Reviews

Yeah, the title is about all I can say about it. I'm not at all a fan of shonen anime. Slice of life, psychological horror, and isekai are my usual jams. Shonen is in fact my least liked genre. But this was just... great. Amazing music, even more amazing animation, and just a great story with engaging characters. Not what I was expecting when my girlfriend asked me to watch a Dragon Ball movie with her, that's for sure. O_O.

Senryuu Girl is truly a gem that deserves more recognition. Its two main characters are an adorable girl who can never manage to speak out and hence communicates through written haiku, and a soft-hearted young man who unfortunately enough always comes across as an aggressive thug. Is the plot that original? Not at all. Boy and girl interact in various cute ways - it's been done before, and it will be done again. But Senryuu Girl sticks out in how is does it. It uses an entire literary genre as the focal point for its story, and not once does it feel contrived or like it's trying to maintain a shtick just for sticking out. It's a lovely story about communication and how we can do better (a point that all of its side characters tie in to in some way as well), and not once does it take itself too seriously. Its funny, often surprisingly self-aware humor always made me smile, and it managed to do so in a half-length anime even.

Purely bite-sized adorableness that never overstays its welcome and leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy, Senryuu Girl deserves your time. <3

"A gate to another world opens, and..."

Anime that start out like this are a dime a dozen these days, and this one starts out exactly the same. However, it soon takes that familiar start and does its own thing with it. What would *really* happen when the world discovers a gate to another world? Would politicians want to make peace with these new people, or would they want to scavenge this new world's resources? Would everyone welcome the newcomers to their respective worlds with open arms, or would there be fear and distrust?

If you were to just judge Gate by some random screencaps, you would be hard-pressed to tell it apart from any other anime like it. A lot of the tropes it uses have been done a million times before. Cute, big-breasted girls fawning over well-intentioned, cool-looking guys. Fantasy creatures galore. Wonder at the differences in their respective worlds.

But Gate takes a much more realistic approach to what would happen if something like this were to occur for real, and that's why I'm okay giving it a 7. It's still tropey as hell, but it manages to stand out from the rest because of its realism.

Do I recommend you watch it? It's only 2 seasons for now, and there's a lot of stuff out there that is better, but if you're wanting to watch something isekai-ish that is not just the same thing repeated for the 1000th time, Gate is for you.

Wholesome, soothing, and cute are the three words that best sum up Laid-Back Camp / Yuru Camp.

This is the ultimate anime to watch when you are having a sucky day and need something to feel better. Is it some grand saga that will be remembered for generations to come? No. But it doesn't need to be. It is gorgeous nature scenery, a dreamy musical score that will make you forget whatever is troubling you, and cute camping. That is all that it is, and that is all that it needs to be. It doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not, but why would it? If you go into this you'll know what you're in for in the first few minutes. Imagine the most calming ASMR video you know, that special one that always makes you feel better; Now imagine what it would be like as an anime. That is what this is all about.

Happy Sugar Life is one of those shows that has to be seen in order to be believed. In an era where 'horror' has become more and more synonymous with jump scares, gore, and good visual effects, Happy Sugar Life instead chooses to focus on the horror that human beings can inflict on each other. There are plenty of extremely good horror anime out there, such as Berserk, Madoka Magica, and Goblin Slayer, to name but a few. However, we can watch those and not be all that scared because we know they aren't real. There are degrees of separation. However, watching Happy Sugar Life makes one squirm because it is uncomfortably realistic, albeit exaggerated. The characters could be people you meet in real life. The situations are things that could happen to any one of us with enough bad luck. And it *doesn't* feature tons of blood, it *doesn't* feature close-ups of brutal killings, none of that stuff. Instead, most of the time it chooses to cut away from the most brutal moments, and leaves the visual details of what it was that happened up to the darkest corners of our minds. Happy Sugar Life is one of the most haunting anime to have come along in a long time, and watching it will leave you with an extremely uncomfortable feeling in the pit of your stomach... but I still highly recommend that you do!