Summer 2021 Anime Season Impressions Part 2

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Here we have the second part of my impressions of the Summer 2021 anime season! As usual, these are just my subjective impressions of anime from a three or more episode viewing. The summer season has been mediocre, full of misfires that really didn’t connect to me or other viewers. It’s a sign of how there is too much anime coming out, and not enough time or people to properly flesh out the ideas. Who knows how good some of these could have been if they had proper time and talent attached to these projects. They also run into that problem of just because you can adapt something, doesn’t mean you can or should. Hopefully, the overly stuffed Fall 2021 Season will be better, but we will have to see. Let’s talk about these last few shows. 

Comedy/Romance 

Cheat Pharmacist’s Slow Life: Making a Drug Store in Another World (Crunchyroll)

Based on the novels, light novels, and manga by Kennoji, this anime adaptation is directed by Masafumi Sato, written by Hiroko Kanasugi, and produced by EMT Squared. This is the most middling mediocre isekai of the season. It’s not the worst one, but boy you had better be okay with watching a show that gets wildly repetitive. First off, we don’t know how the lead character got into this fantasy world or what he did beforehand. 

It’s a weird take, and while it is usually groan-inducing to see the lead character either die of being overworked or getting hit by a bus or a truck, the show, as of the episodes I watched, didn’t seem interested at all with telling us our lead’s backstory. 

Due to this being an EMT Squared anime, it’s more interested in having a male lead with a bunch of very young-looking women around him or falling for him than telling us a proper story. Listen, I’m not saying EMT Squared is a little sister or young girl harem anime studio, but after a while, you see a particular pattern in the shows they make. It’s luckily not directed by the guy who has made some of the studio’s more notorious shows like Assassin’s Pride or Master of Ragnarok, but it still has a few of those show’s worst elements. The little werewolf girl is meant to be this cute mascot for the character for the show, but her design is rough to look at, due to how it looks like she’s wearing just cotton panties/shorts and a vest that doesn’t cover her torso. Come on, anime industry, can we stop with these types of design tropes? I know you have to work hard and make your show look distinct from the other shows coming out, but let’s not cater to the creep crowd. It’s a shame this show is so mediocre, because an isekai all about potion making and health items sounds cool, and the visuals are decent enough to make for a different take on the isekai genre. 

It even has a few decent side characters that were enjoyable to see every time they are on screen. It’s a bummer they aren’t the actual focus of the show, since I don’t care for our main characters. It’s also too bad we already had a much better show all about this last season with The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent. Oh, and Cheat Pharmacist doesn’t handle a character who has anxiety attacks very well, so, yeah. It’s one of the more notable misfires of the summer season, but I can at least understand why someone would turn on this show due to how lightweight and junk foody it is. Due to some elements that rubbed me the wrong way, I can’t say it’s harmless, but if we want to talk about shows that I find morally repugnant, well, I know a few that I would call the worst of the season.  

The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated (Crunchyroll)

This quirky little comedy is based on the manga by Wakame Konbu, is directed by Mirai Minato, written by Michiko Yokote, and produced by Silver Link. I think outside of an obnoxious first episode, the show mellows out by the second and third episodes. I even watched the latest episode and found the show to have a lot of charm. I don’t care for Jahy’s child form wearing a large shirt though and the fact they keep focusing on her legs. 

The show also has a lot of humor relying on Jahy being poor, and those jokes get tiring fast. The show was at its best when it focused on different types of jokes and introducing characters that play well off of Jahy, like her loyal servant, her unknown rival/assassin, the owner of the apartment, or her friend she works with at the pub. When it focuses on those elements, the show is decent. Granted, I kept thinking about The Devil is a Part-Timer while watching this anime, but that’s a huge problem with many shows this season, where I was constantly thinking of other shows with similar premises that I would rather be watching than the one I am watching now. However, I can’t say that this was one of the worst of the season. It’s straight down the middle. It has its moments, but it’s a show I can see myself skipping for other ones. 

Remake Our Life (Crunchyroll)

Based on the manga and light novels by Nachi Kio, this adaptation is directed by Tomoki Kobayashi, written by Nachi Kio, and produced by Feel. I will be honest about two specific things. One, I forgot to put this within the slice of life category for the first half, so I’m sorry about that. The second thing is that this show doesn’t get off on the best foot forward. It’s an hour-long premiere, and I felt like it focused too much on the front half of our lead getting sent back in time 10 years to go to a different art school to restart his life. It also dips too much into art school drama and cheap fanservice moments. 

With that said, when it starts to dive into the main character interacting with his classmates for projects and their drives for what they want to do, the series seriously picks up. It might not be the best-executed drama, but considering how mediocre a lot of the stories were in all of the anime this season, I am all for a show that does eventually by the second episode get the ball rolling, and tell a compelling enough tale for the audience to enjoy. 

The Duke of Death and his Maid (Funimation) 

Consider this the problematic favorite of the entire summer season. It’s based on the manga by Koharou Inoue, and the anime adaptation is directed by Yoshinobu Yamakawa, written by Hideki Shirane, and is produced by JC Staff. Seeing the team behind this series makes a lot of sense when you consider that the director was behind High Score Girl. The CGI visuals and cutesy gothic aesthetic will look familiar to the director’s previous work. 

It’s called the problematic fave, because on the outside and as a whole, there is a genuinely sweet story about a young man who is fated to be alone due to a curse put on him. Anyone or any living thing he touches will die, and the only people in his life are his loyal butler and his very anime-looking maid. The chemistry between the two leads from the title is extremely sweet and wholesome. They have some of the best chemistry out of any duo this season. The romantic feelings for one another are believable and cute. Some of the show’s best moments are when the two are together and speaking sincerely to one another. 

So, what makes it a problematic fave? It’s because the show’s tone and how it portrays the duke and his maid’s dynamic seems to be at odds with one another. It’s supposed to be sweet and cute, but the dialogue, how the characters act, and the tone play it up as harassment that’s played for comedy. Harassment is not okay, and it’s weird how the show uses dialogue and sequences that reinforce that, when the show is also saying it’s not that harassy. It’s a very odd tone to a quirky show, and to some degree, you can understand why they took this angle. Still, I don’t care much for the Duke’s sister’s quirk of falling for the butler. That felt tacked on and weird. 

Even then, with one or two rewrites and a fix to the tone of how these scenes are shot, everything would feel more cohesive with the rather expressive CGI animation. It’s an incredibly charming show that could have used one more run-through with the tone or maybe a female director or perspective on how to make it feel more cohesive. It’s still one of the better anime of the season though, and if you want to see a cute romantic comedy with a gothic twist, then this show will be right up your alley. 

The Dungeon of Black Company (Funimation)

This anime is based on the manga by Yohei Yasumura, and the adaptation is directed by Mirai Minato, written by our recurring writer this season Deko Akao, and produced by Silver Link. At first, the series shows its cynical dark comedy fangs with an isekai that’s all about tearing down and commentating on the infamous Black Company-style working conditions seen throughout Japan. Considering the definition of Black Company, I assume you can find this kind of problematic work ethics in any work culture from around the world. It has shades of Konosuba, where our main character is a real pain in the neck who, due to working around legal loopholes, was originally a human who raked in the cash by making a few questionable business decisions. The anime then sends him straight into the deep end by forcing him to work in inhumane working conditions. It then expands on the overall commentary about the flaws of workforces driven by capitalism.  

Sometimes, anime that wants to dabble in serious topics, using humor with commentary falls flat due to not being able to balance out the two, but Dungeon of Black Company tends to hit it out of the park with being creative with the fantasy setting, having a cast that are likably dumb and mean, and the commentary is spot on with how twisted some major corporations can be for the pursuit of the bottom dollar. Personally, I had to briefly stop myself from watching the show due to how much I was laughing and enjoying my time with the show. 

Of course, there is a reason why some people find the setting so disgusting, due to the real-life Black Company policies being used on actual people. Sometimes comedy has lines they shouldn’t cross, and that will be dependent on what that individual’s taste in comedy is. With that being said, with how many mediocre comedies and fantasy shows are out this season, anime fans should be happy there are a few isekai/fantasy shows that have more meat to their discussions. 

Action/Adventure



 Itaden Deities Only know Peace (Crunchyroll)

Content Warning: Rape is shown at the end of the first episode and is a constant thing in the overall show. I won’t blame you for wanting to bail after this warning. 

This anime is based on the manga by Amahara. It’s directed by Seimei Kidokoro, written by Hiroshi Seko, and produced by MAPPA. Honestly, while Gods of Highschool still might be MAPPA’s worst anime, Itaden Deities is right up there. This hot mess of a show feels like it was meant to be a dark comedy of fantasy action shows like YuYu Hakusho, mixed with the visual style of Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, which is not a subtle comparison due to how the illustrator, Coolkyousinnjya designed the look of both Itaden and Dragon Maid series. It also has a ton of that edgelord tripe from the late 80s/early 90s anime era, where rape and assault are played up as huge elements of the story and even as jokes, which, you know, aren’t great. It has a decent hook at the beginning about the morality tale of Deities. They were meant to protect the human race, but due to how the newest batch never had to fight demons until a few episodes into the show, they don’t know how to react. 

I can see that hook being a really solid bit of commentary. With that said, it doesn’t work because I do not like these characters. You can make flawed and obnoxious characters interesting, but the lead characters in this show are some of the most unlikable I have seen this season. Even when the villains are also complete garbage, I would rather invest time with the villains than the heroes who are insufferable. 

By the time I caught up with the rest of the episodes, the show got worse when the stakes became nonexistent. Why should anyone care about what happens when the humans suck, the villains suck, and the heroes are intolerable jerks? There is no balance with it being stupidly violent and edgy. Anytime it gets better, it takes five steps back. This is one of MAPPA’s worst shows, and easily one of the worst shows of the season and the year. I’m so mad this wasn’t better. If you like it, that’s perfectly okay, but for me, I just can not recommend this to anyone. 

Spirit Chronicles (Crunchyroll)

This wildly mediocre isekai anime adaptation is directed by Osamu Yamasaki, co-written by Yamasaki, Megumu Sasano, and Yoshiko Namakura, produced by TMS Entertainment, and is based on the novels and manga by Yuri Kitayama. Outside of an incredibly dark way of making our characters teleport, and a slight twist to the formula with some of the characters having to share a mind and body of a pre-existing individual in the fantasy world, everything else is awful. 

It has cartoonishly mean characters who are bordering on a parody of rich classist individuals. There are no real surprises in terms of what the roles of our main characters are, and the biggest problem is that it does want to be something distinct. It has moments where it either builds up the lore of the world and has proper character moments that expand on our otherwise bland leads. It then drops those beats and turns into another mediocre isekai fantasy series that wants to be another Sword Art Online in more ways than one. Seriously, it took me three episodes to realize that the lead in the opening looks exactly like the lead in SAO. It also has some of the EMT Squared blood in its DNA as the lead has a harem of really young-looking girls and it’s never not uncomfortable. I know the isekai genre is super popular, but maybe we should take a break from adapting them if they are going to be this bad. It’s easily one of the worst anime of the season. 

How a Realist Hero Rebuilds a Kingdom (Funimation) 

The title should be How to Not Have Fun in an Isekai or How To Take A Comedic Idea and Ruin It! This anime adaptation is based on the novels and manga by Dojyomaru, directed by Takashi Watanabe, co-written by Go Zappa and Hiroshi Onogi, and produced by JC Staff. I was looking forward to this anime, due to the premise of an isekai where the story and action take a seat on the throne of running a kingdom from a “realistic” perspective. It’s not so much about the action as it is more about running a healthy and fair kingdom.

That sounds great. Too bad someone decided to lean into the more “work” side of things, leaving me unimpressed with how seriously they are taking the “realist” part of the show’s title. This whole anime and story feels like an anime made for those smarmy individuals that made articles that kickstarted Disney’s live-action remake train, because no one ever accepts that a fantasy story should be full of, well, fantasy/fantastical elements. This show is a boring sit, but it’s not like I don’t get how this can gel with someone. 

It has a few decent jokes, and to be fair, I have heard the anime doesn’t do a great job at portraying the source material’s charm and appeal. Well, that’s too bad, but even if I at all cared about whether the manga was good or not, the anime has to stand on its own legs. Being bored in a pretty generic fantasy world with a few elements that bug me is what I got from watching the first few episodes of this show. 

It’s not the worst show of the season since it is technically doing what the title set out to do, but I think if this series leaned more on the comedy aspect of this show’s premise, I would have enjoyed it more. How much fun would it be if it took the One Punch Man approach to subversive comedy, taking full advantage of how goofy this plot is and then have fun with it trying to be as realistic as possible? I think I’m also a bit burned by this anime, because I was looking forward to it, only to find out the actual anime I was curious about was coming out two seasons from now in Winter 2022. If they didn’t fully commit to being so realistic with how a realist would run a kingdom, maybe I would have enjoyed it more. Check it out if you want, there is a dub available, but this show was not my cup of tea. 

Battle Game in 5 Seconds After Meeting (Crunchyroll)

Another battle royale? Must be a day that ends in Y. This one is based on the manga by Saizo Harawata, and the anime adaptation is directed by Meigo Naito and Nobouyoshi Arai and produced by SynergySP, Vega Entertainment, and Studio A-Cat. Well, it’s another battle royale. It doesn’t do a whole lot to differentiate itself from other anime in the genre, and that’s becoming a huge problem. Why adapt something when there is no real meaty hook to make you stand out from the rest? It has one interesting hook with the lead character’s ability, where he has to convince his opponents what his abilities are, but that’s it. 

I guess it’s nice that the lead character is not a pushover, and whimpering about not wanting to be there, but they did make him a sociopathic monster, so, I guess you pick your poison on which one is worse. The other characters don’t stand out much, and the only thing that is fun to look up about this show are the voice actors with the sadistic cat girl being voiced by Haruko’s voice actor from FLCL and the dude with the sword ability voiced by the Japanese voice of Zoro from One Piece. It is a show that wants to be super grimdark and edgy, and it keeps doing so in the most cartoonish of ways. By trying to come off edgy, it comes off as edgeless. It can be a pseudo-fun time during certain battles, but I can already watch much better battle royales and much better action shows from this and previous seasons. It’s a vapid show that is another low point for this season full of low points. 

