An American Writer's Thoughts on Japanese Animation

Controversial (?) Gateway Cyberpunk – Beatless Spoiler Review

It happens every now and then that I sit down to watch an anime expecting it to be bad. It’s not often; Like most people, I like to watch good shows when I can. But now and then something can be “So bad it’s good” or mediocre Junk Food, and sometimes that’s what you need. As a reviewer, every so often I need to dive into the world of the terrible so I can analyze how and where it doesn’t work, and as a writer it’s sometimes inspiring to consume bad media because you can look at it and say “Wow. I could do better.” I can stumble on shows I find to be bad without going looking, but when you’re looking for trouble like this, you’re very likely to find it. The masses usually seem kind of easily pleased, so when the consensus isn’t happy you probably won’t be either.

But now and again, there’s a show that seems to have slipped through the cracks, that has a general consensus as to its lack of quality but then on watching it you (or at least I) ultimately enjoy. Most of the time there is some glaring flaw that you can look at and say “Okay, I wasn’t totally put off by this, but I can see why people in general were.” It’s scarce as hens’ teeth to look at something with a poor overall rating and say “Why didn’t people like this?”.

Enter Beatless, an intelligent and accessible Cyberpunk anime with a lousy reputation that I don’t think it deserves in the least. I’m going to take a look at it today, and try to figure out why so many people seemed to hate this show so much.

Strap yourselves in, this is going to be a long one.

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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 5

After the bizarre out-of-body experience that was last episode, we get something very much different and, in my opinion, the show’s strongest episode so far in terms of character.

We start by introducing a new character, “Big Sis” Amatsuka, a senior Valkyrie who Miko seems to be very fond of. Azu and Sono, less so. Along with her fighter squad, she’s an ace who goes to wherever the fighting is the toughest… which makes her appearance at Tateyama base both odd and somewhat worrying.

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A Lesson in Stakes and Tension – The Promised Neverland Spoiler Review

This week, it bears reminding everyone that what I write are full spoiler reviews. I’m willing to go over every movement in the plot, in order to analyze what makes it good or bad. Usually I think putting the word “Spoiler” in the review title is enough, but when it comes to The Promised Neverland , I feel like there needs to be a more certain and bold message: If you aren’t sure you want spoilers for this show, you are in the wrong place. It’s worth watching and because of its nature it’s probably worth watching unspoiled if you are at all the kind of person who minds spoilers. The review and analysis will still be here when you get back.

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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 4

Well, I will give the show this – it did not do what I expected it to do here. With a title of “Tateyama Castle Swimsuit Skirmish!” you might be expecting a typical beach episode where we get some lame excuse to show off the girls in their bikins which will look nice but ultimately just make a select group of fan artists (and their fans) very happy or provide an alternate figure if the show takes off enough to get statuette merch. Simple, right? It’s pretty much just an obligatory thing that into every show a little beach episode must fall.

What we got from Warlords of Sigrdrifa was much stranger, a sudden dive into a surreal “what the hell am I even watching?” sequence that’s almost sure to be the show’s Big Lipped Alligator Moment.

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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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Seasonal Selection – Warlords of Sigrdrifa Episode 3

So the expectation from last time was pretty much “Pillars show up, fight them off, character building on the side, if there’s time”. This time, though, we get a downtime episode, more or less, where we see more of these characters and how they fit into their world. This is one of the bit places where the show will determine whether it soars or stumbles, so how does our first outing go?

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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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