2020 Archives - Page 3 of 13

One Room 3rd Season

By DoubleSama | March 6, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Season Overview

One Room 3rd Season (One Room サードシーズン) is simply an improvement on the seasons that came before it. I enjoyed the 1st Season well enough, but I thought the 2nd Season definitely improved upon it. And now this 3rd Season raised the bar once again.

I’m not sure why you would be reading this review of the 3rd season if you don’t know what One Room is. But just in case, allow me to explain. One Room is a series made up of roughly 4-minute long episodes that are (mainly) viewed from a first-person perspective.

I think the entire 1st season was from a first-person perspective if I’m remembering correctly. But one of the improvements that came from the later seasons is that other shots are mixed in.

But this isn’t just a first-person anime. It’s a first-person anime about spending time with cute girls. Each episode or group of episodes focuses on a single girl who’s the only character aside from the viewer. Basically, it’s a dating simulator but in anime form, which is a pretty unique idea.

Saya Orisaki from the anime series One Room 3rd Season — Saya Orisaki

This 3rd season breaks away from the formula of the previous two seasons just a bit, though. In the first two seasons, there are three girls who each get four episodes, adding up to the total of 12. In this season, however, there are five girls, so the episode count can’t be divided up in the same way.

So, how are the episodes divided among the girls? Well, three of the five girls are returning characters, so there are four episodes split between them. Two episodes go to the “main” girl of the series and the other two girls get one episode each. Then, the two new girls each get four episodes just like the previous seasons.

Returning Characters

Natsuki Momohara is the first of the three returning girls. She was last seen in the 1st season, having been left out of the 2nd. I think she was my favorite of the three girls in the 1st season, but the 2nd and 3rd seasons have since introduced more girls who I like more.

It’s been a few years since I watched the 1st season, and Natsuki only got one episode in this season, so my memory of her is a little hazy. But I’m pretty sure she’s supposed to be the viewer’s younger sister. Whether she’s related by blood or not I don’t remember.

The second returning girl is Minori Nanahashi. Minori was first introduced in the second season and was almost the best girl of that season. Unfortunately for her, the final girl introduced in that season was the best one.

Minori’s family owns a bathhouse which she hopes to one day run despite her father encouraging her to find a more modern job. I believe her one episode in this season takes place after she’s taken over her family’s business — with your help, of course.

Yui Hanasaka is the final of the three returning girls and has been featured in both of the previous two seasons. She’s effectively the “main” girl of One Room considering she’s the only one to be in every season and that she got two episodes in this season instead of one as Natsuki and Minori did.

I like Yui, but she’s also the vanilla girlfriend character. All of the girls in the series are “girlfriends,” but Yui is the girlfriend character if that makes sense. Being the viewer’s girlfriend is her defining character trait, unlike with the other girls who all have some other trait as well.

New Characters

Honestly, both of the new girls introduced in this season are high-tier. I’m not really sure which one I prefer between the two. They both have good qualities despite being opposites in many respects.

The first of the new girls to be introduced is Akira Kotokawa. Akira is the viewer’s kouhai, or underclassman, who joins the gardening club the viewer is a member of. Younger girls are cute, so Akira already gets some bonus points for that.

But, what I also like about Akira is that she seems to have joined the gardening club for the express purpose of getting to spend time with the viewer. She knows a bit about gardening, but she’s no expert. So it’s very obvious that she’s interested in something other than the plants. She’s also just a very wholesome kouhai.

Akira Kotokawa from the anime series One Room 3rd Season — Akira Kotokawa

Saya Orisaki is the second new girl to be featured in this season of One Room. She’s an older girl who accidentally makes her way into the viewer’s apartment rather than her own after a night of drinking. This is why you should always leave your door unlocked. You never know when a cute anime girl will come drunkenly stumbling in.

But, what makes Saya a choice on par with the aforementioned Akira? Saya is the perfect blend of reliable, older woman and cute, shy girl. She helps the viewer out as their senpai but also gets very flustered whenever the subject of romance is brought up.