D_Cide Traumerei the Animation (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the mobile game by Sumzap and Drecom, this anime adaptation is directed by Yoshikazu Kon, written by Hiroshi Onogi, and produced by Zanzigen. Do you know what we have here? It is yet another anime with something really good about it, but undermined by mediocre storytelling and writing. First off, this is probably some of the best CGI animation of the season. It looks incredible and the fight scenes are well executed. It has some of the season’s best action sequences! 

But then it comes to the story and how it tries to do the whole “we have social commentary” approach, and this is where it falls flat. I don’t hate it when shows try to cover tough topics, but if you are going to touch topics like abuse, drugs, and toxic fans, maybe you should handle them with care and not like some uneducated teenager who thinks they know everything. I’m so sick of shows this season with half-baked plots and half-hearted executions of themes and commentary. 

Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy (Crunchyroll) 

Who would have thought that one of the best shows this season would be an isekai? It’s based on the manga and novels by Kei Azumi, and the anime is directed by Shinji Ishihara, written by Kenta Ihara, and produced by C2C. It finally happened. We have an isekai this season that wasn’t complete garbage! 

While the comparisons to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime are understandable, the novels came out a year before Slime got started, so technically, Slime should be thankful for Moonlit Fantasy. They even have some fairly similar elements of the main character getting warped to a fantasy world and befriending/making contracts with powerful individuals. Moonlit takes it in a more comedic direction where the lead gets two hot women who are loyal to him, but not in a horny fanservicey way. Even the lead getting sent to the fantasy world gets the raw end of the deal from that world’s goddess, and has to get bailed out by another deity to actually survive in the world. 

It has some real top-notch comedy, action, and character dynamics. It’s able to mix its comedic edge with sincere character moments and solid action. It’s one of the anime this season that feels the most cohesive, outside of Uramichi Oniisan and The Aquatope on White Sand. It stands as one of the best anime of the season and of the year so far.

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Summer 2021 Anime Season Impressions Part 1

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

There are no two ways to cut it, the Summer 2021 Anime Season has been a real hot mess. On top of two previous seasons that felt too stuffed for their own good, a lot of the shows this season felt like they were made and powered by the energy of burned-out/overworked/underpaid animators and storytellers having to put together multiple stories that had potential to be great, but many fell flat. This is not to say there weren’t any great anime, but it’s more inconsistent this season. Even some of the better shows run into some execution stumbles. Still, I’m going to give my impressions of the new anime this season. I’m skipping over the Scarlet Nexus anime since it’s basically an advertisement for the game that’s already out (the show is fine), and that dormitory ecchi/softcore porn anime will not be touched here. As usual, I’m only talking about the new seasonal anime, and no returning or sequel shows. 

Slice of Life

Girlfriend, Girlfriend (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the manga by Hiroyuki, this anime adaptation is directed by Satoshi Kuwabara, written by Keiichiro Ochi, and produced by Tezuka Productions. I’m always a bit hesitant to get into harem anime due to how they usually end up, and on paper, the premise of this one sounds so off-putting. A rom-com about a guy who ends up getting two girls to agree to date him? How do they pull this off? Well, with them all enjoying each other’s company in, of course, an overly comedic way, but in a way that makes for a real mixed bag of comedy. It helps that all of the characters want to be with one another, but they keep falling into the drama of one individual not being okay with being in a multi-partner relationship. It gets tiring when the best part of the show is when the three individuals, plus the future girl-partners enjoy their friendship and company. I will say that after seeing a little more of the show past my usual three episode rule, I was glad that they talked it out. It’s a vibrant show with amusingly dumb characters, and while a lot of the jokes do include yelling, there are a few legit laughs. It’s a show where your mileage will absolutely vary with how your experience unfolds, but compared to the slice of life rom-coms of the previous Spring season (outside of Nagatoro of course), I would rather watch this than Koikimo. 

Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan (Funimation) 

Based on the manga by Gaku Kuze, this adaptation is directed by Nobuyoshi Nagayama, written by Toko Machida, and produced by Studio Blanc. Do you know those rumors of hosts of children’s shows being unhinged behind the scenes? Where you were told the kind friendly persona they put on is hiding a dark side? Well, that’s essentially the premise of this show. This anime about tired, worn out, jaded, and cynical late 20/early 30-year-olds working a show they aren’t really into, revels in its dark comedy and there is something so charming about it. It might not have the flashiest animation this season, but how they executed it makes the jokes and punchlines land harder due to how snappy the facial expressions are. It’s also diving more into the mindset of the main characters, and I’m so happy that it’s not relying on one joke. Now there is definitely going to be a side of this show that will rub people the wrong way due to how, well, relatable the lead characters are and that feeling of not doing enough with your life at this point in time. I can totally see why some people may find this show off-putting, but I also understand why people enjoy it, and that includes me. With punchy character interactions, funny jokes, and a delightfully twisted sense of humor, there is a charm to this show that is unlike any other this season. 

The Aquatope of White Sand (Crunchyroll) 

This is another original anime this season from PA Works that is directed by Toshiya Shinohara and written by Yuko Kakihara. This show caught my eye early on before the new season of anime dropped with its gorgeous visuals, and the setting of two girls taking care of an aquarium with friends over the summer. It might have a very straightforward story, but the devil is in the details with how they execute the themes and topics covered in a premise like this. With a low-key atmospheric tone, a likable cast of teenagers/young adults, and an experience that feels more fully realized than most anime this season, The Aquatote on White Sand is easily one of the season’s best so far. 

Other 

The Detective is Already Dead (Funimation)

Based on the light novel and manga by Nigoju, the anime adaptation was directed by Manabu Kurihara, written by Deko Akao, and produced by ENGI. After last season’s incredible Odd Taxi, I was excited to find the next mystery anime, and sadly, well, this is what we have. I have heard the light novel is popular, but I’m wondering how popular it is for its detective elements, because much of the show is constant repetitive dialogue of things we already know, and the overall world-building is confusing and unrefined. It feels like a show that was made by combining a bunch of elements and not knowing what to edit or cut down on. I’m usually down with a weird sci-fi mystery experience, but this sure isn’t it. If you like the source material, that’s perfectly fine, but if this wants me to purchase said source material, it’s doing a bad job at it. 

Night Head 2041 (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the 1992 drama, this anime adaptation is directed by Takamitsu Hirakawa, written by George Iida, and produced by Shirogumi. What we essentially have is a mix of Equilibrium, Scanners, and Blade Runner, but with none of the interest that those films offer. It was incredibly difficult to jump into this show because it did such a poor job at explaining exactly how everything worked, and it kept throwing things into the formula that made it even harder to follow. It has some points of interest, but those promising elements are not enough to distract from the fact that this show seems to want to be the next Akira, both metaphorically and literally. Seriously, take a shot every time this show has someone reading an Akira manga. The CGI looks fine, but the whole art direction this show takes looks like every other bog-standard sci-fi series we have seen since Ghost in the Shell. Overall, so far, Night Head 2041 is fine, but I don’t have any real drive to go back to it. 

Peach Boy Riverside (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the manga by Coolkyousinnjya, this anime is directed by Shigeru Ueda, written by Keiichiro Ochi, and produced by Asashi Productions. I have no idea why they had to tell this show’s story out of order and have two different release strategies, because you will probably end up confusing your viewers about details and story beats. It’s really hard to feel invested in this world when I do not know how the story is supposed to be told. It’s not Pulp Fiction. Otherwise, I have enjoyed the first three episodes of this show due to some of its characters, action, and world. I wish I cared more because how the story is told is pulling me out of it. Maybe I’ll keep watching it, but I’m not sure. 

Re-Main (Funimation) 

This is an original anime this season that is produced by MAPPA, written by Masafumi Nishida, and co-directed by Nishida and Kiyoshi Matsuda. The story of a water polo champion getting into an accident and losing his memory makes for a promising plot point, that is unfortunately not too much of the focus of the show. You would think this would make for a compelling drama-driven show, but it has to share the room with the typical sports anime cliches, and it seems to be taking itself a touch too seriously. Maybe it’s because last season’s Bakuten was such a breath of fresh air for sports anime, but Re-Main feels too formulaic for its own good. It either needed to focus more on the effects of losing three years of memories and what that does to the lead, or feel fresh or interesting with the sports elements. Still, even with all of this said, the animation is gorgeous, the opening song is a banger, and what’s driving this series home is the cast of likable characters and their dynamics. Thankfully, it does dive into some bits of the main character’s memories after the three episode mark, but I’m sure some people were hoping for it to have as much screen time as the sports drama bits. It might not be MAPPA’s best series, but I am still enjoying this a lot more than their other series that we will get to next time. 

The Case Study of Vanitas (Funimation) 

This is based on the manga by Jun Mochizuki, this adaptation is directed by Tomoyuki Itamura, written by Deko Akao, and produced by Bones. I found myself overall charmed by this drama of vampires and humans. It’s a compelling watch as it focuses on a curse that plagues vampires, and this maybe/maybe-not human doctor who wants to cure the vampires of the world with the power of a sacred book. The core appeal of this show is the dynamic between our two male leads as they try to uncover the mystery while fighting an omnipotent force that absolutely creeps the heck out of me. The show does try to balance out more serious story beats with comedy, and while it can and does work a lot of the time, when it doesn’t, it falls flat. It’s a disappointment in that regard due to what one of the leads does to a female character in the third episode that happens to be a little too reckless for its own good. It’s like it tries a little too hard to have the characters be reaffirmed that they are straight when the vibe, tone, and how dialogue sequences are handled tell another story altogether. Still, I love this take on vampires, but it needed a little something to polish out the tone. I’m glad I decided to watch a few more episodes after my cut-off, since it does dive into the world more. The action is pretty good, and the animation is gorgeous. It’s a touch uneven at certain points, but I enjoyed this series, and the dub is out now! 

Kageki Shojo! (Funimation) 

Based on the manga by Kumiko Saiki, this adaptation is directed by Kazuhiro Yoneda, written by Tadashi Morishita and Miyako Matsumoto, and produced by Pine Jam. I know there are plenty of manga and anime that revolve around the setting of an all-female performing arts school that leads into being cast in huge performances, but since I’m not too familiar with those anime, this is the first one that I have seen set in that, well, setting. I love the distinct look of this anime with its human designs and vibrant colors used for the characters and the outfits they wear. It has some familiar elements for a drama/love story between two girls with one of them being closed off to the world, and the other being this ball of energy, but I do enjoy their chemistry. It’s also a drama that will heavily drench its story with as many dramatic plot points as possible that include abuse, stalkers, eating disorders, and the insane difficulties of working in this specific industry. It’s a bit much and it’s not all handled well, but I respect that this anime isn’t just fluffy best friends forever kind of anime and wants to dive into the darker sides of the industry. I may not have seen similar anime to Kageki Shojo, and its execution of drama could use some work, but even with its flaws, like a few other anime this season, it’s one of my favorites. 

Sonny Boy (Funimation)

This is one of the few original anime this season by One Punch Man Season 1 and Space Dandy director Shingo Natsume. This anime is written and directed by Natsume and produced by Studio Madhouse. What may look like another battle royale-style anime with students with powers, ends up being less action-focused and more philosophical and metaphorical with its setting. A bunch of students being stuck in random worlds that aren’t connected to theirs’ results in a ton of story beats, commentary, and all wrapped up with some great writing and one of the most distinct visuals of any anime this season. It’s a touch clunky right out of the gate with setting everything up, but by the third episode, I was hooked. It’s easily one of the best anime this season, and I hope it doesn’t fall flat when the final episode drops. 

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

My Journey Through Annecy 2021

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this Editorial!)

What can I say about the Annecy 2021 Online experience? Well, it was a mixed bag. While I can overall say I had a good time, their move to being both an online and in-person event is what dragged it down for the online customers. Sorry, I don’t have the time or money to spend on going to France during a pandemic. It was a real botched attempt to satisfy the people who could go in person and the people from around the world who wanted to attend. It had some great elements to it, but I would also argue it didn’t do enough for people who wanted to experience it online. Here are my pros and cons of what I took away from the festival 

Pro: WIP section was fruitful and interesting! 

As with last year, my favorite part of the festival was watching the work-in-progress panels. I loved seeing what films were getting made and how they were tackling the animation process. It’s so cool to get these behind-the-scenes looks at animation production because otherwise, not many people get to see this side of animation. Granted, some of them were in French, so it was a disappointment to watch and not understand parts. A few of them also didn’t seem to have a whole lot done. It made me wonder if these are part “Here is what we are making” and part “We are showing off what we have made so far to look for funding”. That’s not a bad thing, but I think I always want to see films that I can check out sooner than later, but that’s just me. I wish the ones in French all had subtitles or a different making-of video for online viewers so they don’t have to wait to watch them when they are finally dubbed or subbed. 

Favorite Panels: The House, Maya & The Three, Princess Dragon, Little Nicholas, Unicorn Wars, The Peasant, Fena: Pirate Princess, Robin Robin, Perlimps, Nayola.

Con: None of the feature films were watchable online! 

I think this was the biggest issue, as while it was an issue last year, at least last year’s Online experience let you watch some films that were competing. I know and I get that there is a lot of legal and copyright stuff that kept some of these films out of the online portion of last year’s event, but since some of the films in competition waltzed right in with distributors, like Deer King got picked up by GKIDS and Viva Kids picked up Ape Star, why wouldn’t they be a part of the online part of the festival? I know last year’s batch of watchable films were mostly films with no real widespread value or appeal, but they decided this year that none of them were going to be watchable! I’m sure ya had to be there to see films like Snotty Boy or Mount Fuji Seen From a Train, which didn’t look like an animated film at all! The worst part is that they promised three films were going to be watchable online, but they just never showed up. You could watch the shorts and two old films from 1979 and 1981, but that was it. What is the point of having an online form of the festival when the online viewers can’t watch the features?! It doesn’t help either that Animation is Film 2021 was announced during Annecy, and will (for now) have an in-person and virtual experience with none of the hiccups that Annecy keeps having. Also, Animation First and the NYICFF had films that were fully watchable online! I don’t understand why they are so stingy outside of the obvious legal stuff, but if they aren’t going to have some feature films watchable online in an online version of the festival, then I would rather not participate at all. I was lucky to get a screener for one film, but that was it. Please, Annecy, I beg of you to make the films watchable online for online viewers next time! 

