Tag: 2017

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2

Love Live! Sunshine!! 2nd Season anime series cover art
Love Live! Sunshine!! 2nd Season

Season Overview

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 (ラブライブ!サンシャイン!! 第2期) is the second season of Love Live! Sunshine!! and the fourth season of Love Live! School Idol Project overall. And since this is the fourth season of the series, and every season is basically the same, you should probably know what this series is like by now if you’ve watched it.

But since it’s been almost two full years since my last Love Live! season review, let’s go over the basics anyway.

Love Live! (the event) is a national competition for school idol groups. There are many reasons idol groups would want to participate in Love Live!, but the reason the two groups in this series (μ’s in the first two seasons and Aqours in Sunshine!!) entered the competition was as a way to save their schools from being shut down.

As it’s been two my memory is a bit hazy, but I’m pretty sure the first season was all about Aqours qualifying for Love Live and going through the preliminaries. This second season is therefore about the real competition. The original series focused on two separate Love Live! events, not one spread across two seasons.

Sarah and Leah Kazuno of Saint Snow from the anime series Love Live! Sunshine!! 2nd Season
Sarah and Leah Kazuno of Saint Snow

Since I’ll be talking about Aqours a lot in the rest of this review, I’d like to take a moment to mention the true best idol group participating in Love Live!, Saint Snow. Saint Snow is a two-girl idol group made up of sisters Sarah and Leah Kazuno. These two are actually good characters and their music is better than Aqours (sorry, Aqours fans).

I’d also say that the main reason season 2 of Sunshine!! is better than season 1 is because Saint Snow is featured in twice as many episodes.

Ranking the Aqours Members

The best piece of hate mail I ever received came as a response to my ranking of the Monogatari girls. So why not continue to make people angry by ranking the members of Aqours from best to worst as well?

Picking a best girl this time around was actually hard. But in the end I’ve decided that second-year Riko Sakurauchi is the best member of Aqours. She’s basically the Sunshine!! version of Maki from the original series, and Maki is good.

A close second to Riko is the third-year Kanan Matsuura. I like the fact that she’s a normal human being and that she has a ponytail. As you’ll see, those two traits alone are enough to put her above the others.

Chika Takami, Dia Kurosawa, and You Watanabe are third, fourth, and fifth respectively. Chika’s your standard female lead — energetic and airheaded with a big heart. Dia is a bit annoying, but I can deal with her. And You is just extremely forgettable because of how average everything about her is.

First-years Yoshiko “Yohane” Tsushima and Ruby Kurosawa are sixth and seventh. This is the territory of characters that are actually annoying. I want to like Yoshiko, but the fact that she has to correct everyone to call her Yohane at least three times per episode is pretty annoying. And Ruby’s just your timid girl trope.

Third-year Mari Ohara is eighth. At first, I didn’t think any of the third-year members would be this far down the list, but Mari’s constant use of English words and phrases really took its toll on my sanity.

And the worst girl of Aqours is Hanamaru Kunikida. She actually says “zura” more than all the other girls with catchphrases (including Mari with her English) say their respective catchphrases combined.

μ’s (Muse) vs. Aqours (Aqua)

In my review of Sunshine!! season 1, I compared all of the Aqours members to their μ’s counterparts. But which school idol group is better? To answer that question, I’m going to look at everything except the music each group made — because that would make way too much sense.

I actually just don’t feel like going back and listening to all the songs made by each group.

Going by members, μ’s has the clear advantage. The only member of μ’s I remember being annoying was Rin with her “nya’s.” And as I’ve already explained, Aqours has multiple annoying characters (five of the nine). I also just like the character designs for the μ’s members more as well.

But the thing that really puts the members of μ’s above the members of Aqours is the fact that they’re more like real characters than tropes. Sure, some of them are pretty trope-like, but the members of Aqours take it to another level — especially the first-years.

Aqours third years Dia, Mari, and Kanan from the anime series Love Live! Sunshine!! 2nd Season
Aqours third years Dia, Mari, and Kanan

What about the idol group names? Well, Saint Snow would obviously win if they were a contender (and they would have one members-wise as well). But between μ’s and Aqours, I think μ’s wins again.

