Various thoughts on a variety of topics.
Framed for murders he didn’t commit, Liu Mi finds himself and his three accomplices sentenced to death. Before the sentence can be carried out, the prisoners are abducted by unknown assailants and forced to participate in a death match against giant monsters.
The show has a straight-forward closed-area survival setup accented with a hint of mystery/conspiracy that’s ever so slowly elaborated on. It also ends right in the middle of a scene.
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The private investigators of the Armed Detective Agency handle cases the police and military cannot, thanks to the unique powers at their disposal. They’re not the only ones with supernatural powers though and often find themselves facing off against those who direct their abilities toward more nefarious ends.
An action-comedy featuring a mix of character deformation and reaction-based humor peppered with periodic bursts of drama and mystery. It starts off slightly episodic, with each episode being focused on either a single case or a particular part of an ongoing case, eventually becoming plot driven with a greater focus on drama.
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aniDB (1, 2, 3, 4)
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A colony ship has an accident in orbit over a remote planet and six men are the only survivors. Now, 300 years later, an all-male society consisting of six different countries has been established through the use of cloning technology. On this world with no women, androids called Marionettes have been fashioned in their likeness to fill various menial and combat roles. One morning a young man named Otaru accidentally awakens a powerful combat Marionette with the rare ability to feel and express human emotions, a fortunate development considering that one of the descendants of those six men has just begun a campaign of conquest.
While this show shares a few setting and character details with Saber Marionette R, in most respects it’s completely different. Rather than being a drama with little in the way of romantic elements, it’s instead a slapstick comedy featuring standard harem-style hijinks with only tertiary dramatic aspects.
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aniDB
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Tomoya Aki is a well known otaku blogger who covers Anime, LNs, and VNs. One day he’s struck by the sight of a girl on a hill and becomes obsessed with the idea of creating his own VN based on that experience. He lacks the skills to do it on his own though and so sets out to recruit two old acquaintances (a doujin artist and a novelist), running into the mystery girl from before in the process. Can the four of them work together to create a game?
A fully self-aware romantic comedy whose first episode, labeled “Episode 0”, takes place at the very end of the series. Unlike many harem comedies this one focuses primarily on reaction and dialog-based humor instead of ecchi comedy. It does still have a notable amount of ecchi however.
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Amazon
aniDB
Crunchyroll
Fansub.co
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Ichigo is the daughter of a lunch-shop owner and has no particular interest in idols. One day her friend Aoi, an idol otaku, takes her to a concert held by the current top idol Mizuki. The experience changes her life, and it’s not long before the two girls enter the idol-focused Starlight Academy to become idols themselves. Can Ichigo manage to reach the same heights as Mizuki?
Aikatsu! is a lengthy series that paints the idol industry in a persistently upbeat light. Win or lose the girls are nearly always cheerful, and there is never any resentment or envy shown toward anyone. Each new season (apart from the last) shakes the cast up; the second season introduces a rival school with its own set of characters and the third replaces the original main cast while almost completely ignoring the other school’s existence. It’s also worth mentioning that the show is designed to promote an arcade game and so will occasionally come across like an advertisement.
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Akari, Sumire, and Hinaki host an awards show for the various Aikatsu performances. Ichigo, Ran, and Aoi eventually join them while Juri runs a marathon of sorts as a background event.
This movie covers the event that’s mentioned in the parent series‘ 145th episode, and takes place some indeterminable time after the 147th episode. It ends up being exactly what it sounds like; an ‘awards’ show that highlights various performances from the TV show’s second and third seasons by declaring them the winner of made-up awards. Unlike the previous movie you actually can watch this as a stand-alone if you just want to experience some of the series’ musical segments.
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Ichigo finally gets to headline her own concert, in no less a venue than the one where she first saw Mizuki perform. Now she and her friends set out to craft an experience that will inspire the next generation of idols the same way Mizuki first inspired her.
This movie takes place during and after the main series‘ 112th episode, though you wouldn’t miss much if you skipped that and watched this as the 112th episode instead. I would not suggest watching it as a stand-alone without having at least seen the series’ first two seasons.
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anidb
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Following a mysterious mass disappearance that occurred 12 years prior, Rena just wants to live a quiet everyday life. This is not to be, as the past catches up to fling her and her surrogate family into a conflict over the power of lost gods.
Primarily consisting of action and drama, the show also periodically dips into daily life territory every few episodes as a sort of reprieve. Don’t go into it expecting lighthearted fluff though, as while it’s not full grimdark it still tries to play things seriously more often than not.
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aniDB
Daisuki
Fansub.co
Funimation
Wikipedia
On a world with no women, populated by clones, androids called Marionettes have been created to both fill that absence and act as soldiers. One night a masked man launches a military coup in the country of Romana, forcing the ruler’s son to flee the capitol city with the help of his two attendant Marionettes. He’s soon joined by a third, and the new quartet must find a way to return to the city in time to save his father from execution.
This OVA series is mostly a dark action/drama lightened with occasional splashes of comedy. Aside from the ecchi aspects, what most stands out about it is the character naming style.
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Ruda is the son of a Wind Master and lives in a small peaceful village. One night that peace is shattered as mechanized forces raze the town and trigger the awakening of a long-dormant power.
Set in a fantasy world featuring wind magic, gods, airships, and mechanized infantry, this movie (originally split into a pair of OVAs) goes in a number of different directions. It’s part RPG plotline, part military-themed actionfest, and part mysticism-heavy mystery.
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aniDB
