now the girl from the start is back and we have a place to hide out, okay lets attack the capital, CAR FIGHT! Okay last episode lets exposition dump.

I wanted to like this show I really did. It has some great points, the art can be beautiful and detailed, and there is some substance to the story. But most of the depth to the characters is just lacking and the story moves way too quickly from one plot-line to the next and oftentimes it feels like we are rushing because there is concern attention spans will not last that long. Some of this could have been mitigated by giving it 12 or at least 4 more episodes and a pass over the story bu someone not so deeply committed to it for the last decade.

This is an original series, not made from an adaptation of a novel or a manga or a web series, if you know anything about original works then you know how hard it can be to get the anime right. This series gave everything and all it can do is leave you both satisfied and wanting so much more.

The story is really as simple as it comes off. Humanity was driven away from the Earth due to a disaster and the robots they had were left behind. A few were designed to survey the globe and monitor the changing conditions so they could pass on ... the information for humanity to return one day, but in the case of the titular hotel, all they were told was "I'll be back, so keep the place ready for when I get here." by the owner.

Yachiyo is our main protagonist, an android programmed with all the skills to be a galaxy class hotel concierge and acting hotel manager (until the owner returns). She has served her duty well for over 100 years and has done everything she can to keep the hotel running daily including maintenance on her fellow employees, holding daily staff meetings, and even lamenting the lack of guests since the day the last human left the world. Then slowly beings from off Earth start showing up and she and her staff dutifully check them in and provide a world class hotel visit.

As the series goes on we are introduced to some amazingly creative alien designs from walking cacti, to alien tanuki, even a skeletal mariachi band shows up in the background in the final few episodes.

The story itself is about finding your place and purpose, explored through the main characters. Yachiyo first just sees herself as an AI android, eagerly performing her duties and awaiting humanity's return, but slowly we see her relationships with other androids, alien guests, and eventually the friends she has made, people who love her. Others that end up at the hotel are seeking refuge, maybe from a bad breakup or maybe from their species being chased off their home planet, but they all are able ti find a little more about themselves staying inside the walls of the hotel.

If you were on the fence about this series then it is really worth it, but be prepared to laugh and cry and laugh while crying.

And don't forget, they eagerly await your next visit.

The story is novel and very entertaining. There are fun characters, a very well defined world, action, antics, clockwork androids, and waifus. The art is often very detailed and has all kinds of cool things to find.

But there is a GIANT asterisk in the room; the story is unfinished. The big bad behind some events is not unmasked, the heroes have not met their goals, and the last chapter ends on a cliffhanger of "Okay let's go!" toward their next objective. The manga has been canceled/on hiatus since 2018, the light novels are not much farther out since they have been on hiatus since ... 2015 (it'll be 10 years in December as of writing this). The likelihood is , GRRM will finish Winds of Winter before this series ever comes back so you just have to be happy with what we have, for better or worse.

When I saw that the series was batch dropped on one day I decided to just binge it out.

The visuals are stunning sometimes, there are some great set pieces and some amazing designs and the opening with it's depiction of humanities first steps at colonizing space is just a wonder. Unfortunately this is where the flat praise ends.The story is all over the place with random set changes, suddenly new people, weird time skips forward and backward; it all feels like it was written in a series of AI prompts.

Seriously major spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk.

We start with a company finishing ... the last space elevator and a terrorist attack. The whole story looks like a political thriller between the citizens on the Moon and those on Earth. Then suddenly there is this flashback to the main character's childhood where, this is a weird wannabe Trigun backstory. Then we jump back to the present but it's actually one year into the future where the main character has gone from being a lead suspect in the terrorist attack from the first episode to part of a task force to track down the the rebels on the moon.

Suddenly there is this nanobot hardlight manipulation tech that lets all the important people do things like special masks, cloaks that can mask their face, weapons that can become whatever, and the ability out of nowhere to transform their stealth spaceship into a car.

Oh but wait we're back to random flashback and backstory, suddenly there is a brother and a possible evil AI. Oh no wait sudden giant space/moon jellyfish amoeba and random political intrigue that makes no sense. But hey, here is a random moon girl that has a crush on our main character so we can create this pointless love triangle.

This is the first 9 of the 18 episodes. This show is a total mess.

I want to love it, I want to say "oh yeah this is great!" but it isn't. Quite literally the rating I am giving it is mostly the visuals.