Both group names are pretty bad at first glance. μ’s is pronounced “Muse” and Aqours is pronounced “Aqua.” Going by their spelling vs. pronunciation, μ’s is the better of the two. At least it somewhat makes sense because that’s technically how it should be pronounced. But in no scenario is Aqours pronounced as “Aqua.”

I also have to say that μ’s is a better name from a musical standpoint as well. The Muses are the Greek goddesses of the arts (which includes music) and there are nine of them (μ’s also has nine members). Aqours was just picked as the name because the girls live near the ocean — it’s just not as creative.

Conclusion

In the end, Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 is a 6/10 from me. It’s basically the same as the previous season and the second season of the original series. The only Love Live! season I thought was better than the rest was the first season of the original series, and that’s probably in part because it was novel at that point.

I do want to mention one other thing I actually liked about this series besides Saint Snow, though. The fact that the series ended with Uranohoshi Girls’ High School getting shut down despite Aqours winning the Love Live! was pretty good. I liked seeing the girls come to terms with the fact that not everything will always go their way.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is available now. And, so is my review of the Love! Live! Sunshine!! spin-off series, Yohane the Parhelion: Sunshine in the Mirror.

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Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven’s Feel – I. Presage Flower

Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven’s Feel – I. Presage Flower

Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower anime movie cover art
Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven’s Feel – I. Presage Flower

Movie Overview

Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven’s Feel – I. Presage Flower ( 劇場版「Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] Ⅰ.presage flower」) is the first in a trilogy of Heaven’s Feel movies from the Fate series. And since Heaven’s Feel is an alternate route to Unlimited Blade Works, this review is going to feature major spoilers for both.

Fate/stay night is broken into three main routes: the Saber route, the Rin route, and the Sakura route. The original Fate/stay night (which nobody ever recommends anyone watch) is the Saber route, Unlimited Blade Works is the Rin route, and Heaven’s Feel is the Sakura route.

That basically just means that they all feature the same servants, characters, and initial plot before they split off. And then there’s also Fate/Zero, which is the prequel to the Fate/stay night routes, and Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, which is an alternate universe version of the Fate/stay night routes.

Rider from the anime movie Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower
Rider

It’s no secret that I really like the Fate series as a whole. But although I like it, I do recognize that it often has problems in the writing department. For example, in every single Fate anime I can think of (except maybe Prisma Illya), the rules which are set up at the start are broken.

And while this route seems to have some of the same rule breaking as Unlimited Blade Works, so far the writing has been good. Prisma Illya probably has the best writing of all the Fates, but from just this first movie, Heaven’s Feel might surpass it.

Also keep in mind that Heaven’s Feel simply looks the best (because it’s a movie). It has great art and a lot of really great animation.

Differences from Unlimited Blade Works

This is where a lot of the spoilers for both Heaven’s Feel and Unlimited Blade Works are going to come into play. I won’t spoil the true names of the servants (yet), but I will be spoiling what happens to them.

So right from the beginning we skip over the initial fight between Lancer and Archer. That’s not too big of a deal though considering this movie basically assumes you’ve already seen it in Unlimited Blade Works. However, all the fights after that are a bit different — and I’m sorry if I get anything wrong, because I haven’t seen Unlimited Blade Works in years.

One of the unfortunate changes is that Assassin (fake) is immediately killed by Assassin (true). Assassin (fake) vs. Saber was one of the great fights from Unlimited Blade Works, and we miss out on that here. Further, Caster is also taken out by Assassin (true) right away.

Lancer vs. Assassin from the anime movie Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower
Lancer vs. Assassin

Rider’s fate isn’t all that different in this movie compared to Unlimited Blade Works. She’s still defeated relatively easily, but in this route she was defeated in record time (1 hit). The part which hasn’t been explained yet, though, is how Rider manages to come back at the end of the movie after we see her body fade away.

