@Memers: I agree with that, but the line between shonen and kodomomuke can be very blurry. Digimon Appli Monsters is a very good example.
@Hylarn: That doesn't explain why they made one for Danball Senki Wars, which was exported much later.
@Chairiot: Angry Anime Bitches (and The Cart Driver) used to be covering kids' anime, but now they outright exclude them. Random Curiosity never bother with those to begin with.
First episode impressions:
- Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine: I'm not sure if this is an otome game adaptation, but I bet it is, because it plays out like a dry Let's Play of one. They keep narrating obvious stuff like "Now, I have talked to all four princes." Not following.
- Warau Salesman New: Composed of two short fables, though the aesop for both is apparently "If you want something, make sure you can pay for it". The first one was boring, but the second had the interesting concept of a credit card that lets you buy anything, but anything you buy is repossessed the next day. Though that rule gets broken at the end to make a point of sorts, which I feel cheapens the episode. On the bright side, the OP is catchy.
- Akashic Records: This was actually pretty fun! Standard premise of magic high school but at least it's not aggressively trying to be mediocre, or bad. Heck, the MC, Glenn Radars, has personality (even if he's a terrible teacher). In fact, I'd say that the entire show has a goofy charm to it. Even the preview is funny.
- Sakura Quest: I really am getting a Shirobako vibe, but as it is right now, it's just okay. Not too keen on the plot either, but hey, it has potential. The ending segment was a neat bit of coincidence. The dialogue sounds pretty natural; I like just hearing these characters talk to one another, and the direction and sound design are more than competent.
- Sagrada Reset: A bit too much exposition, some unnatural dialogue here and there... but then the characters aren't very natural in the first place, I guess, and so overall it's a bit hard to actually care. But it still is somewhat interesting. The reveal about Kurakawa Mari was expected, but, again, interesting. Oh and maybe next episode they'll tone down the pseudophilosophical mumbo jumbo.
edited 6th Apr '17 7:44:03 AM by fillerdude
If we're honest, Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism will never set the world alight for its originality or its execution, but there are two interrelated reasons why it may have gotten a worse reception than the average light novel power fantasy adaptation:
1) the central conceit, of a school where women dominate men through violence and make them into pseudo-girls, feeds into a persuction complex of certain groups of otaku/western nerds about how feminists/women/etc are out to get them and deprive them from their rightful place in society 2) the way every other guy but our protagonist looks resembles long standing stereotypes in anime about gay men; you could argue it's transphobic as well.
This was bad enough in the manga, which I'd started reading before I knew this was getting an anime series as well, but looks worse here. However, if it does follow the manga, it could get better as the series in the manga become more of a battle/tournament series about various factions wanting to rule the school and less about women keeping their men in their place. I do wish the adaptation had taken a different road with regards to point 2 though; there are better ways to see men cowed than to turn them into offensive gay stereotypes.
If you're not bothered by these points, this is a perfectly decent, entertaining action comedy but personally I'm a bit wary of how it will develop.
One could probably boil your first point above down to "People are tired of abusive females in anime." Seriously, Tsunderes and their double-standard abuse of males is something that annoys a lot of people, and the premise is similar to that, but taken up to eleven.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet Unless I grew it. In that case, throw it in the trash.Sakurada Reset: This was one of the most horribly, boring, dull, pretentious things I ever seen. It feels like it was written by an autistic alien who never met any human being. None of the characters talk like actual people, more like androids trying to imitate freshman philosophy students and doing badly. Not to mention all the inconsistencies, plotholes, and generally things not making sense. If I were to make an comparison I would say it was kind of like Bakemonogatari, if it was awful. It was a slog to get through the episode.
Nope, dropped.
edited 6th Apr '17 12:45:35 PM by Shlugo_the_great
Armed Girl's Machiavellism is what happens when you take the One-Scene Wonder douchebags you get in harems whose only purpose is to harass the main girl until someone protects her...and make them the main character.
It's a premise I can't see many get behind, but for those that can it'll probably be a treat for the same reason Prison School is.
Sakurada Reset is boring characters talking to each other in a very boring tone with boring dialog. Passing hard on it.
Machiavellianism: Premise is weird and I'm pretty sure this school is violating some law or something. Nomura is awesome though and the sole reason I'm watching this show. Sock it to those feminists bro!
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet Unless I grew it. In that case, throw it in the trash.BTW I've made a thread
for Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism, if anyone is interested.
First episode impressions:
- Clockwork Planet: Straightforward adaptation of a mediocre manga. The clockwork setting is superficial dressing for a by-the-numbers action fantasy. Not following.
- Renai Boukun: Yandere is still as funny as she is in the manga. Overall a decent adaptation, but I'm not a big enough fan of the source material to keep watching. I'm good with just the manga, thanks. Not following.
- Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism: There is a surprisingly heavy focus on martial arts here (I believe the oni girl's swordsmanship style is a real thing, I'll have to check), which results in actually pretty good fight choreography. The plot just seems like an excuse for the dude to beat girls up and add them to his harem, so I'm just not gonna think too hard about it. Also surprising: there's no fanservice, which is a welcome show of class. Not that I'm ruling out some sex appeal in later episodes.
Machiavellism:
almost every martial arts in the series are actual martial arts in Japan and while some of them are exaggerated for the manga, most of them are accurate. Some of the effects of the techinque are obviously exaggerated though.