For example, in the Saya scenario, the viewer is a college student and Saya is a “working” adult who decides to help the viewer study for their exams. But, she really just wants to spend time with the viewer as Akira does. However, Saya is also less straightforward with her feelings than Akira is.

Conclusion

Despite thinking the 2nd season was better than the 1st, I gave them both the same score. With One Room 3rd Season, I think it’s finally earned a higher score, so I gave it a 7/10. The 1st season of this series can be a bit cringe-inducing, but it’s pretty nice once you get to the later seasons.

Have you watched this season of One Room? If so, do you prefer Akira or Saya? And which girl is your favorite from the series as a whole? Let me know in the comments.

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 anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman 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/DoublSama.

Noblesse

By DoubleSama | February 20, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Noblesse (NOBLESSE -ノブレス-) is the third of Webtoon’s “big three” shounen series. The other two are Tower of God and God of High School. Together, these three series are supposed to be on par with the “big three” of Japanese shounen series: One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach.

Unfortunately for Noblesse fans, after watching this series, I don’t see how you could include it in any sort of “big three.” To be fair, the source material is allegedly good. And as I’ll discuss later on, there’s a major factor weighing the Noblesse anime down. But even with this in mind, I don’t think it’s good.

So, to explain what Noblesse is all about, let’s take a look at the genres it’s tagged as on MyAnimeList. These are action, supernatural, vampire, and school (which is a setting, not a genre). Is there action? Yes, but not good action. Is it supernatural? Yes, because there are vampires.

However, the most important tag here is actually “school.” Why? Because at least half of this series is pointless, slice of life content set in a school.

More realistic tags for this series would be slice of life, shoujo, bishounen, and school. From what I saw of this series, I’m definitely not the target audience. This is effectively the Twilight of anime. It’s just a bunch of beautiful vampire boys hanging out at school with some random romance thrown in.

If you’re a shounen fan, I don’t think you’re going to like this series. If you’re a bishounen fan, you might.

Oh, and the first season of this anime isn’t actually where you start if you’re thinking about watching it. There’s an OVA called Noblesse: Awakening (which I’m not doing an individual review on) that covers the first arc of the series.

Main Characters

Cadis Etrama Di Raizel, or just Raizel for short, is the protagonist and titular noblesse. In this series, vampires are referred to as nobles, with the noblesse being a sort of “noble among nobles.” What exactly the noblesse is isn’t explained all that well. They’re not the leader of the nobles, but they are at the same time.

Raizel was asleep for 800 years leading up to the start of the series. So what does he do when he awakens to find himself in Japan? He enrolls in a local high school, of course.

Frankenstein is Raizel’s devoted retainer. With a name like Frankenstein, you might think that he’s some sort of human-composite, zombie-like monster. Or, since this series is about vampires, you may think he’s one of those. Well, neither is the case. He’s just a human — though he does have magical powers for some reason.

Cadis Etrama Di Raizel from the anime series Noblesse — Cadis Etrama Di Raizel

M-21 is a man-made noble. There’s probably an actual word for what he is, but I don’t really feel like looking into it. He’s not a homunculus because he’s a real human. But he’s been experimented on and turned into a cheap imitation of a noble.

The last two characters worth mentioning are Regis K. Landegre and Seira J. Loyard. They’re nobles who attend the same high school as Raizel. However, they’re significantly younger than he is. Regis is the grandson of one of the noble clan leaders, and Seira is the leader of another noble clan.

There are a lot of other characters who simply don’t matter enough to go over. These include the humans Raizel befriends at school, other man-made nobles, and all of the other true nobles. Even the main antagonist of the season isn’t worth mentioning since this is a slice of life series at the end of the day.

Crunchyroll Original Anime

In case you didn’t already figure it out, the biggest problem with Noblesse, aside from the fact that I think the premise is fundamentally boring, is that it’s a Crunchyroll original anime. So far, the best Crunchyroll original anime I’ve seen is Tower of God, which I gave a low 7/10.