My prediction is that Sakura somehow summoned her this second time around, but that would also be a major breach of the rules.

And the final servant to be defeated within this first movie is Lancer, who’s defeated by Assassin (true) with the help of some sort of “void being.” This movie also skips over how Kirei Kotomine acquired Lancer, so I had to look that part up because I knew he wasn’t Lancer’s original master.

Oh, and I guess another major difference is that Saber Alter shows up at the end of the movie, but I’ll discuss that more in my review of movie two.

From a Fate/Grand Order Perspective

I’ve been playing Fate/Grand Order since it released internationally back in 2017. And because of this, I often view these Fate anime through the lens of Fate/Grand Order — with class advantages, servant stats, and servant abilities.

From this point of view, I think it’s fairly safe to say that Cú Chulainn (Lancer) is the strongest servant in the Fate/stay night routes. But I guess Artoria Pendragon (Saber) would technically be stronger because she has class advantage and Cú’s “Protection from Arrows” skill only stops projectiles in the anime unlike the game.

But, what does all this mean for the other fights which we see in this movie? I think the fight which makes the most sense was Artoria vs. Medusa (Rider), in which Medusa was destroyed easily. Let’s face it, Artoria is a good servant while Medusa really isn’t.

Saber Alter from the anime movie Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower
Saber Alter

Hassan of the Cursed Arm (Assassin (true)) vs. Sasaki Kojirou (Assassin (fake)) is a pretty even match up as far as I’m concerned. However, I’d give Sasaki the edge because he can ignore Hassan’s evasion. But once we get to Hassan vs. Medea (Caster), there’s no doubt that Medea would win the fight.

And even if Medea somehow lost to Hassan (as she did in the anime because Hassan took her master hostage), again there’s no way Hassan would defeat Cú. As every Fate/Grand Order player knows, Cú is unkillable.

I guess the idea here is that Hassan’s instant death effect on his Noble Phantasm went into effect. But Cú has a guts skill in “Battle Continuation” which should keep the instant death effect from actually killing him. So there’s no way he would actually lose to Hassan, especially if we’re considering the fact his own Noble Phantasm can hit through evasion (eventually).

Basically what I’m saying is that Hassan is the worst servant in Heaven’s Feel (except for maybe Medusa), and yet he’s somehow already defeated three servants he should have lost against.

Conclusion

Overall, despite the fact that the fights in this movie definitely shouldn’t have ended up as they did, Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven’s Feel – I. Presage Flower is an 8/10 from me. It was a really good movie, and I’m looking forward to watching the next one in the trilogy.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. Also follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing (and sometimes watching) anime with other members of the community.

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My review of Lost Butterfly is available now.

Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon’s Blood Spray

Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon’s Blood Spray

Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon's Blood Spray anime movie cover art
Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon’s Blood Spray

Overview

Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon’s Blood Spray (Lupin the IIIrd: Chikemuri no Ishikawa Goemon / LUPIN THE IIIRD 血煙の石川五ェ門) is the third and final movie in the Lupin the IIIrd trilogy which also includes Fujiko’s Lie and Jigen’s Gravestone. Or at least it’s the third and final one I’ve watched.

Originally I was told that the chronological order was Fujiko’s Lie, Jigen’s Gravestone, then Goemon’s Blood Spray. However, after watching them all, I’m pretty sure Goemon’s Blood Spray comes first, or at least before Jigen’s Gravestone.

In Jigen’s Gravestone, we see the antagonist from Goemon’s Blood Spray briefly, and Lupin and Jigen recognize him. However, that didn’t really affect my viewing experience because the movies tell separate stories which are only loosely related.

And aside from the antagonist having a cameo in one of the other movies, this one is the most unrelated of them all. Of course, that largely has to do with the fact that it focuses on Goemon, who doesn’t appear in either of the other movies. He also barely made an appearance in the other Lupin movie I’ve seen, The Castle of Cagliostro.

There were also some other minor differences which set this movie apart from the other two in the trilogy, such as Fujiko having a different hair color and style. She almost didn’t seem like the same Fujiko from the other two movies — and this was the first of the three in which she wasn’t nude.