Here's the wiki links for the styles used by the main characters. Almost all the techniques used by the characters are real ones. Most of these are Japanese wiki:
Onigawara:Kashima Shinden Jikishinkage-ryū
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashima_Shinden_Jikishinkage-ryū
Warabi: Taisha Ryu
https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/タイ捨流
Satori: Keishiryu Kidachi Kata(This is the techniques that is given to police officers in Japan, which probably is a hint to whoever is Satori's master)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/警視流#.E8.AD.A6.E8.A6.96.E6.B5.81.E6.9C.A8.E5.A4.AA.E5.88.80.E5.BD.A2
Tsukuyo: Yakumaru Jigen Ryu (Iai)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/薬丸自顕流
Nomura: Jigen Ryu (but in this he applied to a hand-to-hand fighting style, so the author invented some of it)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jigen-ryū
Amou: Okinawan Karate (The Tenagata (手刀)/sword hand is a technique from aikido and okinawan martial arts. Obviously, the author exaggerated to the point it can actually cut).
The writer even listed many times the source or manual books and the name of it's authors he used to learn the techniques. He's actualy a martial arts practicioner himself and still learning even to these day.
One actual practicioners of the Taisha Ryu, the style used by Warabi even thanked the author for using the style as it is generally uknown to the general public. Even his Sensei and fellow students loves busou shoujo
The authors' previous series, Shinakoi, is even more detailed, since it puts heavy emphasis on the martial arts aspects.
edited 7th Apr '17 7:32:33 AM by sasagane_alan
Nobody mentioned Tsuki ga Kirei yet?
Middle schoolers in the same class go to Denny's to be embarassed by their respective families when one of the moms introduces them to each other.
That was utterly cringeworthy, utterly believable. Both main characters are normal middle school kids in a way you seldom see in anime and you have what might be a developing romance that so far consists only of looking at each other when you think they're not looking and working up the courage to exchange line addresses "for the athletics festival support group" uh-huh.
- Akashic Records...: That title. Seems fun enough so far. Gonna need to see what the next episode or two is like to make a decision, though.
- Sakurada Reset: Goddamn, did this show kill a puppy? Seeing a surprising amount of hate for this show. Well, I was more... neutral to it, myself? It's intriguing, but I'm not sure if I'm into it.
- Armed Girls Machiavelliasm: I recall trying the manga and stopping very quickly into the first chapter. Not sure why, because this was actually really fun. I hope it's not just because it managed to not have the MC effortlessly roflstomp Onihime in two seconds, and actually had a decent fight.
- Saenai Heroine: Fanservicey. Pretty enjoyable, though the really good stuff will come in the series proper.
- Love Tyrant: This was really hilarious, and I loved every moment of it. Except the part where they had to go and ruin the yuri with sibling incest. Sigh.
- Clockwork Planet: Was really looking forward to this, given how enjoyable the manga is. The quality was very... questionable. At least Ryu ZU is still great.
Here's my take on things so far.
Granblue Fantasy: Having played the game for months, I was really excited for this, and I'm still excited. I can't say how it comes off for someone who hasn't already experienced the story, but I quite enjoyed it. I was worried about the art style at first, but the animation is very dynamic to make up for it. My only gripes are minor, I-would-have-done-it-this-way ones (except that they should have gone with the female main character).
Royal Tutor Heine: I went into this expecting a fairly standard otome/yaoi setup, which was pretty much immediately dashed seeing how little Haine (the character) conforms to the stereotypes you'd expect. The Princes are definitely the allure, but Haine's dry commentary made the first episode for me. I'll be following this one for at least a few more episodes.
Clockwork Planet: I picked up the manga of this a few days ago to check it out before the anime, and while I was pleasantly surprised by the manga (decently interesting setting, if pretty standard characters so far), the anime was pretty QUALITY, and added in a few fanservice scenes that didn't need to exist. Dropped, though I may keep up the manga.
Hinako Note: Bog-standard Cute Girls Doing Cute Things, with even more outlandish Quirkiness to try to set it apart, and mostly failing. I don't think I'll expect anything grand from this show, but it's cute enough to turn on and half-watch while eating or something.
Akashic Records: What a disappointment. The description I read made it sound something like Great Teacher Onizuka or something - that sort of Inspirational Teacher filtered through anime thing - and what I got was an Infinite Stratos/Asterisk War/Failed Knight clone with the least likeable "protagonist" since the last time they recycled this crap, blatant fanservice insets to keep the viewers' attention spans from wandering, and the typical romance between the creepy loser and the model student being made even worse by the fact that this time it's a teacher. Dropkicked out my window.
It's been fun.Re Creators Ep 1: The silver haired woman calling Japan "The land of the gods" reminds me of Angelus saying the same thing of Tokyo in Drakengard ending E.
Watch SymphogearHinako Note is pretty bland, aside from the OP and ED. Like, even by CGDCT standards
Re:Creators is somehow even more chuuni than I thought it would be. Quite entertaining, but I absolutely can't take it seriously
Bahamut: Pretty good on it's own merits, but I'm a bit worried since it seems to be taking a more serious tone, and the first season kind of fell apart when it tried that
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Its a popular thing, usually accompanied by Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe.
SMT works usually use it.

I know that Angry Anime Bitches covers some kids anime if not all of them. But yeah the only anime review sites I really trust are them Random Curiosity.