Pro: Bubble Bath is a trippy film! 

Well, of the two older animated features they had to offer to the online viewers, I was excited to see Bubble Bath. This was a 1979 Hungarian film that had one of the wildest character designs and animation style out of any animated film from back then and even now. It was a film that said, “going off-model is the entire point.” It was also a musical, and while I don’t remember the songs, I thought it was charming! The story was decent enough, but I think the wild visuals and the story got lost within said visuals. Still, it was an experience I rather enjoyed, and once I see it become available in the US, I will buy a copy of the film. 

Con: A majority of the French Annecy panels did not have subtitles on them! 

Listen, I would love to have all of the time in the world to learn other languages, and I know there are plenty of ways to learn said languages, but when a good chunk of the online viewers are from the US, well, I would just assume not everyone can speak or knows French. They have said the panels will get translated subtitles or dubs, but it makes me wish they did subtitle videos like they did last year. I could generally get what they were talking about, but fully getting it would have made some of them better experiences. 

Pro: The Inu-Oh Preview. 

One of the highlights was seeing the first five minutes of Masaaki Yuasa’s new film, and boy, was it a ride. With the beautiful animation, the different tone, and the character designs, it’s always exciting to see what Yuasa and his team have come up with next. I’m sad this will be his last film for a while since he’s going to be on break, but if the rest of the film was as good as these first five minutes, then I can’t wait to see how the rest of the film unfolds.

Con: Should have had more previews! 

I loved the Inu-Oh preview and admired the unknown horrors we will be stepping into with Space Jam: A New Legacy, but those were the only two? You couldn’t do previews of the films that were being shown off or upcoming films? What about the ones that were premiering there as screenings like Luck Favors Nikuko? I don’t know, it reeks of the online consumers not having a proper experience, while the in-person stuff got all of the love and support. 

Pro: The Panels were a lifesaver

Seeing the Netflix, Ron’s Gone Wrong, and other informational animation panels were a nice addition to the Work-in-Progress panels. Being able to see new shows and upcoming films for services like Netflix was fun! 

Favorite Panels: The Netflix ones and Ron’s Gone Wrong. 

Con: There needed to be more for the online attendees than just the shorts

Let’s be really frank here, the online viewers got the short end of the stick. The shorts were great! The panels were great! However, that was it. Again, I get that they wanted to focus on the in-person event, but if you aren’t going to offer an equal experience to the online filmgoers, then maybe don’t do an online experience. I still enjoyed my time at Annecy, but I want Annecy to do better. I want to talk about more of these films that everyone might want to know about, but when you don’t give me access to them, well, I don’t know if I can get the word out and maybe drum up some attention.

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Q&A With Lamya’s Poem Director Alex Kronemer

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this Interview!)

I am so pumped to be attending the online version of the Annecy International Online Film Festival this year, because I really enjoyed it last year. I had the honor of getting in contact with the distributor of one of the films in competition, Lamya’s Poem, and with the director of the film Alex Kronemer to talk about it! I hope you all enjoy the interview as much as I had fun interviewing the director and reviewing the film.

Q: First off, congrats on getting into the main competition side of Annecy! I remember seeing the Work in Progress video last year, and was very intrigued about the story and how the final product would unfold. How does it feel to be selected in the main competition side of the festival? If you can, can you tell us the process you and your team went through to submit it? Did you submit to both the main category and the Contrechamp category, or were you only able to choose one or the other?

The submission process was handled by our international sales agent, WestEnd Films. The film was submitted as a feature, and it was the festival who chose to invite it to be part of the competition – which of course we were delighted about.

Q: What attracted you to this project?

Several years ago, during one of the worst periods of fighting in Syria when over 12 million Syrians lost their homes and half became refugees, a story came to our attention about a group of Syrian refugees in a park in Athens who were reading Rumi’s poetry to each other. This caught our attention. Rumi’s poetry is often associated with themes of love, which seem very remote from the experiences of these refugees. But upon deeper examination, we learned that it wasn’t as strange as it might appear at first glance.

Rumi’s poetry is rooted in parts of his life story that are much deeper—and earlier—than is often understood. As a boy, Rumi was himself what we could call a refugee, as his family was forced to flee the Mongol Invasion that swept across Central Asia and over much of the Arab Middle East. During this period, he is known to have been haunted by frightening dreams of people calling for his help, which his father interpreted for him as people in times and places he could hardly imagine needing his words. Literature is a way of overcoming trauma – reading it, but also writing it. Those Syrian refugees in that Athens park needed Rumi. And through the connections he had to such people—even people living 800 years later–he needed them to have a reason to write and through that rescue his own soul. He needed those refugees as much as they needed him.

Around this time I met a family of Syrian refugees living in Cairo during a trip I took there. One of them was a young girl who shared some of her experiences of trying to be a normal young teenager in the midst of war and displacement. Her name was Lamya.

After that encounter the script almost wrote itself.

Q: At any point in the early side of production, was it always meant to be an animated film, or did you consider at one point a live-action approach? Personally, I find there are no limits in telling stories in animated form.

The film was imagined from the start as animation. Even though I never did an animated project before, the magical element of the story made Lamya and young Rumi animated characters in my mind.

Q: When crafting this story, when you and your team started out, what were the most important aspects that you wanted to nail down? Like, what were the elements of the story and the animation that were top priority?

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” This is one of Rumi’s most quoted lines and is the main theme of the film. I wanted the story to not only shed light on the plight of Syrian Refugees, but also speak more universally to the human condition. We all experience hardships and loss in our lives, even if not as extraordinary as the losses experienced by Lamya and her real-life counterparts. In those moments we are often pulled toward bitterness, anger, and debilitating self-pity. But as Rumi says, those same experiences can also open us to greater compassion, patience, and mercy toward others. “The world keeps breaking your heart until it opens,” says Rumi in another famous poem, which we include in the film along with some of Rumi’s other poetry. Suffering can seem meaningless. But it can also create rewarding connections to others and bring us to a deeper understanding of ourselves.

Q: When you all set out to make this film, to which audience did you want to aim this animated experience?

The intense situations and mature themes of the film make an older audience one of the main targets, however we avoided any depictions of graphic violence and included a younger, rascally character (Bassam) to make the film something that can also be viewed and enjoyed by families.

Q: The animation has this charming mix of visuals that remind me of a children’s storybook. What was the decision-making behind what the film was going to look like in between the different story lines and how they connected to one another?

In designing Lamya’s Poem, we set out with the goal of creating a film that would have a refined, artistic look appropriate to the topic. We drew inspiration and techniques from several sources, including graphic novels and classical paintings, to create our visual palette. Our intent was to compliment the mature nature of some of the themes of the film with the grit and texture afforded by visible brush strokes, roughened textures, and imperfect color fills.

In this classic tale of good versus evil, we used green and red as beacons of guidance for the audience in the film. Through these uses of color, as well as many symbolic visual metaphors, we were able to support the storytelling. For example, in the beginning as Lamya dreams of chasing fireflies in a beautiful garden, we opted for a subtle but peaceful green as the dominant hue in the night sky. The use of green is extended to the fireflies, which throughout the film, symbolize hope. Green is also the color of Lamya’s teacher’s sweater, whose guidance nurtures the start of her journey. In contrast, red hints at the corruption of anger and hatred which stain the dream world and even flicker within Lamya as she struggles. We see it in her eyes, which are a window into the hope and despair she feels as a refugee.

While doing justice to the tragic reality of such a life, Lamya’s Poem also evokes a sense of rich culture through classical painting techniques, bold silhouettes and large vistas. The use of a wide visual format for the film helped to further the sense of scale and adventure.

Q: Obviously with the political climate going on around about immigration and the uproar in the middle east, due to the setting and the commentary touched upon in the film, was it at all emotionally draining due to what is going on in the real world to work on this film?

It was the emotional call to address the Syrian Refugee crisis in some way, to at least try, that was the context for why the story of the Syrians reading poetry in Athens affected me so deeply. And it remains one of the goals of the film to help in some way. In fact, a humanitarian educational project using the film has already been launched. It is called “Unfold Your Own Myth,” which is a line of Rumi’s poetry and the last line of the film. The project takes its inspiration from the relationship between Lamya and the young Rumi and is a program aimed at young refugees, migrants, and Muslim youth to help them overcome dislocation and loss through writing and sharing poetry. It is a project to help them gain agency over the circumstances of their lives through gaining control over their personal narratives.

I must mention at this point our producer, Sam Kadi, who in addition to being a gifted film maker and dramatist, is a Syrian who grew up on some of the same Aleppo streets we depict in Lamya’s Poem. His experiences and connections to Syria helped center the film throughout the process. I also have to mention some of the Syrian Refugees that we consulted with regularly – most of whom wanted their names withheld out of fear of putting their families back in Syria in danger. One who we worked most closely with was nearly deported due to some of the draconian rules put into place during the Trump administration, and I lived her fears with her during much of the production. Happily, I can report that her immigration status is now secure and she will be able to remain in the US.

Q: As a follow-up, did you have to be careful with what you showed and how you portrayed it?

I wouldn’t say “careful,” but rather mindful.

Q: How did the casting process begin and end with finding the main actors for each character?

The talented Mena Massoud (Aladdin) was our first choice to voice the character of young Rumi. We were lucky to get the very gifted young actress Millie Davis (Wonder) for Lamya. And the experienced actor Faran Tahir (Iron Man, Star Trek) brought his natural gravitas to the character of Rumi’s Father.

Q: With the film being made when films like The Breadwinner and The Swallows of Kabul were coming out or were released, is it pretty inspiring to see more animated stories focus on this part of the world?

It is inspiring, yes, but also a reminder in citing those few examples that out of the thousands of animations produced every year, a scant few focus in a sensitive way about Muslims. Except when cast as villains, Muslims hardly appear in animated features and series. I hope that Lamya’s Poem inspires others to tell more stories and grow an audience eager for them.

Q: Do you have any advice to anyone who may want to get into animation?

Storytelling through animation is limited only by your imagination. Nevertheless, like in all filmmaking, the hardest part is raising the funds. Again, I hope that films like Lamya’s Poem create an audience that opens the possibility for greater resources for new projects. It would be amazing to imagine these kinds of stories becoming an entire genre in some future date.

Q: Are there any animation misconceptions by fans or outsiders that you would like to squash?

One that I myself had at the beginning is that animation is in some way “easier” than live action. In live action films, of which I have done several, if you are filming an interior scene, an Art Director populates it with tables, chairs, carpets, etc. to match the vision of the film. Perhaps you have a choice between two or three different possibilities, but usually not, and in any case those decisions are made quickly, often after one glance. In animation, every element has to be designed: the chairs, the table, the carpet, but also the cups, the saucers, their color, the how narrow or bowl shaped they are, the shape and size of the sugar cubes, the color of the tea. Thought has to go into every element and takes time to realize. An orange appears in one key scene of the film that took hours and hours of work to get it to just the right color, shape and size.

Q: Are there any animated films at Annecy or coming out this year that you are curious about or hyped to see?

To be perfectly honest, I am hyped to see all of them. I’d say that I’m hyped to be in their company and have Lamya’s Poem part of the competition against a slate of such worthy films.

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Worst to Best Animated Films of 2020 Part 3

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this editorial!)

Hey everyone, welcome back to part 3 of the Worst to Best Animated Films of 2020. If you have yet to read part 1 or part 2, then you had better do so because if I don’t mention a film on this list, then it might be on a later part of the previous or future list. Let’s continue then, shall we? I mean, that’s what’s going to happen. 

18 Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves 

With all of the controversy surrounding this one, I am glad that it was a solid little gem of a fantasy/action/comedy film. Unlike a lot of these fantasy comedies that came out after the wake of Shrek, Red Shoes has a more engaging hook and does have a few good messages and morals in the overarching story. It also helps that the voice cast is pretty solid, and Jim Rash and Patrick Warburton steal every scene they are in. If it had better jokes and a more compelling villain, I think this could have easily been higher on the list, but for now, it’s a solid little oddity from South Korea, and if you can find it for cheap, I recommend checking it out. 

17 Superman: Man of Tomorrow 

It feels like it’s been forever since I have truly loved a DC-animated feature, and Superman: Man of Tomorrow is one of those films that I love. It takes a little more time to flesh out Superman in his early days than other films about the hero. The dialogue feels a lot more nuanced and grounded, which makes me fall in love with a character I have been drifting in and out of loving for years now. The new animation style is visually distinct from the previous films. With its use of thick outlines, it’s different enough from the previous films to make it feel fresh. We also finally get a Superman film with a different villain with a three-dimensional take on Parasite. It might have some of the typical DC DTV film clunkiness, and I’m kind of tired of them doing a connected universe thing again, but Man of Tomorrow is a promising start to a hopefully better lineup of films. 

16 No. 7 Cherry Lane 

Now, this is quite a film experience. An adult animated film that’s not a comedy or raunchy. It’s more of an adult romance that takes place in the 1960s. I know some people have criticized it for its slow pace, but it does make up for it by having some great intimate and personal moments between the lead characters. It also captures a period that I was not fully aware of in China. It might have some flawed CGI animation that isn’t as polished as other features seen on this list, but if you can find a way to watch this film, I highly recommend checking it out. 

15 Animal Crackers 

It seems like we should have gotten this film years ago, and it was nice to finally get it. While I understand how some people may not gel with this film due to a fairly weak villain, and it could have gone further with being a full-on musical, I had fun with it. It was a very creative film with plenty of laughs and creativity that led to a rather amusing experience. It might not have the most polished animation, but it has such a cartoony look that it will age better than those films and shorts that use hyper-realistic visuals. If you need a low-key family comedy, I recommend this film!