Unfortunately, despite this movie having the most action of the three, I actually found it to be the worst one. As I’ll discuss, the antagonist was clearly the least interesting of them all. And I didn’t really like how Lupin was basically a passenger along for the ride in this one.

Bermuda Ghost

The main antagonist of Goemon’s Blood Spray is a man who goes by the name Hawk, but is also referred to as the Bermuda Ghost. I think he’s called Hawk because it’s a bird of prey and he’s an assassin, but he got the nickname Bermuda Ghost because he was supposedly killed in Bermuda.

That last point is where Hawk’s supernatural ability comes into play. We don’t know how he came to possess this ability exactly, but I assume he was created with it by the same organization behind Binkam and Yael (who didn’t really have a supernatural ability other than looking like a zombie).

Hawk (the Bermuda Ghost) from the anime movie Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon's Blood Spray
Hawk (the Bermuda Ghost)

Hawk’s ability allows him to shrug off massive amounts of force and heat. In Bermuda he survived a carpet bombing, we saw him survive a turbine explosion in a ship, and he even survived falling off a cliff. However, unlike with Binkam, Hawk’s ability is never attempted to be explained.

We also have no idea why he has steel teeth. That’s just a thing he has. Perhaps his resistance to force and heat didn’t apply to his teeth, so he lost them all and replaced them with something as sturdy as the rest of his body.

So, Hawk has a few things about him which make him the worst antagonist of the three. He has an ability, but it’s not really explained and it’s not all that interesting anyway. He’s a lumberjack cowboy. And he just generally looks pretty stupid.

It really felt like Hawk was written too specifically to be the antagonist for Goemon. Goemon is the epitome of the Japanese stereotype, and Hawk is the epitome of the American stereotype. Also, because Hawk’s body is as strong as steel, they got to set up the whole idea that Goemon can cut through steel, which is a classic samurai trope.

Goemon’s Resolve

As I mentioned, Lupin takes a back seat in this movie compared to his role in the other two. He’s around for the entire thing, but the movie really focuses on the fact that Goemon wants to defend his honor by defeating Hawk without their fight being interfered with.

In Fujiko’s Lie, Lupin (and Jigen) were constantly rescuing Fujiko or otherwise distracting Binkam while she protected Gene (Jean?). And in Jigen’s Gravestone, Lupin was helping Jigen take down Yael. But in Goemon’s Blood Spray, Lupin and Jigen just kind of run away and watch.

They would get involved, but they know that Goemon doesn’t want them to. And in this way, although the movie is about Goemon, I felt that his resolve to do everything on his own made the movie a bit worse.

Goemon Ishikawa XIII from the anime movie Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon's Blood Spray
Goemon Ishikawa XIII

While I love sword wielding characters in anime, and Goemon definitely had some nice sword action towards the end of the movie, he’s surprisingly not my favorite of Lupin’s group. I think he might actually be at the bottom for me, below Jigen, Fujiko, and Lupin himself.

There was also that “training” montage part of the movie in which Goemon just got beat up by everything. I can’t say that really made me see him as a cool character, especially when he got bodied by that log at the waterfall.

But I guess it was confirmed that Goemon is the strongest member of Lupin’s group, so there’s that. We know he can cut bullets in half, so Jigen and Lupin can’t do anything to him (and Lupin says Goemon will kill them if they intervene). And I’m pretty sure Goemon wouldn’t get seduced by Fujiko either.

Conclusion

In the end, Lupin the IIIrd: Goemon’s Blood Spray is a 7/10 for me. It was a good movie with some good animation and fight choreography, but it just wasn’t as good as the previous two overall.

If you enjoyed this review, or found it helpful in any way, let me know by clicking the like button ❤ down below. Also follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month, and for suggesting this trilogy of Lupin movies to me. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

March comes in like a lion 2nd Season

March comes in like a lion 2nd Season

March comes in like a lion 2nd Season anime series cover
March comes in like a lion 2nd Season

Overview

March comes in like a lion 2nd Season (3-gatsu no Lion 2nd Season / 3月のライオン 第2シリーズ) is the second season of the series March comes in like a lion, in case you couldn’t figure that out. But while this season does continue the story from the first, there’s a fairly major shift in how the story is told.

