An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Category: Anime Reviews

Magic and Mayhem – Witch Craft Works Spoiler Review

I love anime witches – Whether they’re in comfy stories like Kiki’s Delivery Service or Flying Witch or more adventurous affairs like Little Witch Academia, I just think they’re nifty, especially around this time of year. Usually cute girls (though you do get boy witches and older witches sometimes), and always with the mystical powers and big pointy hats, they show up most often in Urban Fantasy settings, whether out in the open or keeping their powers secret from the world. Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches didn’t really live up to the “Witch” concept, which I don’t hold against it, but for a hefty serving of witchy goodness, I’m going to take a look at Witch Craft Works.

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Sealed with a Kiss – Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches Spoiler Review

What if I told you there was an anime where teenagers have to end up kissing each other to use magical powers, and that the first such power revealed was body swapping? You’d probably think, as I thought, that it would likely be awkward as heck, and even more likely neither funny nor charming. Well, that’s the premise of Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, and I’m pleased to say that it’s at least a little bit funny and charming, and not as awkward as one would fear.

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Welcome to Chaos – Dorohedoro Spoiler Review

In the midst of a vicious battle, taking place in what looks to be the back alley of a dingy industrial/modern city, a big lizard man clamps his jaws down over the head of some kind of masked sorcerer. The man in the mystic space inside the lizard guy’s mouth appears before the dazed and confused magic-user and declares, dramatically, “You’re not the one.”

The lizard guy extracts his foe and asks what the man in his mouth says, which the magician reports. Since it seems that magician is useless, the lizard guy slices him to bloody ribbons. The sorcerer’s severed hand shoots a dart of black smoke which conjures a door through which his partner escapes and we then follow the lizard guy, Caiman, and his friend and helper in this endeavor, Nikaido, who appear to be our main characters.

You probably have quite a few questions at this point. But that’s the very first scene of Dorohedoro, and if you weren’t already familiar with that fact, I think I’m doing you a favor by throwing you into the deep end as suddenly as the show.

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The Ecchi We’ve All Been Waiting For – Trinity Seven Spoiler Review

So, the “School for supers” archetype that we’ve been looking at this month has a few common elements. For one, the vast majority of them (including shows of the type I’ve looked at before, such as Hundred) have some degree of Harem elements. In a lot of ways, it’s very similar to what you see in the Isekai genre, where the same basic principles that are known to work are remixed in new ways with different trappings. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but in the end they develop a long set of expectations and turn out a lot of crowd-pleasing junk food, a good few generally disliked flops, and at least a couple gems at various stages in the genre’s popularity life-cycle.

One of the ways in which these shows distinct themselves from others of their type (if they’re smart enough to do that) is to focus on a different element of the formula. For Trinity Seven, the Harem and Ecchi elements that appear in other “Battle School” affairs are turned up to eleven. I said that Anti-Magic Academy worked better as a Harem show than it did as an action show, but its ambition was still firmly a hybrid, and given the dark tone and feel probably leaned more towards the weaker action side. Trinity Seven, by contrast, is all about that steamy Harem goodness, with some action and drama thrown in for good measure.

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Darker and Grittier Battle Harem – Anti-Magic Academy Spoiler Review

Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon is the story of Takeru Kusanagi and his misfit friends, a team of trainee witch hunters who may not assess well, but who end up thrown into harrowing situations where they can prove themselves. They’re students at the titular academy, where they learn and apply techniques to fight witches, people who use magic to threaten humanity. It’s a sometimes bizarre and usually dark take on the super-power battle-school scenario with a hearty side-helping of Harem elements. In some ways, there’s fairly little to talk about, while in others it’s absolutely worth a lengthy analysis, if for no other reason than to pick apart the underlying structure of its genre, and how its elements blend or don’t.

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Yes, I know – RWBY (Seasons 1-3/Beacon Arc) Spoiler Review

Many of you may be thinking something very particular right now. Specifically, something along the lines of “Wait, RWBY’s not an anime, it’s made in Texas!” And you’re right. By the technical definition used in the West of “Anime” being Japanese Animation, RWBY is not an Anime. However, even if you don’t take into account the massive amounts of merch and even the dedicated cosplay gathering for RWBY that would have been found at Anime Expo (in 2019), it’s undeniable that it’s appealing to a crowd that has a huge overlap with anime fans… and anyway, this is my blog, and I’m making up the rules for what I can or can’t write about. I’ll try to not bend the idea too often, but I think one moment to talk about the first few seasons of RWBY can be forgiven.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in.

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Undead Robot Yandere – Unbreakable Machine-Doll Spoiler Review

It’s September, and you know what that means! It’s Back to School time! … er, at least it’s time for going back to school in Anime land (though for the same year) and other media, where schools neither obnoxiously start in August nor have the looming threat of a pandemic modifying their opening plans. In any case, I’ll be looking at some shows with school settings and themes this month. But, it won’t just be any schools: rather, I’d like to take a look at schools for superpowers, fighting, or otherwise protagonist badassery. And while I have a wealth of options, I might as well start with the Walpurgis Academy of Machinart and the show it appears in, Unbreakable Machine-Doll.

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A Watchable Genius in War – Alderamin on the Sky Spoiler Review.

I’ve talked, previously, most notably in my review of Guilty Crown (And the Audio Commentaries) about the difficulty of having a genius character, particularly a genius with superior tactical and planning skills germane to the story they’re in, in a major protagonist role. However, despite the difficulties, it is actually possible to have a schemer character be well-written, effective, and not bring the show down around them. I submit as evidence Ikta Solork, and Alderamin on the Sky.

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The Color of Pain – Black★Rock Shooter Spoiler Review

It’s going to be hard to talk about Black★Rock Shooter without first addressing what this even is.

Like the Mekakucity Actors and the Kagerou Project as a whole, Black★Rock Shooter is a multimedia franchise with its roots fairly deep in Vocaloid music. In this case, though, the first thing was actually just a piece of art, depicting the character Black Rock Shooter (You don’t pronounce the star, so I’m dropping it when referring to the character), which quickly inspired a vocaloid song that the artist collaborated to create the video for. Because its absolute base is much more nebulous, different Black★Rock Shooter properties, unlike different KagePro properties, can have not just meaty differences but entirely different premises and concepts. Because of that, I need to specify that I’m speaking only about the 8-episode television Anime.

That out of the way, let’s dive in.

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When I’d Rather be Reading a Card Game Tie-In Novel from the 90’s… – Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary Spoiler Review

A strange title, I know, but I’ll get to it. First, it’s time to take a look at Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary itself. Funnily enough, it’s also based on a game, one out of a massive series of RPGs. But don’t worry if you’ve never heard of the Xuan Yuan Sword series or the particular game this show is “based on”. I hadn’t, and from what I’ve looked up about it after the fact it doesn’t really seem to have much in common with what’s on the screen.

Set in a fantasy world that resembles a mythical version of ancient China, Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary follows a trio of characters who had their village destroyed by the burgeoning Taibai empire. Sisters Yin and Ning escaped, though the younger sister, Ning, lost her arms in the process. Meanwhile, Zhao, a boy that both sisters had a crush on and who had deep feelings for Yin himself, was taken by the Imperial forces to serve as a slave. Zhao assumes he’s the only survivor of his people, and the sisters similarly think they’re alone and that Zhao was killed like the rest. Years later, exceptional circumstances drag the three back together on opposite sides of a major conflict.

Sounds like the recipe for some high drama, doesn’t it? But even the best recipe can fail if the execution is botched, and the execution in Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary is… a problem, to say the least.

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