14 Trolls: World Tour 

Who knew DreamWorks would have a much better track record for sequels than Disney! While it has some story beats that don’t quite match up with the overall commentary that the film is tackling, and some characters regress from the first film, I’m still in awe that they pulled so much out of a sequel to the 2016 original. On top of building upon its vibrant and creative world with more troll races, it takes multiple music genres and creates a rather ambitious commentary about diversity, LGBT elements, cultural appropriation, and commentary about the music industry as well. I just wish the overall film was stronger, but check it out if you haven’t already.

13 SHe

This is probably one of the two most obscure films I have talked about on this list, and probably the one that’s the most abstract to dive into. Here is what it is, this is a stop-motion film about how men and women are treated in society and the workplace. The catch is that it’s all done in stop-motion and instead of using humans, everyone is represented by shoes! I’m not joking, and this film exists. I saw it back in 2019, and while it may have been the wrong film to play late at night at Animation is Film, it’s a film you never quite forget about. It’s a visual experience full of some of the most distinct stop-motion and darkest visuals you will ever see. I think it’s a touch long, and unless you are paying close attention, you may lose track of the plot at points, but if you want an animated film like no other, well, you can’t go wrong with this film. 

12 A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

While I still prefer the original film, Farmageddon is still an enjoyable and charming romp from Aardman and their flock of sheep. With its more sci-fi elements, it leads to some creative jokes, a better villain, and it puts Shaun in the seat of character growth. I wish the other sheep and the farmer had better story beats, but you still get an overall charming and heartwarming story about family and responsibility. Also, the alien is incredibly adorable, and it’s yet another film that shows that you don’t need dialogue to make a film amusing. You simply need to build your story, visuals, and character movements around it. 

11 The Nose 

Now, this is the most obscure film I have talked about, and it makes me wish we could get an official US release of it. While it takes a bit for the ball to get rolling and to get the context of the plays this film is based on, this has some of the most unique visuals seen in animated films from this year. It was a rather captivating watch that was easily the best film I was able to fully see at Annecy 2020 Online, and I hope some distributor can pick it up for a US release. 

Spring 2021 Anime Season Impressions Part 2

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

Here we are with part 2! Let’s do this! 

Drama

Higehiro: I Shaved and then Brought Home a High School Girl (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the novels and manga by Shimesaba, the anime was directed by Manabu Kamikita, written by Deko Akao, and produced by Project No. 9. I am so frustrated with this show. Not because it’s one of the worst shows this season, but because it has a decent idea. While the base idea is already a bit uncomfortable, you see how the show unfolds and it turns out to be this drama about young adults and the baggage that they carry with them. They do talk about it and interact with one another like real individuals. It’s uncomfortable, but at times, it’s uncomfortable for the right reasons with these characters coming to terms with what they carry with them and how they interact with friends and people they are close to. On the flip side, it’s also filled with fanservice and the show keeps using shots to leer at the young girl and the women in this show, and it can’t seem to balance out what it wants to be. Does it want to be this adult drama that tackles uncomfortable elements and the emotional baggage you carry? Or does it want to be a fanservice show? Granted, so far from what I have seen, it doesn’t want to entirely be about the fanservice, but it’s distracting enough to make the experience of watching the show a tough sit. I think I’m more disappointed with how it handles its themes and story than downright mad. Still, I wish it focused on just the drama. 

86 (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the light novels and manga by Asato Asato, this A1 Pictures-produced series is directed by Toshimasa Ishii and written by Toshiya Ono. What this anti-war drama gets right is what might be the biggest criticism aimed at it right now with how it handles its commentary and themes about discrimination and war with the carefulness of a sledgehammer. It’s very blunt about its beliefs and its story about a society of people who use “AI”-control mechs to fight, while in reality, the “AI” are humans that are of different races than the ones who sit back and do something. Normally, this would be a major issue since everyone loves to scream and rave about subtly while missing films and shows with subtle elements. I’m fine with them being blunt about the show’s themes and commentary. Sometimes, you need to tell them upfront what you are about. Luckily, the comradery between the 86 team members is constantly entertaining and feels like they are real friends. The action does use a lot of CGI, and while it comes with some of the typical clunkiness that is seen in none MAPPA and Studio Orange-produced CGI series, it’s a lot better here than in other anime from this season or previous seasons. However, the action is handled well and is intense. They also find a great balance in the drama, the action, and the moments of lightweight wholesomeness. It’s not subtle, but it’s a good anti-war drama that I think is one of the highlights of the season. 

Tokyo Revengers (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the manga by Ken Wakui, this delinquent school drama with a time travel twist was directed by Koichi Hatsumi, written by Yasuyuki Muto, and produced by Liden Films. What seems like a first in such a long time, we have an honest-to-god school delinquent story. It takes a few creative twists about its setting and how the lead can go back in time to try and prevent the death of a girl he dated in the past. I think what works about the show are the character dynamics. I found the lead way more interesting than he came off at first, and when he meets one of the future gang leaders, it sets off this chain reaction of relationships that I admired. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while or what feels like a long time since we have seen a school delinquent anime, but it feels new and fresh. Now, granted, I was not fond of the first episode. I found it a bit too try-hard in showing how pathetic our main character is, his friends from middle school were obnoxious (even if they were middle school boys, they were a bit much), and it was a bummer that the girl that our lead is trying to save gets relegated at first to being an object of a goal. However, as I went through the episodes, the friends got better, the lead got better, and it has turned into one of my favorite shows of the season. I hope it can keep the momentum up. 

Those Snow White Notes (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the manga by Marimo Ragawa, this show is directed by Hiroaki Akagi, written by Kan’ichi Kato, and produced by Shin-Ei Animation. This is hands down the best drama of the anime season with its focus on finding your sound aka your way in life through the power and mastery of the shamisen. Outside of gorgeous production values, solid comedy, and a more introspective take on the character’s arc, you have music that was supervised by the famous Yoshida Brothers, and it does make up for how much their talent was wasted back in the Summer 2020 season on 2020’s worst anime, Gibiate. The shamisen music heard throughout the show brings so much emotional depth that I was instantly hypnotized by the stand-out moments of each episode when a character would play the stringed instrument. It’s a show that truly stands out and so far, I have no real complaints about it. Now, if I continue watching the show and I find faults with it, maybe I’ll do quick little anime reviews going over the overall season of the show. 

Action/adventure

Combatants Will Be Dispatched (Funimation) 

Based on the light novels by Natsume Akatsuki, this adaptation is directed by Hiraki Akagi, written by Yukie Sugawara, and produced by J.C. Staff. Well, it might be from the same author as Konosuba, but it is not by the same anime team that made Konosuba the smash hit that it was. This show is very confused about what it wants to be. Is it set in a sci-fi world with fantasy? or is it a fantasy world with sci-fi elements, because by episode three, they pretty much dispatched the sci-fi elements in favor of fantasy offerings. What also doesn’t have that thing that made Konosuba work are the characters. Instead of having Konosuba‘s chaotically likable idiots, Combatants has characters who have none of that energy or drive that made the other property so fun to watch. What you get here are an annoying lead, a robot girl who looks like a young child, and a harem of quirky characters that don’t have much going for them outside of their one personality trait. The jokes are also not funny. Some got a mild chuckle, but the exact kind of jokes you would find in such a show are all here and accounted for. The one thing missing is any of the major jokes being funny. It’s a shame that I didn’t like this show because it makes me wonder if the Konosuba anime just got lucky it got a director and team that understood the goal or if the author of both this anime and Konosuba were not good. Maybe the source material is better than the adaptation, but as of right now, I do not want to watch these combatants be dispatched! 

Seven Knights Revolution: The Hero’s Successor (Crunchyroll) 

Based on a mobile game we can’t even play in the states, this anime adaptation is directed by Kazuya Ichikawa, written by Ukyo Kodachi, and produced by Liden Films and DOMERICA. It’s a real bog-standard action fantasy RPG with characters and a story you have seen before. Even the monsters look painfully generic. It’s always amusing how we get these anime for games we don’t get access to, because if you don’t know about the game, then why would you watch this show? It’s fine if you don’t play the game, but since I’ve seen this whole premise and cast of characters before, it doesn’t add anything to my experience that I couldn’t get with other action shows this season. When the action does kick in, it’s fine, but you can do a lot better this season than this anime. 

Cestvs: Roman Fighter (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the manga by Shizuya Wazarai, this anime is directed by Toshifumi Kawase and Kazuya Monma, written by Toshifumi Kawase, and produced by Bandai Namco Pictures and Logic & Magic. While we might not have an Ex-Arm this season in terms of bad CGI animation, Cestvs almost hits that mark. While it has better CGI animation with weight behind the movements and actual lip movements, the show suffers everywhere else. The main character is way too whiny, the aristocrats are pushed to an unlikability that’s not tolerable, and the side characters are boring. However, it then also pulls the stunt of being a mix of 2D and CGI, and while it’s better implemented than Ex-Arm, the show suffers by not fully going the route of CGI. Also, this whole gladiatorial combat stuff has been debunked by historical findings, so seeing some of the inaccuracies pop up that are only there to drive the story is humorous to me. It has a few interesting characters, and it doesn’t 100% fail at brushing the horrors of slavery under the rug, but even after going 4 episodes deep into this show, I can’t find myself going back to it. The only real reason to watch this show is the combat, but when there are so many anime this season with great action set pieces, then why would you go for the weaker shows in the action category when you can get something better? I would personally skip it unless you are curious about seeing a boxing anime that takes place in ancient Rome. 

The World Ends With You: The Animation (Funimation) 

Based on the cult-favorite video game from Square Enix, this adaptation is directed by Kazuya Ichikawa, written by Midori Goto, and produced by DOMERICA and Shin-Ei Animation. Well, it’s an anime adaptation of a video game. You get all of the cutscenes, but none of the fun of actually playing the game. It’s an extremely dense three episodes as we go from story beat to story beat with no time for stopping to take it all in. It got better by the third episode, and I would consider this to be one of the better action shows of the season. It’s not better than some of the other anime out this season, but I can see myself wanting to see how this show ends. 

Mars RED (Funimation) 

Based on a manga by Bun-O Fujisawa, this action drama is directed by Kohei Hatano and Shinya Sadamitsu, written by Jun’ichi Fujisaku, and produced by Signal.MD. This show set in 1923 and dealing with an elite unit to take care of a blossoming vampire problem was one of the first shows of the season and one of the first to get a dub. I’m not entirely sure why, but I found myself enthralled with this vampire drama. It’s not doing anything unique, but I think having the characters be adults let the scenes that have them contemplating about their vampire nature be handled better here than most stories that deal with the blood-sucking monsters. There are some truly heartbreaking moments in the show and I was compelled and pulled into their stories. The action is more grounded, but it has some small fantastical elements sprinkled in that make for some truly great visual moments. Speaking of the visuals, Mars RED is one of the most gorgeous shows I have seen this season with perfect linework, expressive animation, and the designs and world overall feel cohesive. I can understand why some people aren’t as into this show as others, but I see myself getting back into this show once I’m done writing this article. 

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood (Crunchyroll) 

Joran is an original anime this season directed by Susumu Kudo and produced by Bakken Records. It’s an anime version of the Lady Snowblood films mixed with Blood+, and turn-of-the-century technology (the late 1800s maybe early 1900s). I compare it to these elements because it has a stellar female lead who slays shapeshifting demons while wondering what is going on with the shady underbelly of the organization she works for and the targets they go after. It has pretty great animation, and when the power sets are turned on, the animation takes on an entirely different visual style that is so much fun to watch. It has great characters, intriguing plot twists, and lots of creative action that has impressed me within the five episodes I had watched.

To Your Eternity (Crunchyroll) 

Based on the manga by Yoshitoki Oima, this adaptation is directed by Masahiko Murata, written by Shinzo Fujita, and produced by Brain’s Base. Without a doubt, To Your Eternity has made one of the biggest and best first impressions out of any anime this season. The first episode would have been amazing as its own little short film. Then you realize it has more story after that first episode! They threw a lot of talent and resources into this show if they got Utada Hikaru to do the theme song. It’s an ambitious story about life and the human experience as we follow our lead character as it interacts with the characters it meets. It’s a show that has a lot of enticing dialogue, creative world-building, and the individual the story is revolving around actually does become the main focus as the story goes on. Still, if you are against shows that have a sort of passive main character that traverses the story, you might not like this, and some story beats might be a bit much. Still, I have enjoyed the story and admired the ambition that this show has. It’s easily one of my favorite shows of the season so far. Now, will it stay that way, who knows? 

Romance/Comedy

It’s Too Sick to Call this Love aka Koikimo (Crunchyroll)

Based on the manga by Mogusu, this anime adaptation is directed by Naomi Nakayama and produced by Nomad. This is an age gap romance where a man who is obviously in his 30s, is falling for a teenage girl, and the anime only seems half of the time aware of how creepy this premise is. You can spew all of the “well it’s a different culture and age of consent” comments as you want, but when one side of the party is not okay with the guy hitting on her constantly, then any defenses become null and void. The show only calls out the fact the guy is a creep half of the time! The other half is everyone gaslighting the high school girl that “hey maybe he’s not that bad” when all he does is stalk her, send her presents, and then does the bare minimum of a guy being nice and kind. Maybe this anime adaptation would have been better if it was leaning more on the dunking on the male lead and the animation was better, but it’s not. Alongside Burning Kabaddi and that Battle Athletes reboot, this is one of the cheapest-looking productions this season. The designs might be okay, but the animation is downright mediocre. It’s stiff and lifeless, and that’s saying something when you can say “Hey, The Way of the Househusband, a motion comic, is better animated than three of the shows in this anime season”. The opening and ending songs for Koikimo are okay, but that’s about all the kindness I have for this show. If I were ranking these shows, this would be right at the very bottom. I can’t see myself wanting to see how they gaslight the girl into loving the guy twice her age. 

The Romcom Where The Childhood Friend Won’t Lose (Crunchyroll)

Based on the light novel and manga by Shuichi Nimaru, this adaptation is directed by Takashi Naoya, written by Yoriko Tomita, and produced by Doga Kobo. This might be the one anime this season where I don’t honestly don’t know where I stand on it. I enjoy it way more than Koikimo, but I don’t know if I downright love this show. On one hand, the first episode has a lot of ideas that rub me the wrong way. A high school boy is getting revenge on a girl because she is going out with another guy, and a girl who was crushing on our lead teams up with him to get revenge on the girl. But then you get to episode 3 and so many twists happen that it turns into less of a revenge fantasy with some rom-com elements, and more of a dysfunctional rom-com of teenagers who are in love and have no real idea of how to handle these emotions. The production values are okay, and so far, the cast is only okay, but something about this show grabbed me as I went on through it. Maybe I’ll pick it up again, but I will have to see if I do want to return. 

Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagataro (Crunchyroll)

Based on the manga by Nanashi, this series is directed by Hirokazu Hanai, written by Taku Kishimoto, and produced by Telecom Animation Film. Who would have thought about a rom-com with a bullying fetish would be good? It’s not something I’m personally interested in, but the comedy is well-executed. Now if you aren’t into bully fetishes, then you won’t enjoy the titular character’s antics with the male lead. However, Nagataro herself is a sadistically delightful character who has some of the most expressive animations out of any character this season. While some of the teasings can lean a little too hard on being mean, there is this sincere kindness and teenage awkwardness under it all that makes it a delightful show to watch. You can tell she isn’t meaning to be a jerk, and she’s being more of a doofus crushing on the lead character who doesn’t get how to approach him respectably. The male lead isn’t the most interesting character at first but becomes more interesting as the show goes on. It’s a show I was wary about with how it would turn out, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot and I can see myself wanting to finish it up alongside Dragon Goes House Hunting as my two comedies of the season. 

And there you have it! The Spring 2021 Anime Season watch is complete. I am burnt out on anime, and I need to take a small break before I can fully dive in and enjoy more anime when the summer season heats up. Still, even if most of these shows didn’t pan out, I was happy enough with the ones I loved. 

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Spring 2021 Anime Season Impressions Part 1

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

The Spring 2021 anime season decided to come back swinging with even more anime than the infamous Winter 2021 season. It was almost exhausting to watch so many, but there was a lot of anime that was quite fantastic! It will be some of the best anime we will be seeing this year. Even the worst anime of the season aren’t worse than Ex Arm and Redo of Healer. That’s why I’m going to split this one into two parts due to how many shows there were to cover. As usual, this is only covering the new anime of the season. No returning series and I’ll only cover anime reboots if they are important in some way shape or form. No rankings this time either. I’m giving my 3+ ep impressions on these shows in terms of what genre they are in. Animation is a medium of storytelling, and anime is very good at going in different directions with their stories. Let’s start, shall we? 

Sports

Battle Athletes Victory Restart (Funimation)

Based on the manga by Yuki Nakano, this new iteration/reboot of the fan-favorite series is directed by Tokihiro Sasaki and is produced by Seven. Let me ask you a question. Remember in the Fall 2020 season there was that great Higurashi sequel reboot thing that got people to talk about Higurashi again? Well, this one will get people talking, but for all of the wrong reasons. This reboot is not good. It’s not only bad at setting up what kind of plot we are getting into, but the characters are also flat, cookie-cutter, and the animation is easily some of the worst this season has to offer. For a show that’s going to be about intense athletic challenges, the animation is very basic. No weight is put behind the movements and you think they would make the sports stuff look exciting and thrilling. It comes off like a show that was made because they made a deal to make it to keep the rights of the property more than any real passion behind it. Also, while this show may aim at a female audience, it sure loves to have a ton of male gaze elements like looking at character’s butts, and it is more interested with the yuri baiting than telling a more followable story. Also, since one character has prosthetics, couldn’t they have made it appear like something that wasn’t looking like they pulled some pantyhose over one arm and leg? Oh, and this show doesn’t earn its political space drama either. No one gives a rat’s behind about this world or the main story. Eh, either way, Battle Athletes Victory Restart is easily one of the weakest shows of the season, and the only thing it will get people talking about is the original anime from the 90s. 

Burning Kabaddi (Crunchyroll) 

Burning Kabaddi is a sports anime based on the manga by Hajime Musashino. It’s directed by Kazuya Ichikawa and produced by TMS Entertainment. I always look for a sports anime with a unique hook. For example, this is a sports anime where the sport in question is Kabaddi, which is full-contact tag. That sounds great! Too bad that this is one of the cheapest-looking anime of the season. It doesn’t have the best animation and for a sport that I said is a more aggressive tag, then that’s a huge problem. It doesn’t help either that this is by a studio and director that are busy with other projects. Unless said otherwise, it sounds like this anime got the short end of resources. The voice acting is decent, and some of the leads are amusing, but it doesn’t stand out. It makes me wonder if this project went to someone like Studio Mappa. The animation would have been better. Even then, it has a severe case of “been there done that” in terms of its story and characters. I was honestly looking forward to this anime, so it makes me sad that it wasn’t better. It’s, at the very least, earnest in its execution that I can’t fully hate it as much as some other anime this season. 

Farewell, My Dear Cramer! (Crunchyroll)

Based on the manga by Naoshi Arakawa, this anime adaptation was directed by Seiki Takuno, written by Natsuko Takahashi, and produced by Liden Films. Unfortunately, this is yet another sports anime this season that suffers from major production issues. It’s a show where the visuals are at some points decent, but keep leaning into the wholly mediocre territory. For a sports anime about running and kicking a ball, it all feels so stiff and lifeless like Battle Athletes. The character designs look so wonky. A friend of mine described it as if they were given the eyes and lips of a fish, and I can’t unsee it that way now. At first, it looks like they were going for a more retro-inspired design for the characters, but it’s not gone far enough to warrant the “retro” vibe, and then there are some weird inconsistent designs. It doesn’t help that it’s hard to know who is the real main character of the show. Due to it being a team of girls, it keeps shifting between the ones who play a more important role in the story. I get why they keep focusing on so many, but with how slow-paced the progression of the story is going, it doesn’t seem like we are going to know anytime soon who is the main focus, and the story isn’t good enough to care about who wins, and that’s a shame. I love the drama angle of how popularity is dropping for women-driven soccer, but that needed to be the focus, not watching the team of the story fail and deal with intensely smug champion teams. I’m so bummed that this one isn’t better, because I was hoping to find a soccer anime that I could love, but this sure ain’t it. 

Bakuten! Aka Backflip! (Crunchyroll) 

Oh my goodness! We have an actual good sports anime this season! This original anime is directed by Toshimasa Kuroyanagi, written by Toshizo Nemoto, and produced by Zexcs. This is the sports anime of the season that has everything the other sports shows are lacking. You have beautiful animation that masterfully matches fluid and expressive 2D animation with CGI, likable and hugely memorable characters, and a story with stakes that are just big enough to keep the story moving forward, but doesn’t treat the experience like it’s the end of the world. It has incredibly wholesome energy with the story, music, and character chemistry that makes for easily one of the best shows to watch of the Spring 2021 season. 

Fantasy/Isekai

Full Dive (Funimation)

Based on the light novels and manga by Light Tuchihi, this anime adaptation was directed by Kazuya Miura, written by Kenta Ihara, and produced by Studio ENGI. This was advertised as a dark comedy take on the VRMMO anime series like Sword Art Online, but this one has a devilishly solid gimmick. The VRMMO in this anime is so realistic that there are no traditional game gimmicks and so on. It’s pretty much a game that drops you into a hard mode crafted by From Software and the teams behind those obtuse adventure games. Sadly, for as great as the first episode starts, the rest of the show, so far, has failed to live up to that first episode. It seems more comfortable explaining the more “realistic” elements of the game itself than doing something fun with them, and the characters aren’t that interesting. It also loves to slide into mean-spirited dialogue and interactions, but not balance it out to where we are rooting for anyone. The main character is dull and has every right to be mad at how he got conned into buying this game, the female lead is irredeemably awful, and it doesn’t have that flow or execution that makes anime like Konosuba work. It’s trying very hard to reconcile the game with the real world, but it’s neither fun nor interesting to be in this game world. Maybe it will get better, but when you start with such a strong first episode, only to flop hard in the second and third episodes, it makes me not want to watch the rest to see what happens. Maybe I will give it an episode or two more, but so far, it’s easily one of the biggest disappointments of the anime season. 

I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level (Crunchyroll)

Based on the light novels by Kisetsu Morita, this anime adaptation is directed by Nobukage Kimura and was produced by Revoroot. Yes, it’s another isekai, and yes, it is about an individual who died of being overworked. That’s why I was curious to see how they take the “I maxed out my level and now have god-tier powers, but all I want to do is be left alone.” angle the marketing made it out to be. On one hand, I think it is a smarter show than its very obvious all-woman harem elements offer. It does dive into how the lead makes sure none of her now newly adopted family members (who are of course cute monster girls) don’t make the same mistakes as she did back in the real world. It also does its job of being a cute fantasy-comedy as it has some very solid jokes. I’m just not pulled into the overall story yet. I think it’s because it feels like they took the premise and halted it for cute harem shenanigans, and while we now have two spirit girls, a dragon girl, and a clumsy elf girl, I have seen better versions of these characters before. I think it’s not hitting it out of the park fully, and maybe I’m just thinking about how Taoteba Last Dungeon and Konosuba took more advantage of their premises by the first episode. Still, I don’t hate this series, but I wouldn’t be shocked if I decided to drop it after another episode or so. I at least think the characters hold up the plot more than most isekai shows. It’s cute and harmless, and sometimes, that’s all you need. 

The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (Funimation) 

Based on the light novel series by Yuka Tachibana, this adaptation is directed by Shota Ihata, written by Wataru Watari, and produced by Diomedia. I was first hooked on the premise of a regular working-class woman who gets swept to another world, only to find out she was swept to this world by accident with the real “chosen one”. It’s something I haven’t seen tackled in a lot of isekai, and I fell for this show even more once she decided to sit back and do her own thing. She didn’t want to save the world or deal with some demon king, but instead, she wanted to make potions. Sei Takanashi, our lead character, ends up making the world she is in a better place by simple actions of healing and helping out the individuals that would otherwise get looked over in other isekai stories. It does have a male harem element with three guys that may or may not be crushing on her all at once, but it doesn’t feel as skeezy as other anime with these types of setups. It’s a slow burn, but it’s a burn that has been worth it. 

Dragon Goes House Hunting (Funimation) 

Based on the manga by Kawo Tanuki, this adaptation is directed by Haruki Kasugamori and is produced by Signal. MD. You would think with a premise about a dragon wanting to find his own home with the help of a demon lord real-estate agent it would have a limited range in humor and writing, but it’s a show that knows how to expand on its setting and isn’t stuck on the elevator pitch of a premise. It’s got a great dynamic between the dragon and our real estate agent, and it uses every situation with getting the dragon a new home to have some kind of expansion on the world, the characters, or the story. It might not have the best animation since it feels like it wants to stay heavily on model due to how detailed the characters are, the show does do a good job transitioning to more comedic animation, and the jokes are funny! It’s a show that was an early favorite this season, and I’m so glad it feels like a fully realized comedy and fantasy anime. It’s probably my favorite comedy this season since shows like Combatants Must Be Dispatched have underperformed. 

Other 

Blue Reflection Ray (Funimation) 

Based on the game developed by Gust, this video game adaptation is directed by Risako Yoshida, written by Akiko Waba, and produced by JC Staff. It’s boring. It’s supposed to be this dramatic battle royale anime with powers that revolve around girls teaming up with other girls and being defined by emotions. It does a really bad job at explaining how it all works, the characters are pretty forgettable, and I had a hard time remembering the names of the two leads. The art direction looks nice, but there is a real lack of movement. Characters will stand around to drag out scenes, and I know this is typical for anime shows, but it feels so restrictive and with such a distinct visual style, it only makes the stiffness stand out even more. There could have been a really interesting way to tackle this story and world, but I gave it the three-episode rule, and well, I won’t be watching any more beyond that.

Pretty Boys Detective Club (Funimation) 

Based on the novel series by Nisio Isin, this anime adaptation is directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, Hajime Ootani, written by Akiyuki Shinbo and Shaft, and produced by Shaft. Well, with a name like Pretty Boys Detective Club, you have to assume it’s going to be a very pretty show, and boy howdy does it have some of the best visual eye candy in terms of this show’s visual presentation. Great designs, fluid animation, and stylish visuals carry this entire show. The impressive visuals also carry into the writing of the show that is fairly dense with the first three episodes’ storyline of helping a girl find a star in the sky. It turns from a solid mystery of a heartbroken girl to the girl having the eyesight to see something she wasn’t supposed to see. It takes a huge leap, and while the dialogue is a bit much and some of this is familiar ground, if you are looking for something like a mix of Ouran Highschool Host Club with some bonkers detective work, then this will easily be the show for you! 

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song (Funimation)

This is an entirely original anime by creators Tappei Nagatsuki and Eiji Umehara. It’s directed by Shinpei Ezaki, written by the creators, and produced by WIT Studios. Vivy is a wildly ambitious sci-fi story about time travel, the commentary about man and machine, and morality. The story about a futuristic AI being sent back in time to prevent a robot uprising that kills the human race in the future is some truly compelling stuff when you realize who this AI has to team up with to save humanity. The other side of the equation is the first AI android who the future AI goes to find doesn’t believe this super AI from the future is telling the truth. The real drama and driving force are the different ideals of the two AIs as they try and fix the past so the future doesn’t unfold into bloodshed, but then small wrinkles come up from time to time that throw a wrench into the situation, and it makes for an extremely compelling story. I wish it was dubbed because the future AI talks way too fast and it’s hard to keep up with the subtitles at points. Otherwise, it’s one of Spring’s most intriguing anime. 

Odd Taxi (Crunchyroll)

This is a very cool original anime this season. It’s directed by Baku Kinoshita, written by Kazuya Konomoto, and produced by OLM Inc, and P.I.C.S. It does have a manga, but it was an original series first and foremost. This is a mix of a drama, a thriller, and a slice-of-life anime about the world that revolves around this lone walrus taxi driver and the storylines that spin-off of his encounters with both familiar faces and new individuals. It’s an anime I can’t quite compare to many that are out these days or not right off the top of my head. It’s like someone took the tone of something like The Wire or Fargo and mixed it up with Zootopia and Beastars with the designs from Animal Crossing. It’s an anime that truly stands out among the pack from not only its visuals, but its low-key story and perfect writing. I want to see what happens with all of these characters to see how the mystery around this missing girl unfolds and how these stories interact and finish. It’s an anime that was made with my kind of sensibilities. If I was ranking these anime individually and not by genre category, it would easily be in my top five. I highly recommend people check out this show because it hooks you within the first episode and doesn’t let go. 