While the first season did include the other characters who surround our protagonist, Rei Kiriyama, he and his loneliness were the main focus. Season two takes a different turn, and one that I think suits the series much better. It’s still very much a drama, but now it’s more about how the other people around Rei help him, and how he in turn helps them.

For example, we get a lot more substance from Rei’s friendship with Nikaido in this season compared to the first. Nikaido is no longer portrayed somewhat as a nuisance, but more as he actually is, which is Rei’s best friend whether he wants to admit that or not.

Likewise, Rei’s involvement with the Kawamoto family increases during this season, as do his relationships with just about every other character. Interestingly, despite what I originally expected, his adoptive family played even less of a role, however.

I’m actually not sure if Kyouko made a real appearance in this season. She probably did at some point, but I really expected Rei’s turbulent relationship with her to be explored more fully. Perhaps if there’s a third season, which I hope there will be, we’ll get a bit more information regarding where Kyouko stands.

Also, Souya, the reigning shogi champion, was an actual character in this season rather than just being someone Rei sees off in the distance. There’s an interesting plot “twist” regarding him which I won’t spoil, but it made me like him as a character more because it brought him down to Earth.

Improvements

So along with the fact that I preferred how this season took more of a holistic approach by incorporating more of the characters into Rei’s life in meaningful ways, there were a few other quality-of-life improvements. The main one was the removal of the CG cat scenes where they teach you how to play shogi.

I know that some people actually liked those parts of the first season, but I always felt like they took me out of the story. They never actually taught me anything that I didn’t learn just by watching the series since they weren’t all that in-depth, but the main thing I didn’t like about them was that they really served no purpose in my mind.

Yes, this is an anime about shogi. But you don’t need to know anything about shogi to watch and understand this anime. Shogi isn’t the focus of the series. The focus of the series is on the characters and how they grow and adapt, and shogi is just a tool used to illustrate that. Even the tournament arcs, which are heavy on shogi gameplay, don’t require the viewer to know how to play shogi.

And that brings me to the next improvement of this season, more tournament arcs. Now, tournament arcs in this series aren’t the same as ones in shounen battle anime, but they’re still exciting. And perhaps this season didn’t actually have any more of them than the first did, but it felt like it did because it followed more characters than just Rei.

Shift in Focus

The fact that Rei isn’t the sole character we follow this time around is actually the thing I liked the most about this season when compared to the first. Rei’s definitely a good character, but so are a lot of the side characters, and the focus shifts in this season to illustrate that.

Along with Rei, we follow other side characters such as Nikaido and Shimada in small ways. But then we get the side characters who have major arcs mostly to themselves such as Hina and Sakutarou, whom from here on I’ll be calling Saku because that’s what his friends call him.

Sakutarou Yanagihara from the anime series March comes in like a lion 2nd Season
Sakutarou Yanagihara

Nikaido and Shimada are good characters in their own right, but from here on out I really want to focus on Hina and Saku because they have the best arcs in the entire series. That’s right, Rei isn’t even the focus of the best arcs despite being the main character. Also, note that I will be spoiling these two arcs going forward.

Now that you’ve been warned about spoilers, let’s get into Hina’s arc. It focuses on the bullying which has been going on in her class for some time. There are three girls who are the main culprits, but everyone else in the class, including the teacher, pretends not to see what’s going on.

The original target of the bullying was one of Hina’s friends from elementary school, but after she transfers away due to the bullying, Hina becomes the new target for standing up to the bullies. I think this arc definitely had the highest highs and lowest lows from an emotional standpoint which is why it was so good.

I especially liked how the bullying was resolved, or at least began to be resolved once another teacher stepped in. Rei’s teacher, Mr. Hayashida, is cool and all, but I loved how Mr. Kokubu handled the situation when he said that the only evidence needed to prove bullying is happening is for there to be a victim who claims it is.