So why is Crunchyroll failing to produce great anime despite the source material for these series being so beloved? It all comes down to the fact that Webtoons are an unproven source for anime. The companies who partner with Crunchyroll aren’t convinced that these sources can be profitable for them, and so they don’t commit fully.

What this results in are a bunch of anime that attempt to speedrun the source and deliver what they believe the target audience wants to see most. Why spend a lot of time building up a series, its world, and its characters if there’s a chance it’s going to flop before it gets to the “good part.”

Raizel from the anime series Noblesse — Raizel

With Tower of God, all of the world-building was thrown out the window so that the anime could rush through the prologue in one cour. For God of High School, all of the plot was brushed aside so that they could pack in as much action as possible. And in Noblesse, it seems that the slice of life aspects of the series are what were brought to the forefront.

But, I should point out that while I think Noblesse is worse than the other two of the “big three” Webtoon series Crunchyroll has helped produce, it’s actually much better than the two Crunchyroll originals I’m watching this season which are based on a manga and light novel.

Conclusion

If I had to describe the Noblesse anime in a single word, it would be “mediocre.” There’s nothing about this series that I would call good. But at the same time, it doesn’t really do anything all that bad either. It just exists as a completely average series. And for that, I have to give it a 5/10.

Talentless Nana

By DoubleSama | February 12, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Talentless Nana (Munou na Nana / 無能なナナ) is a supernatural, psychological thriller. You can basically think of it like if My Hero Academia was a murder mystery series. So if you’re into shounen battle series and psychological thrillers, I recommend checking it out.

If you’re not into some of the more standard shounen battle series, the art style of Talentless Nana may be a bit off-putting. The art style is much more “generic” than you would normally expect from a psychological thriller. And I could definitely see that pushing some people away before they give it a chance.

So, what’s Talentless Nana about? Basically, sometime in the future, there’s a small percentage of people who are born with supernatural abilities called talents. Three talents we’re introduced to in the very first episode are fire manipulation, ice manipulation, and mind-reading, just to give some examples.

Children with talents are sent to a special training school on a remote island where they learn to fight against the “enemies of humanity” (they don’t have a name beyond that). But, since this is a psychological thriller, obviously something has to go wrong.

This is a minor spoiler, but I can’t really explain the series without it: Students begin to mysteriously go missing. It’s up to those left to figure out what happened to their classmates while simultaneously protecting themselves from the same fate.

Another interesting aspect of the series has to do with how those with talents often don’t share what their talents are with others. If someone else knows your talent, they can probably figure out your weakness. So while the students are working together to figure out the mystery, they’re also suspicious of each other.

Main Characters

For this section on the main characters, I’m going to stick to information we get from the first episode. The next section is where I’ll fill in some of the gaps with spoilers. So if you don’t want to be spoiled, this section is safe.

Nanao Nakajima, despite attending the school for talented, is talentless. Because of this he gets picked on by the other students in his class and doesn’t really have any friends. Basically, your classic protagonist.

Nana Hiiragi is a new transfer student who befriends Nanao almost immediately once she learns that he’s considered an outcast. She’s very outgoing, but her talent for reading minds sometimes gets in the way. As it turns out, people don’t really like having their minds read.

Nana Hiiragi and Nanao Nakajima from the anime series Talentless Nana — Nana Hiiragi and Nanao Nakajima

Kyouya Onodera is another new addition to the class. He’s basically the opposite of Nana as the other students view him as unapproachable and unfriendly. Kyouya has a talent, but we don’t know what it is.

Moguo Iijima is one of the two known strongest students in the class. He has the ability to summon and control fire and doesn’t shy away from letting everyone know because he wants them to think he’s cool. Generic elemental abilities are often among the strongest in battle shounen series simply because they’re so versatile.

Seiya Kori is the opposite of Moguo in a lot of ways, but also very similar. He’s the other strongest known student, with the ability to summon and control ice. Like Moguo, he doesn’t hide this. But his reason for not hiding it is because he wants everyone to think of his talent as eloquent and high-class.