Slice of Life

Super Cub (Funimation))

Based on the light novel series by Tone Koken, this anime adaptation was directed by Toshiro Fujii, written by Toshizo Nemoto, and produced by Studio Kai. So far, from what I have seen, there is a real polarizing reception to this show. You either love how low-key and slow it is, or you find it too much of a slow burn to get through. I’m in the middle. I do like it due to how low key it is, but it is a touch too slow. The writing can also come off as making the lead character, Koguma, a touch dafter than she is. The CGI is also hit and miss as it doesn’t always blend well with the 2D characters or backgrounds. However, something about this show just clicks with me. I love the low-key vibes, I like the 2D visuals, the interaction between the leads, and the calming music. It reminds me of an indie game where all you do is drive around and listen to the music and just have a no-stress time. It won’t be for everyone, and I wouldn’t consider this a top 10 anime of the Spring season, but at least it is what is advertised and it doesn’t fall apart like Full Dive and Combatants Must Be Dispatched. 

Fairy Ranmaru (Crunchyroll)

Hey, look, another original anime this season. This one is produced by Studio Comet, written by Jo Aoba, and directed by Kosuke Kobayashi and Masakazu Hishida. At first, I was enjoying the abstract dumbness of this one. A bunch of hot men who come from different fairy clans comes to earth to help clients expel the toxic and negativity in their lives via abstract combat. Within the combat encounters, the men transform in extremely horny ways into their fairy forms. It’s a dumb trashy anime that could have worked. I love the music, the transformations are delightfully horny to give the middle finger to male-focused fanservice. And yes, this isn’t the first anime to do such a thing, but it’s so rare, that it’s delightful to see it when it does happen. I like a lot of the little ideas about the leads and how the rules work. However, it’s a hot mess and it doesn’t always blend. It seems like it’s always at the edge of going down the right direction with its content but then doesn’t go far enough. I wish it went full dumb, but it also wants to be about something. I don’t know if I want to see what happens next after the three episodes I watched. If you like dumb but sincere anime, then, by all means, watch this one, but I can easily list a few other shows that go all the way with their fun dumb premise that do it better than Fairy Ranmaru. 

Shadows House (Funimation)

Based on a manga by Su-mat-to, this adaptation is directed by Kazuki Ohashi, written by Toshiya Ono, and produced by CloverWorks. Okay, before we continue, let’s get the joke out of the way first, this is where all the resources that were for The Promised Neverland Season 2 went after the Neverland committee simply gave up on the second season. Anyway, Shadows House is a great show! I love the mystery behind this world of shadowy individuals, living dolls, and the commentary that can be picked from not only the environment but the dialogue and the ideas at play here. The dolls are rather complex characters, and their dynamics with the Shadows are really interesting to watch in motion. It has nice animation, the designs are distinct, and the writing has kept me invested in this show, which is why I’m going to so far, stick with it. 

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Worst to Best Animated Films of 2020 Part 2

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

Hey everyone, welcome back to part 2 of the Worst to Best Animated Films of 2020. If you have yet to read part 1, then you had better do so because if I don’t mention a film on this list, then it might be on a later part of the previous or future list. Let’s continue then, shall we? I mean, that’s what’s going to happen. 

27 Kill it and Leave this Town 

I always respect the fact that we still get animated features that stay true to the original ambition and idea created by the director. I think that’s always a good goal to have in mind with making animated features. However, if that director wants to make a film that’s extremely slow, hard to follow at points because of the heavy emphasis on dream logic, and only appealing to a certain niche group of animation and film fans, then you shouldn’t be shocked if someone ends up not liking it and not recommending it. I do get what this film is about, but the meandering pace and focus on surreal dream-like images, designs, and a very morose tone make for a fairly dull watch. I love the art style and the music, but it shouldn’t be a shock when a film like this doesn’t find a wider audience. I know this was the director’s passion project, and that’s fine! I get why some critics do love this film, but again, if you want to make a film that’s as far away as possible from the films that come out from big studios, then don’t be shocked if you don’t catch many fans. 

26 Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge 

We have yet another video game movie, and while it’s low on the list, it’s one of the better films in terms of video game adaptations. When it’s actually about Scorpion’s Revenge, it’s a compelling story, and the action throughout the overall film is fantastic for a direct-to-video film. However, the film wants to be a universe starter and a traditional Mortal Kombat plot with a tournament set up. It’s too busy trying to focus on making a franchise and giving Johnny Cage a predictable story arc. It’s a fun film, but easily one I can see not coming back to. 

25 SCOOB

What is with WB and their fetish for wanting universe starters? Even taking out the above-average CGI animation, some decent casting, and a few clever jokes, references, and side characters, the film is not a Scooby-Doo film. It’s a Hanna-Barbera universe starter, and that’s it. It’s uninterested in being a film about the iconic dog and that’s a shame. When it does have some of that charm from the franchise, it’s a decent watch. Like everyone else, I wish some of the concept art that we got to see after the film was released was what we got instead of this lukewarm universe starter. 

24 Justice League Dark: Apokolips War

Speaking of universes, we now have the finale to the previous cinematic universe of DC/WB direct-to-video films. Outside of an opening sequence that made me unintentionally laugh for days, I was glad this was the last film in a franchise I wasn’t a huge fan of. It had great action, some endearing moments between certain characters, and I think the ending was pretty good! I just wasn’t a fan of this storyline and I’m glad they are moving on. 

23 Summer Days with Coo

This was one of the few foreign films in 2020 to be a carryover from a long time ago. I mean, a long time ago in terms of 2007. We finally got this film in the US, and while I do like seeing one of Keiichi Haara’s first directorial efforts, it is flawed. It has a weird time balancing more child-like whimsy and the darker tones of what it wants to tackle. While it has some very hit and miss animation overall, it does end on a rather nice note that I wish carried the overall tone of the film. It’s a cute film, but I can safely say his later films are miles above this one. 

22 A Whisker Away

If there was a real disappointment from 2020, it would be this film. While it has gorgeous animation, some truly great visuals, and the villain is fun, the main character is what breaks this film. Her constant stalking and harassment of the male lead are uncomfortable. It bogs down a film with some very mature themes and ideas. It’s just a reminder that not every original film that comes out is going to be good. 

21 A Dog’s Courage

This is another film that we finally got from a previous year in the US. While I’m not fully familiar with South Korea and its animation scene, I was aware of this director’s previous film and was excited about finally checking this one out. It uses CGI animation quite wonderfully. It is also an effective experience of a group of dogs trying to find a better life. Its use of 2D animation isn’t as good as other films, and it is yet another animated film with a tone problem. Still, I always admire a film that has a strong emotional story, and I’m glad I got to see it. Just don’t expect this film to be very kid-friendly. 

20 My Favorite War

This is such a unique movie. While we have films in this similar fashion with Another Day of Life, My Favorite War tells a more intimate story of the director growing up in Soviet Latvia, and it has a very distinct visual style when the animation beats happen. It might not be the best animation, and it does look a little wonky at points, the personal story and the history behind that country are way more than enough to carry the rest of the film. 

19 Twilight

Yeah, we finally got this film. I remember there was a lot of hype for it due to being crowdfunded, which is not uncommon with Japanese animation, but then everything went silent, and it stayed in Japan for a few years. Crunchyroll then finally brought it over, and well, it’s a solid little teen drama. While it’s not revolutionary or better than other teen dramas or coming-of-age dramas, it’s still well animated and earnest in its execution to warrant at least one viewing of the film. 

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Worst to Best Animated Films of 2020 Part 1

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

So, 2020 was a stressful and soul-sucking year, wasn’t it? On top of, well, everything else that matters more than what I’m about to write about, the animation scene was a mess in the feature film department. Delays upon delays, and changing release strategies shook everything up. Luckily, animation was a bright spot despite other elements getting in the way, and not only did we get a lot of great movies, but also a lot of incredible shows. Sure, the major studios bowed out of the release windows, but that left room for multiple smaller indie films and streaming features to enter the scene, and overall, it turned out to be a solid year. Maybe not the strongest, but still entertaining enough. Plus, unlike some animation critics, I watched all of the major releases that mattered. Anyway, the rules still apply. They must have had some kind of US release, I tend to stick to if they were released in some way during 2020, and while I am still following the Oscar Submission List, I am moving some of the films to my 2021 list due to the fact they didn’t get proper 2020 releases. Let’s get started. 

38 Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Water Rebus

Honestly, I didn’t want to add this to the list because it almost doesn’t count as animation. It mostly feels like a bunch of live-action footage with multiple filters with the bare minimum of rotoscoping the footage. It doesn’t feel like an animated film, but even if it was more traditionally animated, the plot was hard to follow, and trying to find out what the plot exactly was made my blood boil. Maybe it was a subtitle thing when I saw this at Annecy, but it’s no real shock this film had no chance at the Oscars or most award shows. It’s the exact kind of film that I would categorize as unpleasant to watch and is what I think of when people say they want something as far away from the big studio projects as possible. Well, this is what ya get, a film with such little interest in making sure you know what’s going on that it resulted in an experience I never want to have again. Sadly I do get that kind of experience, but we will get there on this list. 

37 Pets United

I know it’s a cliche to bash Illumination, but you would realize how much talent and work goes into their films if you see a film like Pets United. It’s a weird mishmash of tones, ideas, and it doesn’t work at all. Say what you will about the Secret Life of Pets films, but they were at least fun to watch and kept your interest in some way to make you not forget them. Moments after I watched Pets United, I was forgetting details about the story, the themes, the characters, and so on. Its animation is fine, and some weird aspects stand out for how out-of-place they are, but that’s not enough to call it anything good. It’s one of the films that Netflix picked up because it didn’t cost much to purchase and translate. 

36 Fe@rless 

Shockingly, a Vanguard Animation film wasn’t on the bottom of the list. Honestly, it does deserve it, because while it’s “better” than the previous two films, I wouldn’t call it good. It’s got all of the hallmarks of the studio’s work with a bad story, bland characters, and some decent ideas that are never expanded on or fleshed out. It all feels like a film that only had enough money in the budget for a rough draft and then got dumped onto Netflix with no fanfare. A few amusing lines do not make a good film. Otherwise, it’s just more straight-to-video/straight-to-streaming schlock. 

35 Pokemon Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution

Who knew we would get our very own version of 2019’s Lion King, but instead of a bad remake of a good movie, we got a bad remake of a mediocre movie! Yeah, I am not a fan of the original film, and I know many love it due to how every kid saw it back in the day. Still, it’s an ugly CGI remake of a 2D animated film that does the bare minimum of improving the story, and while it might be closer to the original Japanese version of the film, that doesn’t change much due to how it’s already a mediocre story. The CGI Pokemon looked fine, and the voice cast was solid, but there was no real reason for this film to be made. 

34 Latte and the Magic Waterstone

Oh, look, another foreign feature Netflix bought on the cheap and gave no other support for it. Honestly, out of the worst films on the list, it’s harmless. Its most offensive element is that it’s boring and forgettable. It has a few cool moments like this one sequence where a character’s shadow is hand-animated, and some of the moments with certain characters were amusing enough. The biggest offender of this film is that it feels like a feature that was dated in terms of storytelling, themes, and characters. 

33 Henchmen 

It’s a real bummer the lead actor for this film is a garbage bin. I probably shouldn’t have it on there because of the recent news about Thomas Middleditch (on top of the other creepy and awful stories about him), but honestly, no one in this film is good. It’s a situation where the film’s production history is more interesting than the film itself. I mean, an animated superhero comedy written and produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell sounds incredible, right? Well, that is not what we got due to them leaving the project early on. Instead, we got a middling superhero parody that has a decent hook, but like most bad parodies, does nothing interesting with the hook. The animation is kind of cool, but it’s nothing incredible or as iconic as what Spider-Verse did with its visual style. It’s a film with a promising elevator pitch, but that’s about it. 

32 Ni No Kuni 

What do you get when you are a film based on a video game? The answer is a film that’s not even remotely familiar to the video games it’s based on. It’s related by name only. While it has a few decent story beats, it plays out like a very generic fantasy film. The only part that is kind of cool is the moments in time where the leads go back and forward between the real world and the fantasy world, but that’s about it. It’s a real disappointing film. 

31 Superman Red Son 

Do you know what my least favorite kind of DC animated film is? It’s the one based on an adaptation that shouldn’t have been one film! While the story of what if Superman was raised in Russia is a compelling one, it’s not given enough time to let the proper story beats play out, and it doesn’t feel as compelling as you would think this premise is. It’s easily one of the most forgettable films from DC’s animation lineup, and that’s a shame. 

30 Dragon Quest: Your Story 

The video game curse strikes again! This is why truncating an entire video games’ story into one movie is a bad idea, and it’s even worse when it’s based on what might be the most popular entry in the biggest RPG franchise in Japan. The CGI animation while better than most, does a few things that irked me. Why do you have Akira Toriyama’s iconic designs, but take out distinct design details that end up making everything look generic? The action and music are quite fantastic, but then the film pulls a plot twist in the last 10 minutes that causes the entire experience to drive off of a cliff. I get what they were trying to do, but maybe don’t try to make your own story when you are based on a story that already existed. 

29 The Last Fiction 

I might not like this film, but boy howdy do I respect and admire how this Iranian animated feature wanted to be this epic that had dark tones, violence, and plenty of action beats. That doesn’t mean I can’t find some things to criticize. The scale of the story is ambitious, but it feels badly paced with huge leaps through time, and characters I found forgettable. The combination of 2D animation and CGI was also something that felt like it was from the early 2000s. Still, there is something to admire about the ambition of this film. Hopefully, we can see some other promising projects from this corner of the world. 