But despite how much I loved that arc, Hina’s arc wasn’t even my favorite. Instead, my favorite arc was titled Burnt Fields, and it followed Saku as he attempts to hold onto his last remaining shogi title. This may not have been the most exciting arc, but it definitely felt like it was the most important.

Yes, bullying is an important thing to combat as Hina taught us, but here we’re talking about what could be the end of Saku’s life (playing shogi). All of his friends have retired, and as the last of them, and the oldest current shogi player, all of their hopes and dreams rest on his shoulders.

Without his title, he wouldn’t have anything as far as he’s concerned, so there’s already enough pressure as it is. But the added weight of all those cheering him on doesn’t help. He even mentions that if he loses he’ll simply retire, but that at the same time playing shogi is what keeps him alive so in a sense he really is playing for his life.

And, of course, I absolutely loved when, towards the end of the match, Saku decides that he’s going to keep winning for as long as he can, not just for himself, but for all of his friends who have retired before him. I actually thought he was going to end up dying in this arc, so I was glad to see him alive and celebrating his victory.

Conclusion

If you’ve read my review of the first season, you’ll know that I gave it a 7/10. However, the second season is better than that. In fact, the second season is much better than I expected it to be going in. In the end, I gave it a 10/10, meaning it jumped farther than even Saekano in ratings between its first two seasons.

It should also come as little surprise that I ended up really enjoying this series because, after all, it is made by my favorite studio, Shaft. Yes, Fireworks wasn’t that good, but I have yet to be disappointed by one of their series, which means they know how to pick good projects to work on most of the time.

If you enjoyed this review, and especially if I’ve convinced you to check this series out for yourself, click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on all the latest content and schedule changes.

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That’s Just Senpai’s Dick

That’s Just Senpai’s Dick

That's Just Senpai's Dick manga cover
That’s Just Senpai’s Dick

Overview

It’s been over a year since my first manga review, so it’s about time I reviewed another. I was originally planning to do a dual review of the Scum’s Wish manga and anime, but I dropped the manga and didn’t actually want to watch the anime so that fell through.

Luckily I was recommended this masterpiece called That’s Just Senpai’s Dick (Sore wa Tada no Senpai no Chinko / それはただの先輩のチンコ). And, since it’s only one volume made up of eight chapters, it’s a nice, quick read which I appreciate since manga isn’t really my medium of choice.

So, what’s this manga about? It must be a hentai manga due to the title, right? Actually, no. According to MAL, it’s a comedy, ecchi, fantasy series, but I’d argue that doesn’t really describe what you’ll find inside. It’s not fantasy in the popular sense, and although it includes dicks, I wouldn’t really classify half of it as ecchi either.

It’s an anthology of seven short stories which take place within the same world in which dicks can be cut off, stay “alive,” and eventually grow back. While I’d say a few of the stories have ecchi parts, they’re all pretty different and cover a wide range of genres including comedy, romance, action, drama, horror, and slice of life.

And, while I’ll say that this manga is probably 18+, that’s mainly due to a few visuals and implied scenarios in it. Like I said, it’s not a hentai manga.

That’s Just Senpai’s Dick

The first chapter sets up the world in which all the other stories take place. We follow a high school girl who just wants to have a relationship with her favorite senpai’s dick (no, she doesn’t really care all that much about the person attached to it at this point).

This is when we learn the lore of the world, that it’s just like our world, except dicks can be cut off with specially-made guillotines without the owner dying. In fact, the dicks don’t die either, and instead become semi-sentient. The only problem is that they eventually do die after about a week, at which time they regrow on the original owner.

The main character of this story is having trouble keeping her senpai’s dick alive due to a number of different obstacles. However, in the end she opts to just harvest a new one every time the previous one dies.

And Now For That Warmth

While I can’t say that this second story is the most absurd of them all, I did find the premise to be one of the best. Unlike the girl from the previous arc, the main character this time around has no attraction to any one particular dick. Instead, she has a dream.

