Past Seasons

I watched two movies over the past week: Promare and Redline

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The animation and art style of Gurren Lagann and Kill la Kill aren’t my cup of tea, but when it gets shortened into a movie - Promare - it’s palatable for me.

I’d say Promare’s animation is very dynamic, very energetic, but not overdone. Story-wise, it is yet another Gundam-like with themes of genocide / discrimination, mechs and mild LGTBQ+. Personally, my favourite thing from the movie is its catchy soundtracks, especially Kakusei by Superfly. Apparently some verses are gibberish, but given that I don’t understand Japanese, it’s all the same to me.

I also like

Promare spoiler

how their semi-final mech is named Deus ex Machina.

Overall, I’d say it’s pretty good. My only complaints are that:

1. the rest of the firefighting team got kind of sidelined (but I guess that’s inevitable with a short runtime)
2. Kray and his minions did not face any consequences for the death and suffering of the Burnish

I would give it a solid 8 / 10

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I’ve seen somewhere before that Redline is another Gundam-like but with cars instead of mechs, which is probably why I added it to my watchlist. I can definitely see the similarities, though it’s a stretch to consider it Gundam-like as it is.

My main gripe with the movie is that we didn’t get more world-building and see more of the politics, but that’s probably because of the short runtime too.

My secondary gripe is that the male and female leads are conventionally attractive, but all the other characters aren’t even human.

Otherwise, the story is okay. The story and characters feel kind of shallow, so I’m guessing its target demographic is shounen (but there was some nudity, so I’m not too sure).

Given that it is well-produced, I’m giving it a 7 / 10

Current Season

Dropped

Due to a lack of time, I dropped the following anime:

• I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I’ll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time
• I Left My A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths!
• From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!

They aren’t bad. In fact, they are decent IMO, which why I stuck around as long as I did. Unfortunately, they don’t really offer anything unique enough to sustain my attention.

At Risk

Sakamoto Days - It is decent, but that’s all. The latest arc looks promising though. Looks like we get to see Shin’s backstory

Zenshu - I was this close to dropping it, but the latest episode saved it. We finally get some backstory on Natsuko instead of their usual shenanigans with the Voids.

Continuing

Re:Zero Season 3 - I enjoy watching suspense shows without the suspense, so I’ll be saving this for later (or maybe watch one short arc at a time).

Apothecary Diaries Season 2 - Just like with Re:Zero, I’d rather not wait in suspense. Also, it doesn’t help that I’ve read ahead of the manga and know how the upcoming mysteries get resolved.

100 Girlfriends Season 2 - This one is hard-carrying the season for me. There is a serious lack of over-the-top comedies like Konosuba and Cautious Hero, but thankfully 100 GF is here to fill the gap. Perhaps it’s time I start on Gintama…