28 Manou the Swift 

Way back in 2017, I reviewed a film called A Stork’s Journey. I considered it one of the weaker films of that year, and I still stand by that. Well, to me, Manou the Swift was what that film wanted to be. While it’s not a marginally better film, it at least has a lot more that I like about it. It has a decent cast including Josh Keaton, Nolan North, Willem Dafoe, and Kate Winslet, the animation was better, and it wasn’t as obnoxious in the comedy department. It still had a lot of the same problems as A Stork’s Journey, but it did just enough better with the story beats to not make this a total borefest. 

Still, the next batch of films on this list are at the very least more interesting, so stay tuned! 

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!

Winter 2021 Anime Season Impressions

(If you like what you see, you can go to camseyeview.biz to see more of my work on video game reviews, editorials, lists, Kickstarters, developer interviews, and review/talk about animated films. If you would like, consider contributing to my Patreon at patreon.com/camseyeview. It would help support my work, and keeps the website up. Thanks for checking out my work, and I hope you like this review!)

So, here we are, a new chaotic year, and I am now going to start doing these seasonal anime impressions more regularly. Maybe I’ll even do a best to worst ranking of them all after the season is over! So, the same rules that we used in the previous listing, will be used here. These will only cover the new anime of this season. This won’t cover returning series from last year. No reboots unless there is something extremely noteworthy about them, like Higurashi: When They Cry New or Yashahime. Now then, let’s get started!

Actually, before we start, a couple of these anime will have content warnings before my short 3+ episode impression of them, so please be wary about that, and if you are disturbed by any of these warnings, then skip them and move to the next one. Viewer discretion is advised. 

Worst

Redo of Healer (HiDive, VRV)

Content Warning: Rape, abuse, racism, violence, sexual violence, and homophobia 

Based on the novel and manga by Ryo Tsukiyo, this adaptation is directed by Takuya Asaoka, written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, and is produced by TNK. Well, to the shock of no one, this is the worst anime of the season. On a moral level, it’s a repugnant revenge fantasy that has rape, homophobia, racism, and every red flag you can think of for an anime. It’s made for edgelords that don’t see anything wrong with the main character thinking rape is a proper revenge tactic. It is an anime with a time travel gimmick, but since the writing and storytelling are not good enough to distract me from the other minefield that is time travel, all I’m stuck wondering is why didn’t the main character, instead of doing all of this awful stuff, not just go back in time to a point where his abusers weren’t alive, or go back in time and kill them before they were born. Heck, if you are going to become a power fantasy since you can pull up the cheat sheet of powers and abilities, why not just create a past where you didn’t become the healer, and just live on your merry way? Instead of doing something more straightforward, this unlikable dumpster fire goes out of his way to “get back” at the abusers in a way that still makes him an abuser. Even if Sentai Filmworks wasn’t showing a censored version of this anime where they cut/edited out the sex scenes, the show isn’t all that great to look at. The fantasy world designs have all been done before and better, the characters look generic, and the music doesn’t stand out. It looks “better” than the worst animated show of the season, Ex Arm, but at best, Redo of Healer looks only okay. Also, for everyone crying about how people need to watch the uncut version, well, no they don’t. All the uncut version does is show the sex scenes, and since a lot of this show is full of assault, abuse, and rape, no one needs to watch them. Plus, if you wanted to watch porn or in this case, hentai, then go watch it! There are continent-sized amounts of hentai on the internet that you don’t have to justify watching. Seriously, the defenders of this show have been nothing but trolls who think this show is the best thing ever and go after anyone who doesn’t like it. When the novel and manga don’t have releases in the west due to a real lack of market value and no real audience, then maybe it was a bad idea to make an anime you are going to have to show censored, and then use an entirely different site or wait for uncut blu-rays to watch in full. The ratings for this show are dropping, the viewership is dropping as of writing this editorial, and it’s no wonder. Even if there was something good to say about the show, like the actors for Flare and Bullet are doing great with such garbage material, it wouldn’t matter. The exhausting nihilistic and toxic world, writing, story, and characters ruin anything it has going for it. For some reason, if you like this show, fine. Keeping liking it, but if you go after and harass anyone who doesn’t like it, because they don’t like it, then you are not worth anyone’s time. Redo of Healer is easily the worst anime of the season. 

Ex Arm (Crunchyroll, VRV)

Considered dead on arrival, this anime adaptation is directed by Yoshikatsu Kimura, written by Tommy Morton, produced by Visual Flight, and is based on the manga by HiRock and was illustrated by Shinya Komi. What do you get when you hire a director who has no animation experience, doesn’t bother to learn how animation is produced, works with a studio that hasn’t made anime before, relies too heavily on motion capture, and then has the giant brass cajones to think this was going to be the next big science fiction hit? Well, you get Ex Arm. While Redo of Healer is more morally repugnant, it is, at the very least, competently made on a production side of things. You knew everyone there was going to go in and adapt every hateful aspect of that anime. Ex Arm on the other hand went headfirst into a brick wall with no helmet on, thinking that it was going to be the next hot stuff. Well, it did become big and popular for one reason, its incredibly terrible CGI animation. This might be the worst CGI animation I have ever seen in anime. Lifeless, emotionless, stiff, and it’s 100% amateur hour from top to bottom. You can even tell when this show uses ugly white light circles to cover up that the people working on this show did not know how to do anything but animate CGI models like they were bashing action figures together. It’s an embarrassing front all around, and even if it had the proper animation team behind it, the writing falls flat, the characters are forgettable, the designs aren’t interesting, and due to the awful reliance on motion capture technology, the action sucks. What’s worse is that Ex Arm cuts out aspects of the story for no reason. So, yeah, have fun watching an incomplete story. If Redo of Healer wasn’t the worst anime overall, then Ex Arm would be the worst anime of the 2021 season. At the very least, Ex Arm is a perfect candidate for bad movie nights, and that’s all it does right. 

Scar on the Praeter (Funimation)

Content Warning: some suggestions of incest.

Our first original anime of the season is directed by Shingo Suzuki and produced by GoHands. We have yet another anime that is filled to the brim with pretty boys looking edgy and cool, and maybe a touch too much in world jargon mumbo jumbo to make you feel invested. Anytime I have tried to talk to someone about this show, I don’t remember anything outside of the gaudy 3D visuals, and while the main characters look better than in Handshakers (a previous anime from the studio), they are still overly designed and they almost blend into one another. The action is disjointed and janky with fights that feel very unsatisfying. It’s a show that easily goes through one ear and out the other, and that alone is shockingly bad. I don’t know who at GoHands keeps getting funding for these original projects, but just because you are an original anime, doesn’t mean you get off with a free pass because it’s rare to find original anime not based on something. It also has a light homosexual subtext, which is fine, until the first episode introduces the main character’s younger adopted brother who may or may not want to make love to him. Seems like you can’t get a GoHands anime without some creepy incest or sexual context. If it was more memorable, I would probably put it in the mediocre category, but since it just feels like a nothing show with a confusing world, weak animation, disappointing fight sequences, and entirely forgettable characters, it’s in the worst spot. 

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Funimation) 

Content Warning: Creepy perverted actions, mentions of rape, softcore porn, voyeurism, masturbation, and suggestions that the lead does watch illegal porn. 

This anime from the newly formed studio, Studio Bind, is based on the light novels by Rifujin Na Magonote. It was then adapted into a manga by the same individual. This anime adaptation is directed and written by Manabu Okamoto, with gorgeous music by Yoshiaki Fujisawa, and character designer Kazutaka Sugiyama. It’s honestly one of the most beautiful anime on the list. it’s in the top five. It looks incredible from the designs, the colors, the fluid animation, the consistent character models, and it’s a visually stunning overall package in the presentation department. This sucks for one reason, and one reason only, because the main character is intolerable and unlikable. I have heard that there is a long-term play with the lead’s arc, but when the story is about a 30-something loser who gets kicked out from his home after running out of money, dies when he’s struck by a truck, and is reincarnated with all of his memories into the mind of a kid, it’s a really insufferable and sometimes extremely uncomfortable part to sit through. The lead does get better and does learn to change his perverse ways, but when the anime dabbles a little too much into it, it’s a tall order to tell people that it gets good later on. So far, it is getting better, but that still doesn’t excuse the fact that this anime put everything into making a stupidly stunning show, but then have a wildly problematic lead character whose whole redemption arc is going to be a slow crawl to being a better and somewhat less perverted individual. Luckily, it does seem like it is going to get better, but I won’t blame anyone for wanting to drop out after that first and second episode. Even with every great emotional moment, every bit of gorgeous animation, and every great song, a crummy lead (with some very problematic issues that people online are too easily ready to wave aside, which, you know, don’t do that) can still drag your series down. It doesn’t help that the 4th episode revealed the dad to have had an affair, and back in his training days, assaulted someone. So, yeah, for once so far, Rudy was not the biggest scumbucket in the show for one episode. Still, I’m hoping for the best, because this is still a decently impressive first anime from a brand new studio. 

The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter (Crunchyroll, VRV)

Content Warning: sexual sequences. 

Based on the novels, light novels, and manga by Meguru Seto, this anime adaptation is directed by Kenta Onishi, written by Kenta Ihara, and produced by Okuruto Noboru. This power-fantasy harem comedy is in the worst category for multiple reasons. Its RPG elements are reliant on the main character getting pleasurable satisfaction from the women he interacts with. The fantasy world itself looks like a more mediocre Konosuba, and the animation is just okay, which is a problem if you want some softcore fanservice. The side characters are constantly unlikable, and for a fanservice show, it doesn’t go far enough to be fully titillating. It kind of knows what type of show it is so it’s not trying to be deeper than it is, but by the 3rd episode, I’m already seeing way more “likable” characters than our male lead, and this entire time, I was just thinking about how I would rather be watching Konosuba or Princess Connect: Redive. It has some funny jokes, but they are too few and far between in this somewhat mean-spirited world where being a noble has its own hierarchy system, and that just doesn’t make sense to me. They also try to add in some drama, and it simply doesn’t work. I’m too distracted by how horny this entire show is, and you want to introduce drama? No thanks! The stakes feel artificial due to the lead’s over-powered abilities that they just don’t rely on 24-7 because, well, they don’t give a good reason. Oh, and it does yet another sibling character wanting to have lewd fun with the lead when they are brother and sister. I’m getting so tired of anime and their flipping incest fetishes. Stop doing this! Oh, and it also has weak RPG game elements despite it not being an isekai. Boring! 

Mediocre

Gekidol (Funimation)

This is an original anime from director Shigeru Ueda, written by Keiichiro Ochi, and produced by Hoods Entertainment. It’s another idol anime (big shock), but since it’s coming out during a season with more than just one anime being about idols, it’s going to be tough to stand out, and even tougher to be good. Well, sadly, I didn’t like Gekidol. It has such a weird dark turn with the base of the plot, and then it turns into every yuri trash anime that you can think of with the same batch of characters, dialogue, and weak fanservice. The dark setting doesn’t get brought up a whole lot, since you know, everyone forgets when a huge chunk of your city is just, you know, gone. It’s starting to pick up with it focusing on some of the other characters, but it’s a little too late for that, and to just not 100% explain where the cyborg girl came from, and how losing a huge chunk of your city didn’t do more damage to everything else makes for a mediocre experience. It’s a show that’s aimed in too many directions, and outside of some decent animation, there isn’t much else that stands out about this show. 

I★Chu: Halfway Through the Idol (Crunchyroll or CR through VRV)

Hey, look, another idol anime. It’s time to buckle up because there are a few of them this season. This anime is based on the rhythm game by Liber Entertainment Inc. It’s directed by Hitoshi Nanba, written by Yoshimi Narita, and produced by Lay-Duce and Twin Engine. What do you get when you have 15+ lead characters? Too many! It was sometimes hard to remember their names, their designs, their quirks, and outside of some of them having some kind of hobby, they are cardboard cutout stereotypical male anime leads. It becomes such a problem that some of them seem to bleed into other characters, and end up sharing the same personality traits. It’s all too much for an anime that’s also really boring to watch. Outside of the principal of the school in which they are all enrolled wearing a giant bear costume and riding around on a segway, and a third episode introduction to a cross-dressing idol, this show doesn’t offer much that other idol shows aren’t offering in spades. It’s even too harmless to be offensive or have something wildly problematic about it. In some way, that’s the charm of this series. It’s too harmless to be bad or enraging. It’s at best and at worst, forgettable. Maybe you will get more out of it than me, but you can only throw so many pretty boys my way and expect me to be invested. 

Hortensia Saga (Funimation)

Based on the smartphone game by Sega, directed by Yasuto Nishikata, written by Rintarou Ikeda, and produced by JC Staff, this new fantasy anime sure doesn’t do a lot to make itself stand out. It was also bad timing for the first episode of this show to air during the US capitol being raided by terrorists because the anime starts with an evil red-colored army storming a blue-colored castle with a mission to kill all of the royalty in there. Anyway, I’ll say that I least like this anime more than that awful King’s Raid anime from last year. Hortensia, at the very least, looks better and while looking clunky at points, has better action. It looks cleaner, the music is better, but outside of that, there isn’t much else there. It has some decent characters, and the third episode introduces the most likable one of the bunch so far. All this anime does is makes me want to go and play Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Because when I can get that kind of experience from a video game, why would I invest my time and energy into this anime that is failing to grab me? Anyway, Hortensia Saga is just more forgettable fantasy anime fluff with slightly average animation and a generic plot and world. 

Average

Vlad Love (YouTube)

Content Warning: blood, sexual suggestiveness.

An original anime that’s written and directed by anime legend Mamoru Oshii? That should be incredible. It’s also co-directed by Junji Nishimura and produced by Drive. At first, I was finding it hard to gel with the premise, being a bit too chaotic with its jokes. It slings jokes at you with such intensity that it becomes too much. It’s a yuri romantic comedy about a high school girl who has a fetish for donating blood, who gets involved with a vampire. It’s a bit much due to how high octane it is. It makes more sense when you realize that Oshii worked on the anime classic Urusei Yatsura and Patlabor, but it doesn’t have the cohesive world and characters. It’s also just trashy with its fanservice. However, it has chaotic energy that not many shows have, and its visual style, while using a few too many comic-book-style split screens, at least has a style to call its own. The rest of the series will debut on YouTube this month, so we will have to see what happens with everything past episode 1. 

