Hataraku Maou-Sama!; You Know It's Good When The Devil Is A Part-Timer

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OreImo; A Decent Enough Anime, Completely Ruined By One Terrible Character

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai Quickie Review

By James U.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute) or OreImo for short, is an anime adaptation of a Japanese slice of life light novel written by Fushimi Tsukasa. Season one aired October 3, 2012 to December 19, 2012, and directed by Kanbe Hiroyuki. Season two on the other hand, started airing April 7, 2013 and is expected to run for 13 episodes.

High School student Kousaka Kyousuke is the estranged older brother of Kousaka Kirino, a middle school track and field star / part-time model. One night he finds a copy of his sister's eroge (erotic video game), inadvertently discovering her hidden otaku side, and sparking an odd "life counseling" relationship between the two... for two entire seasons. And I hated every bit of it until I finally had enough.

That's right, I dropped this fucker like a bad habit. The truth is, there's a lot to like about this anime. The characters are likable (Kyousuke and the other side characters), the plot lines are more or less decent, and the comedy is fairly competent. There's really only one fucking thing that I hate about this anime, and that's Kirino, the younger sister. She's an absolute fucking bitch, and everybody lets her get away with everything just because they know how she really feels. "Oh, she's just like that because she can't express herself very well." Really!? Fuckin' REALLY!?

Ok, let me back up for a bit. See, the thing about Kirino is that she's incredibly bitchy towards everyone, even to those who share her secret otaku passion. She's always on a high horse, acting as if she's better than everybody else; she's cranky all the time even when people treat her nicely, going so far as to step on the respect she has been given; heck, she's not even trying to be nice when she needs something from other people. It's unrealistic how her attitude doesn't drive everyone away (yes, it's THAT bad). The fact that everyone, especially her cool older brother, tries to please her ensures that this character stays as still and stagnant as the diseased water in my garage. Kirino is the one thing wrong about this anime, and while her friends weren't driven away by her asshattery, I (and hopefully the audience) sure as hell couldn't stomach her any longer. I endured one season of this anime because she wasn't so bad; only to see her be twice as terrible in the second season. Hell, I even endured the incestuous undertones since everything that WASN'T related to her was fun to watch.

In the end, there is no emotional payoff for this. Kirino rarely, if ever, gets her comeuppance and even when she does, it’s often subdued and unsatisfying. She's an asshole, and a bully who pushes everybody around, but doesn't get any form of punishment for it. I can only hope she gets bitch-slapped by a sledgehammer later in the series, but that's not enough of an incentive for me to stick around.

I didn't think it was possible for just ONE character to ruin an entire series for me until now. Seriously, if you’re struggling to find some sort of satisfaction from this anime, then stop wasting your time and drop this title now. You'll thank me later.

Photokano; Fun At Cetain Points, But Ultimately Boring

Photokano Quickie Review

By James U.

Photokano is an anime adaptation of a visual novel published by Kadokawa Games, and started airing April 5, 2013. It’s a slice of life/harem/ecchi title with photography as one of the main themes.

Maeda Kazuya is a friendly high school student who is given a camera from his dad. He takes it up as a hobby and encounters several girls who become his friends that would sometimes model for him. It’s as slice of life as slice of life can be, with the exception of being constantly bombarded by hot women. While it does have its fun points, I ultimately had to drop it because it was utterly boring. I’m not planning on making a speculative review since I didn’t make it past the third episode.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo Review

By James U.

Review at a Glance:

Rating:

5 out of 5

A well-written, and well-executed story with unexpected twists not native to the genre.

Highest Point:

All the major characters are deep and memorable; each of them bearing a particular weight that haunts them throughout the series. The characters deal with them as a normal person their age would (with acceptable exaggerations) and their growth is apparent without breaking character.

Lowest Point:

Some forced fanservice at the beginning of the anime give off the impression that it’s a run-of-the-mill ecchi title. It fades away quickly enough after the 4th or 5th episode, though it pops up every now and then.

Recommendation:

This anime has excellent writing and top-notch storytelling, the comedy is great, the drama is even better, and the voice acting is superb. I’ve got way too many good things to say about this title that it’s hard for me to make a sex joke. So yeah, I totally recommend watching it.

Overview

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (The Pet Girl of Sakurasou) is a romantic comedy/drama/slice of life anime in a high school setting. It’s a 24-episode anime adaptation of a light novel of the same name, originally penned by Kamoshida Hajime, which aired from October 9, 2012 to March 26, 2013. The anime is directed by Ishizuka Atsuko, who doesn’t have much under her belt, though she directed most of the episodes of Supernatural’s anime adaptation.

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo Quickie Review

By James U.

High school students and a bunch of pussies. What's not to like?

Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo (The Pet Girl of Sakurasou) is a romantic comedy / slice of life anime adaptation of a manga written by Kamoshida Hajime. This is perhaps one of the best anime of its genre that I’ve seen, and it’s been freakin’ ages since I’ve seen a good one. I’ll be sure to write a full review once it finishes.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the full review.

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (OreShura) Speculative Review

By James U.

Speculative Review at a Glance:

Rating as of Episode 5: 
2 out of 5
Multi-dimensional characters in a terrible story.

Highest Point:
Masuzu is one of the more interesting characters I’ve encountered in recent anime. She’s got a lot of complexities about her that make most of her actions difficult to predict and her motivations hard to read.

Lowest Point:

An important plot point felt completely out of place. What’s worse is that it keeps getting referenced and exploited, but is so poorly executed that it comes off as unnecessary (and worse, unfunny). The anime could still theoretically survive if the details of that plot point had been changed completely.

Recommendation:

OreShura has some interesting characters and ideas set up from the beginning, but ultimately fails in execution. If you’re willing to put up with that for the sake of watching the characters grow, then go ahead. Otherwise, steer clear from this terrible title.

Overview

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend Fight Too Much) is an anime adaptation of a romantic comedy/harem light novel series written by Yuji Yuji (I’m not kidding, that’s the dude’s name). It began airing January 6, 2013. The anime is directed by Kamei Kanta who’s involved in titles like Blood+, Ergo Proxy, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, among others. I seriously don’t know what he’s doing here. Granted, this is his third time as a director; his first being Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike (2009) followed by Usagi Drop (2011). So yeah, what the hell is he doing here? The anime is also called OreShura for short.