There are other important characters, but those are the five we’re introduced to within the first episode. The class has around 20 students in total.

Early Series Spoilers

I don’t know exactly how early all of these spoilers are, but I’m not going to spoil any of the major mysteries of the series here at any rate. So, at the end of the first episode, we learn that Nana isn’t who she says she is. She kills Nanao and it’s revealed at some point early on that she’s actually the talentless one.

Despite the fact that the series is literally called Talentless Nana, this was a pretty good twist, in my opinion. The first episode did a great job at setting up the idea that Nana really did have a talent while Nanao was the talentless one.

And, once it’s revealed that Nana, a talentless human, is trying to eliminate all of the talented students on the island, things get interesting. I really enjoyed seeing how Nana would maneuver around all the various situations she finds herself in.

Nana Hiiragi and Kyouya Onodera from the anime series Talentless Nana — Nana Hiiragi and Kyouya Onodera

Not only does Nana have to keep up the ruse that she has a mind-reading talent, but she also has to figure out what everyone else’s talents are and come up with plans to defeat them without being caught. And that final part is where Kyouya comes in.

The cat and mouse game between Nana and Kyouya is done very well. If you’re a fan of Light vs. L in Death Note, then you’ll probably like Nana vs. Kyouya. I think Nana vs. Kyouya might even be better because unlike in Death Note, Talentless Nana doesn’t require you to suspend your disbelief for the sake of plot progression.

Unfortunately, the series doesn’t conclude within the 13 episodes of this season. And because this is anime, there’s no guarantee that a second season will ever happen. I kind of have a feeling it won’t.

Conclusion

For me, Talentless Nana is a 7/10. It’s a good anime and I had fun trying to figure out all the mysteries within it. However, I wouldn’t say that it’s anything special. It’s worth watching if you like psychological thrillers. But you shouldn’t go into it expecting it to be the next Monster.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

By DoubleSama | February 6, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maoujou de Oyasumi / 魔王城でおやすみ) is a slice of life comedy series in a fantasy setting. The series is about a young princess who’s kidnapped by a demon lord and kept as a prisoner in his castle. Except, she’s not much of a prisoner at all.

Princess Aurora Suya Rhys Kaymin, simply referred to as the princess, loves to sleep. Unfortunately, the conditions she’s initially kept in at the Demon Lord’s castle make it impossible for her to get a good night’s rest. And so, the Princess sets out to make her cell within the Demon Lord’s castle more accommodating to her needs.

In order to make her cell more comfortable, the Princess regularly escapes and wanders the halls of the castle in search of materials. These materials range from powerful magic items found in the castle’s treasury to the mutilated corpses of the castle’s demon inhabitants.

The Princess sleeping from the anime series Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle — The Princess sleeping

The series features three main parties that are each trying to come out on top. First, is the aforementioned Princess who just wants to sleep. Second, is the Demon Lord and his minions who want the Princess to act more like a prisoner and stop leaving her cell. And third, is the Hero attempting to rescue the princess.

At first, you’d think that the dynamic between these three parties would be pretty straightforward. But in reality, things are a bit more complicated. The Princess isn’t really concerned about being saved from the demon castle. And in fact, she hates the Hero and doesn’t want to be saved by him.

Then, while the demons want the princess to act more like a prisoner, they begin to view her as their own princess who needs to be protected (mainly from herself).

Demons of the Castle

Demon Lord Tasogare is, obviously, the Demon Lord who reigns over the castle. But, he’s not like most demon lords you may be familiar with. In this series, the Demon Lord is very much concerned with how he and his castle are perceived.

He wants to be viewed as an evil entity despite that not really being who he is. For example, when the Princess keeps leaving her cell to gather materials to make it nicer, the Demon Lord complains that she’s not acting like a proper prisoner. He doesn’t really stop her from wandering the castle, but he wants her to at least give off the impression that she doesn’t have free reign.