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (Funimation)

Based on the light novel and manga by Yuki Yaku, directed by Shinsuke Yanagi, written by Fumihiko Shimo, and produced by Project No.9, this is a self-help harem comedy. Most of the time so far has been spent making sure our main male hero is improving upon his social skills and how he is seen on the inside and outside, and I respect what the anime is going for with how they are approaching the subject matter. Granted, some of it feels very superficial and Queer Eye-ish, but I guess sometimes, you need to be pushed into the deep end to hit the ground running. I think my only real issue is that the gaming lingo is awkward as it never sounds natural. It sounds better than the male lead in the first episode when we get to episode 3, but still. I’m also worried about how the other girls in this show are going to react to the lead, Tomozaki, and at least from the three episodes I watched, they are all going to be different and want to be friends or more with him for different reasons. I don’t know, I just don’t feel strongly about this title when the much better Horimiya is doing everything better and it looks better as well. I’m cautiously curious as to where Bottom Tier Character is going, but who knows if I will want to stick through with the entire 12 episodes. 

Idoly Pride (Funimation) 

Content Warning: Death

This anime is based on a multimedia Idol project by CyberAgent, which has a manga written by Hiroki Haruse. The anime is directed by Yu Kinome, written by Tatsuya Takahashi, Yasuhiro Nakanishi, and produced by Lerche and CAAnimation. Well, even though I wouldn’t say I like any of the Idol anime this season, at least Idoly Pride had an interesting hook to it. Sadly, I wish I could say that the Idol stuff was just as good as the base hook. On one hand, I love the tragic romance aspect of our lead character, who was goaded into being the love interest’s producer while she became an Idol. It has a real tragic twist, but an interesting supernatural element, as she comes back as a ghost to make sure her producer does well at his job. There is a lot of gold that could be mined from this premise, and there are story elements that could work very well to make this a great story. Too bad that’s not the focus. It’s about our male lead putting together another Idol group and having them be big hits. That means we are instead going to focus on 10 girls who so far have really basic personality traits, and their designs are just different enough that you can tell them apart. The Idol stuff is fine, but I just hate how it’s having to hustle to be the main focus when there is a much better tragic romance/drama on the show’s lap. I guess that’s what happens when you are just another Idol project. Still, some interesting elements are being put into the formula, like the younger sister of the now-deceased female lead is a part of this new group, and so on. Still, I can’t say if I’m committed enough to sit through the Idol beats just to get to the small more interesting drama beats. I still prefer it to the other Idol new animes this season.

Good

Skate Leading Stars (Funimation) 

Directed by Goro Taniguchi, produced by J.C. Staff, written by Noboru Kimura, and based on the manga by Chiaki Nagaoka, this anime came into the winter season with a hurdle to skate over due to it being constantly compared to the one other famous ice-skating anime. So, on its own merits, I do think Skate Leading Stars does stand on its own feet. It’s more interested in competitive skating and team coordination among its multitude of attractive anime boys. It is one of those anime that introduces maybe too many characters, as this anime is supposedly going to have 15+ main characters, and while they are different enough, are still too many to focus on so far for a satisfying story. I’ll say this, they are at least different enough and so far, don’t share personality traits like I★Chu: Halfway Through the Idol. Otherwise, it’s a solid sports anime with some decent animation and likable characters. 

So I’m a Spider, So What? (Crunchyroll, VRV) 

Based on the light novels and novels by Okina Baba, also based on the manga written by Gratin Tori, this anime adaptation is directed by Shin Itagaki, written by Okina Baba and Yuichiro Momose, and is produced by Millepensee. Out of all of the fantasy/isekai anime of the season, So I’m a Spider had the most creative premise as a lonely gamer girl, along with her classmates being swept up into another world. The catch is, our main character reincarnated into a spider, whereas her classmates had better luck as humans and so on. I was excited to see an isekai fantasy anime that was from the perspective of the animal world. It’s not like the anime doesn’t tease that aspect, since half of the episodes so far are about our spider hero making her way through surviving this harsh world as a monster you usually see in the first dungeon of a video game. While its CGI is noticeable, the models used for our spider hero is very expressive, and once you realize that this was the same studio and director behind that notoriously awful Berserk adaptation from a few years ago, then that’s impressive to see how much better this show is overall in visuals and storytelling. However, my biggest complaint is that it’s taking a bit too long to set everything up. I keep preferring the spider side of the story compared to the more generic humans side, but the show sometimes seems to lean more on progressing the humans more than our spider hero. It’s frustrating because the show also adds in generic RPG stat elements, and I just don’t care about that stuff. I don’t get why fantasy anime can’t just be fantasy anime without the RPG elements. Sometimes they are used well, but rarely have I seen an anime use them well. They keep teasing these other spider characters, and yet we still haven’t seen them, and honestly, this show might be the one I have the shortest patience with in terms of the shows I like this season. I love the premise so much, but it keeps struggling with who to focus on, and I just want to see the spider’s shenanigans. It also doesn’t help that the main lead is loud with her constant self-narration. Still, I’m wanting to see where the story goes and the action is great. I just can see this one easily sliding into my most disappointing anime of 2021 if it’s not careful. 

Dr. Ramune: Mysterious Disease Specialist (Crunchyroll, VRV)

Content Warning: some episodes may have suggestively lewd visuals

Based on the manga written by Aho Toro, this anime adaptation is directed by Hideaki Oba, written by Ayumu Hisao, and produced by Platinum Vision. I know this isn’t anyone’s favorite due to the chunky art style and clashing tones for a horror/comedy anime, but I find myself enjoying this mix of comedy and horror. What gets me is how the weird diseases the characters are encountering are mixed with some form of social commentary. The stories are so far creative and fun to watch. By episode 3 they have introduced some other members of the main cast, and while one of the characters has a trope I hate seeing in anime, I do love the other new male lead they introduce. It’s an anime that’s easy to get into, and it’s creative enough for me to probably commit through the entire season. 

2.43 Highschool Boys Volleyball (Funimation)

Content Warning: Suggestions/mentions of suicide

Based on the light novel by Yukako Kabei, the manga by Aiji Yamakawa, this sports drama is directed by Yasuhiro Kimura, written by Yosuke Kuroda, and produced by David Production. While you may wonder if you are getting a similar experience as the smash hit Haikyuu, well, you are not. This is a more grounded male-centric sports drama about our two leads Yuni Kuroba and Kimichika Haijima. It’s full of gay tension between them as well. The show is more about the drive to play, and the philosophy behind the sport in general. It’s also really melodramatic and it’s a bit of a rough sit for the first episode due to how unlikable Haijima is. That’s not even counting the dramatic baggage that Haijima has with him when the show begins. It’s gotten better now by the third episode, but your mileage may vary with how you will invest your time with this show’s story. Still, it’s a good sports drama, and if you need an alternative Haikyuu, then go watch this show! Oh, and the opening song is a real banger!

The Best

Otherside Picnic (Funimation)

Based on the novel and manga by Iori Miyazawa, directed by Takuya Sato, and produced by Liden Films and Felix Film, this anime is also based on  Roadside Picnic, an eerie female-driven horror drama anime that has our two leads Sorao and Toriko exploring a place known as the Otherside, where dilapidated buildings are conquered by nature, and creatures from supernatural tales reside. It’s a show that captures a real intimacy and offbeat friendship between the two women with some pretty nice-looking animation, quiet humorous moments, and an unsettling atmosphere once they cross over to this new world. Some of its use of CGI is clunky, but it looks better than Ex-Arm by continents. It’s not just a supernatural anime either, as the first three episodes dive into the mindset of both of the leads and the characters with whom they interact. I was a little confused about a few things in the first episode, but I’m having a fantastic time going through this journey with our heroes. Oh, and if you want a horror anime this season, this is the one to watch. Just don’t watch it late at night as I did. 

Back Arrow (Funimation)

We have ourselves an original giant mech anime this season, which I am super happy about! It’s directed by Goro Taniguchi, written by Kazuki Nakashima, and is produced by Studio VOLN. It stands out from other giant mech shows with the evil imperialist empire having a more Chinese-dynasty look, whereas other villages and towns so far in this show have used more wild west fashion choices. I can’t tell if this will be any more substantial than just being a fun giant mech anime, but I’m fine with that, honestly. We don’t need every giant robot anime to be so melodramatic and bogged down by philosophical arguments. Sometimes, you just want to see giant robots and feel like a kid watching Toonami again. I do like the overall cast, except for the main side characters so far. Something about how they are constantly willing to ditch the main hero on a dime makes them a bit hard to grasp as to whether I should hate them or like them. Still, I enjoy this show so far. I might not have it in my top 10 by the end of 2021, but I think it’s one of the better shows of Winter 2021. 

Wonder Egg Priority (Funimation) 

Content Warning: symbolic and suggestive suicide

This is an original anime produced by CloverWorks, directed by Shin Wakabayashi, and written by Shinji Nojima. With a season of anime that has had shows like Redo of Healer, which tries to be dark and mature, but falls flat, Wonder Egg Priority handles its subject matter with creativity and respect. With a constant theme of losing someone to suicide, it needs to be handled well, and this show is handling it with a very careful hand. It’s a drama with characters who are trying to bring someone close to them back to life, but who knows if that will happen or exactly what the outcome is. It’s balanced out with some incredible action, vibrant monster designs, and some of the best animation of the season. By episode 3, the action starts to kick in, and it reminds me of something Studio Trigger or Science Saru would make. The designs of the “bosses” in the dreamworlds in which the action takes place are always exciting to see with how symbolic/Silent Hill-ish they can be. You also feel for the characters as the main three girls we have seen so far are all interesting and work well off of one another. I want this to stick the landing because we don’t often get original anime that are not based on pre-existing properties. You can also go through this anime with a comb and pick apart its symbolic elements that are worth looking into more. It’s easily one of my favorite shows of the season. 

Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moves to a Starter Town? (Funimation) 

Content Warning: some suggestive elements from time to time.

Long title aside, this anime based on the light novel and manga by Toshio Sato, is directed by Migmi and produced by Liden Films. It’s a fantasy (not isekai) comedy that gives us a humorous main hero, who would be like if Saitama from One Punch Man didn’t know how stupidly strong he was. You see, the lead in this anime thinks he’s weak even though the village he is from is next to the final dungeon. So while he is considered weak while moving to a small kingdom to train and become a knight, everyone else is horrified of his powers and how humble and unaware he is of his strength. This alone has brought me three-plus episodes of laughter and fantastic character dynamics with some of the best comedy this anime season. The characters are all enjoyable, and the story by the end of the first episode kicks into gear and while it might not be a super unique fantasy tale, the premise and characters alone make up for it. You don’t have to be 100% unique. Sometimes, you just need to be executed well. 

Kemono Jihen (Funimation)

Based on the manga by Sho Aimoto, this anime adaptation is directed by Masaya Fujimori, written by Noboru Kimura, and is produced by Ajia-do Animation Works. While I do think Dr. Ramune is a gem among the great anime of the season, Kemono Jihen is that gem polished to perfection. What a delightful horror/action/mystery anime with some rather engaging twists and turns. It might look like a typical shonen battle anime, but it has a lot more substance than most shows in these genres. Yes, it has young kids with powers, but with how the story has tackled them so far, it’s more mystery and horror than pure action. The encounters with the supernatural creatures so far also have some cool subtext and commentary about them. The opening song is just a fantastic banger. It’s an overall strong show with a strong cast, and I highly recommend it. 

Horimiya (Funimation) 

Based on the manga by Hero, this anime is directed by Masashi Ishihama, written by Takao Yoshioka, with music composed by Masaru Yokoyama, and is produced by CloverWorks. This teen drama is probably my personal favorite anime of the season. I love every anime in this category, but Horimiya hit me hard with its themes about how we present ourselves when we are by ourselves and when we are in front of people. It’s a clever premise on how we sometimes wear masks to hide from everyone else. It’s an anime that understands having to deal with emotions, relationships, and other individuals in high school, and I find the romance between our two leads adorable and fleshed out. It’s an extremely healthy relationship as well. What’s even better than this show’s amazing visuals, baller opening, and incredible writing, it shows how mature it all feels. While it might be about teens, this show treats them like adults. It’s also heartwarming, funny, and it’s easily going to be in my top five anime of the year so far. I just hope we don’t get another Sing Yesterday For Me. 

Sk8 the Infinity (Funimation)

This original anime is directed by Hiroko Utsumi, written by Ichiro Okouchi, and is produced by Studio Bones. There are a ton of reasons why this show is climbing up the charts as one of the best from this season. For one, you have the director of the beloved Free! and Banana Fish adaptations with Hiroko Utsumi. Second, you have an anime that is 100% stylized and one of a kind in a sea of anime that’s released this season. Third, it’s a sports anime with endearing characters, each having distinct and identifiable personalities, and you then give it to Bones to animate. Seriously, this is easily one of the best looking shows of the season. Not only that, but the skating sequences are a lot of fun to watch, the characters are interesting, and it has the right balance of both action and story-telling to make it all work. I am so happy that we are seeing some original anime knock it out of the park this season.

Heaven’s Design Team (Crunchyroll or CR through VRV)

Based on the manga by Hebi-Zou and Tsuta Suzuki, this anime adaptation is directed by Soichi Masui, written by Michiko Yokote, and produced by Asashi Production, this is the Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle of the season. Not only is it educational with little moments where they talk about the real-life animals that they create, but the entire show is also all about them making said animals and the process of getting the tasks from God as to what to make. I love how the premise is that God got too busy making the earth and outsourced it to a freelance team of angels to handle the creation of animals. It’s constantly funny, creative, and there is a lot of heart and great chemistry between the individuals who are a part of this team. It helps that there are about three or so segments each episode, and due to the different challenges thrown at them so far, the show hasn’t gotten boring. It’s the right kind of show to watch when you need a good laugh, and it’s pretty much the best comedy anime of the new anime of this season. 

With that, we are my impressions of the new anime of the Winter 2021 season! 

Thanks for reading the review! I hope you all enjoyed reading it! If you would like to support my work, make sure to share it out, and if you want to become a Patreon supporter, then you can go to patreon.com/camseyeview. I will see you all next time!