Her dream is to collect enough dicks to fill her back tub with them so that she can take a dick bath. It’s an ambitious dream and I was rooting for her all along the way. This one may have been the funniest of all the stories, especially when you see the scenes of her tossing around piles of dicks.

Also, it’s at this point that we learn that despite the cutting off of dicks being a possibility in this world, most girls don’t do it. In fact, this main character’s friends find her hobby to be a little weird.

Vol 1 Chapter 2: And Now For That Warmth from the manga That's Just Senpai's Dick
Vol 1 Chapter 2: And Now For That Warmth

Buried Relief

The third story was probably my favorite of them all because of how much of an emotional roller coaster it was. This story had horror, slice of life, romance, and drama. And if you know me, you’ll know I like my drama.

While I don’t want to spoil the endings of any of these stories, I think that goes double for this one. What I’ll say is that it’s about a romance between a girl and the dick (named Giovanni) of her ex-boyfriend. It’s a great story and I didn’t think that a manga about dicks could make me feel the way this chapter did.

It Was Like When I Caught That Grasshopper

Story number four is actually two chapters long and due to that is the most developed story. This one tackles more real-world topics about puberty and growing up, but in a very surreal way.

Basically it’s about a girl who finds a dick that attaches itself to her body. She’s unable to get it to come off, and must track down the boy who it belongs to. However, along the way she experiences what it’s like to have a dick for the first time, and her experiences are roughly equivalent to those of a boy going through puberty.

I actually think these two chapters had a decent amount of interesting things to say about sexuality, even if the plot was a bit strange. Also the grasshopper metaphor is definitely not the metaphor I would have chosen.

Rain of Life

Rain of Life was definitely the most absurd story in the entire anthology, and it technically wasn’t even about dicks, though they are involved. Instead it’s about a girl who collects the dicks of famous people, and then throws out a sex toy she had.

This sex toy then lands in some radioactive sludge and turns into a giant, sex toy monster, because why wouldn’t it? The monster then goes on a rampage through the city and the military has to be called in to fight it.

Remember how I said this manga had some action? Well this is the action chapter. Oh, also the sex toy monster grows stronger and larger by eating dicks, so there’s that. Some of the dialogue in this series, man.

The Last Dick

The Last dick is a continuation of the story from the first chapter of the manga. Remember how I mentioned that the girl kept on cutting off her senpai’s dick every time it regrew? Well now we learn that dicks actually only regrow a certain number of times.

This is a tale of two choices. Will Sakashita-san choose the boy she loves, or his dick? I thought it was actually a fairly compelling story about how her feelings have evolved over time, but what really made it good was the twist at the end. I mean, it’s still no Buried Relief, but The Last Dick is good too.

Fireworks

Fireworks is the third part of the trilogy which started with That’s Just Senpai’s Dick and continued with The Last Dick. I can’t really say too much about this story because it would spoil the ending of the previous chapter, but it follows Sakashita-san after the choice she made.

And, let me tell you, if you think the twist at the end of The Last Dick is something, wait until you see the twist at the beginning of Fireworks. In the end, Fireworks was a good way to conclude the series, though I do wish we got an epilogue of sorts like this for each of the previous stories.

That said, there is a bonus chapter at the end of Fireworks which has a mini epilogue for the second story, And Now For That Warmth.

Conclusion

I’ve only completed two manga, but That’s Just Senpai’s dick was definitely the better of the two. And, because I enjoyed reading it so much, I think I’ll give it a 10/10. I realize that this manga probably isn’t for everyone, but I really liked how it took such an absurd concept, told absurd stories with it, and was still able to have meaningful points.

Also the fact that it was a short anthology series also helped with the rating since I can’t do long manga. I simply prefer anime as a medium. If this series ever receives an anime adaptation, I’ll watch it. I’d expect it to be a short, and it might not be as good as the manga, but I’d still watch it.

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Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for not only supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month, but also for reading this manga too, even though it’s about dicks, so I could discuss it with him. To learn more about becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.