The Demon Cleric is another one of the primary demons within the castle. He’s often the voice of reason among the demons because he understands the princess the best. And by that, I don’t mean that he understands her wants and needs. I mean he understands that the princess is a danger to herself and everyone around her.

The Demon Lord and Demon Cleric from the anime series Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle — The Demon Lord and Demon Cleric

Great Red Siberian is about on the same level as the Demon Cleric, being just below the Demon Lord himself. I guess he’s supposed to be a werewolf, but he just looks like a husky beastman. While the Demon Cleric is in charge of religious services, Great Red Siberian is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the castle.

There are also a variety of other demons and monsters living in the castle whom the Princess befriends and/or uses. My favorites of the other demons are definitely Harpy and Sakkyun (mostly because they’re cute girls). And as far as the random monsters go, I think Ghost Shroud is the best.

Highs and Lows

Most seasonal anime have the same problem for me. By the halfway point of the season, I get pretty tired of a lot of the series I watch. That’s partially because I do knowingly watch some bad or mediocre anime each season. And it’s also partially because having to wait a week between episodes is a drag.

So, if you were to look at my ratings on MyAnimeList each week, you’d likely notice that my average score for the season decreases. I tend to rate things higher right when they start because they’re new and exciting. But by the end of the season, my scores have mostly fallen to where I think they should be.

And of course, there also may be a small number that actually increase in score over time. Within the current season, I’d say that Jujutsu Kaisen is one of those series.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is very unique in how my opinion of it changed over time. I enjoyed it well enough at the start, but by the middle of the season, watching the episodes really became a chore. I just wasn’t enjoying the series all that much anymore. Sounds normal so far based on what I’ve already said.

However, what I wasn’t expecting was for this anime to have a late-season resurgence. The final third or quarter of the series was probably the best part. Normally, I would think a series gets worse or better as it goes on. But this one got worse before coming back stronger than ever.

Basically, the Princess gathering materials and leveling up her cell got a bit old. But once the demons rallied around her as effectively their own princess, it created a new dynamic that freshened up the series.

Conclusion

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is a 6/10 for me. The beginning was around this score, the middle dropped to maybe a 4/10, and I think the end might have reached a 7/10. So overall, I’m giving it a 6/10. It was an enjoyable anime even though it dragged in the middle portion.

Also, the OP and ED for this series are both great. Inori Minase voices the Princess, and if you’re familiar with her, you may know that she basically always does an OP, ED, or insert song for every anime she’s in. For this one, she sings the OP and it’s great. The ED isn’t her, but it’s still a fun song with cute visuals.

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 anime with other members of the community.

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

By DoubleSama | January 16, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai / ラブライブ! 虹ヶ咲学園スクールアイドル同好会) is the fifth season of the Love Live! series. However, despite it being the fifth season, you could very well watch it first due to how the series is constructed.

The first two seasons are Love Live! School Idol Project. The third and fourth seasons are Love Live! Sunshine!! And the fifth season is Nijigasaki. You can start with any one of the three because they’re all independent despite being set within the same universe.

Of the current three sub-series within the Love Live! series, Nijigasaki is probably my least favorite. That’s probably in part because I had already seen four prior seasons of effectively the same thing — Love Live! always seems to follow the same formula.

**Spoilers start here**

To be fair, Nijigasaki does make some drastic changes compared to the other two sub-series. But the same Love Live! tropes are still there. For example, there’s the student council president who wants to shut down the club but then ends up joining it. This happens in every Love Live! and is something you just come to expect.

I’ll discuss the major differences between Nijigasaki and the previous seasons of Love Live! later on. But one thing I want to point out here is that this season focuses much more on the differences between all of the girls. Previous seasons were about working together as a cohesive unit. This season is about the individuality of the girls.

If that sounds like something that interests you more than the typical Love Live! group structure, it might be worth giving Nijigasaki a try.

Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

While the previous two Love Live! idol clubs each have 9 members, the Nijigasaki idol club has 10. The 10th member is Yuu Takasaki, who serves as the manager for the club and isn’t one of the idols. I believe she’s also an anime-original character.

Ayumu Uehara is Nijigasaki’s protagonist. She’s the Nijigasaki equivalent of Honoka and Chika from the previous two seasons, which is to say that she’s pretty generic. However, Ayumu is my least favorite of these three because she’s also just a terrible person.

Setsuna Yuuki is the student council president who’s secretly also a school idol. Considering she has the same name as the extremely popular idol from the school, I’m not really sure how nobody ever realized they were one and the same until now.

9 of the 10 members of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club from the anime series Love Live! — 9 of the 10 members of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

Kasumi Nakasu is this season’s hyperactive underclassman. She’s obsessed with people thinking that she’s cute. But she tends to drive people away because of how overbearing her personality is. The original idol club was disbanded because she and Setsuna couldn’t agree on the direction it should go in.

Rina Tennoji is a shy girl who’s also technologically gifted. She covers her face when performing with an LED screen that displays emoticons. Ai Miyashita is Rina’s best friend and doesn’t have much of a personality aside from dressing fashionably.

Kanata Konoe is the sleepy girl of the group. Her personality trait is that she’s always tired and can sleep anywhere. Emma Verde is a similarly shallow character, with her defining trait being that she’s European.

Karin Asaka doubles as a school idol and popular teen model. She’s seen as the cool and mature member of the club. And finally, there’s Shizuku Ousaka, whom I literally don’t remember. I guess her defining trait is that she’s the forgettable character because I honestly couldn’t tell you anything else about her.

Differences from Previous Seasons

The biggest difference between this season and the previous seasons has to do with the fact that it focuses on the individuality of the idol club members. In fact, it leans so heavily into this individualistic aspect that they aren’t even an idol group. The Nijigasaki idol club is made up of 9 solo idols (and Yuu).

This also means that despite being the name of the series, there’s actually no Love Live! this time around. If there was, it would have meant that all 9 girls would have had to be invited individually, which just isn’t feasible. Instead, they decide to put on their own school idol festival with other idols from nearby schools.

At first, this school idol festival idea seems like a good one. But as the series progresses in the later episodes, it becomes clear just how terrible of an idea it really is. Because all of the girls are solo idols, they all have different ideas about where the festival should be held and what it should look like. Oh, and the idols from other schools all get a say as well.

Setsuna Yuuki from the anime series Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club — Setsuna Yuuki

In the end, the festival is spread out over a large area, with each idol or idol group having their own venue. Effectively, they’ve just split up the festival so their fans have to travel in order to see multiple performances and simply can’t see them all because some are happening at the same time.

That’s not so bad for a real music festival. But when you have school idols who only have about 100 fans each at most, it kind of defeats the purpose of the festival in the first place. What they ended up doing was putting on competing concerts that divide their fanbases, not bring them together.

And the final thing I’ll mention is that because all of the girls are solo idols, they have to divide the series’ screen time between them. Following a group of 9 idols is very different from following 9 individual idols. That’s a major contributor to why these girls felt so superficial compared to those in the previous seasons.

Conclusion

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a 5/10 from me. Originally I had it rated as a 4, but after thinking about it more, I don’t think it was bad. It just wasn’t good. It followed many of the same tropes that the previous seasons did. And the few new concepts it attempted just didn’t seem to work out and only harmed the series.

My review of Season 2 is available now.

Tag: 2020

One Room 3rd Season

By DoubleSama | March 6, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Season Overview

Returning Characters

New Characters

Conclusion

Noblesse

By DoubleSama | February 20, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Main Characters

Crunchyroll Original Anime

Conclusion

Talentless Nana

By DoubleSama | February 12, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Main Characters

Early Series Spoilers

Conclusion

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle

By DoubleSama | February 6, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Demons of the Castle

Highs and Lows

Conclusion

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

By DoubleSama | January 16, 2021 | Comments 0 Comment

Series Overview

Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

Differences from Previous Seasons

Conclusion

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