Board 8 > Robazoid Ranks 275 Anime and Top 100 Anime Characters 2 (Average and beyond)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I unfortunately had something come up today, so I was unable to do anymore write-ups. I hate to do this, but I'll do 119 and 118 tomorrow and then continue from there. I think I've been keeping a pretty good pace, but there are bound to be a few scheduling stumbles in a project as big as this!

Thanks as always for the comments, everyone. Sorry for only posting one today.

I'm actually going to need to take today off too. Finishing stuff up took longer than I expected it would today. I could do the write-ups now, but my concern is mostly that I'd planned to watch two seasons in what's tentatively ranked 117th this weekend and I didn't have time to watch any. I need tonight and tomorrow night to finish that up. I apologize again.

take your time. pace has been awesome.

(I apologize again for taking the weekend off. I'll try to put together a schedule for myself so that doesn't happen again)

119. This Art Club Has a Problem
https://myanimelist.net/anime/31952/Kono_Bijutsubu_ni_wa_Mondai_ga_Aru
Summer 2016 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.20/10
Best Character: Collette

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYottwTJt4

Premise: Usami Mizuki is the only member of her schools art club to take things seriously. Everyone else either sleeps through it, draws nothing but waifus, or doesn't even show up!

The Good: This Art Club Has a Problem is a comedy anime focused on their club activities, or lack thereof. It has the "normal" person, Usami, who acts as a foil to the crazier members while still having her own quirks. The club president only cares about sleeping, and Uchimaki is an amazing artist but he only draws 2D waifus. Collette was my favorite character for her fun personality and for always getting into one thing or another. She reminded me a lot of Dekomori from Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions, though that might be because they have the same voice actress. In any case, I remember this anime being a solid comedy where the various characters played off of each other well.

The Bad: While it's definitely solid, This Art Club Has a Problem lacked anything to elevate it into my favorites. I don't recall anyone being terrible or any big moments I didn't like. With the exception of Collette, who was usually great, everyone in this and the various jokes between them were merely fine.

Overall: This Art Club Has a Problem is a fun club-based comedy anime where the zany characters have fun dynamics. It uses art-related activities for some unique situations or jokes, but since most of them are slackers it often has situations entirely unrelated to art. Never knowing what to expect helps keep things fresh. Collette was also a standout character.

An okay show I gave a 6 to and remember very little about. I think I didn't care much for the romantic stuff between the main two...?

I mostly remember the romance stuff being fodder for jokes. Like Usami wants his attention but he only cares about 2D girls lol. I'll admit I don't remember this one super well either outside of Collette.

It's a sweet manga, I like it. Also maybe good if you're a fan of Chisato and Takina... as the character designer for Lycoris Recoil is the mangaka.

The character designs are one of the weaker parts of LycoReco IMO. The uniform designs are blah and neither of the two leads look that great.

Ok, I've taken a closer look at my ranking and moved some stuff around. As I discussed previously, Lost Song is moving higher, so a few things have shifted down a spot. There's also another anime I should've ranked slightly lower, which I'll do tomorrow. This is what the 6/10 tier will look like. I apologize for having to shuffle things around.

116- (Coming tomorrow)
117- (Coming tomorrow)
118- (Coming later today)
119- This Art Club Has a Problem
120- Nyarko-san: Another Crawling Chaos
121- (Coming tomorrow)
122- Actually, I Am
123- Masamune-kun's Revenge (93- Makabe Masamune)
124- My Love Story
125- Tsurezure Children
126- Toradora
127- Non Non Biyori (99- Miyauchi Renge)
128- Healer Girl
129- Carole & Tuesday
130- D4DJ: First Mix

118. Asobi Asobase -workshop of fun-
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37171/Asobi_Asobase
Summer 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 8.19/10
Best Character: Honda Hanako

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX6R_TTnPEA

Premise: Three students, Honda Hanako, Nomura Kasumi, and Olivia, often hang out at school. They play various games together, among other activities, and sometimes things get a little out of control.

The Good: Asobi Asobase is an over-the-top comedy anime. I still remember how neat it was going into this expecting one type of show (I mean, look at how light and fluffy the OP is) only for it to be something else entirely. All three of the main girls are fun in different ways. They often goad each other into doing stupid things, and their games regularly go too far. The humor is often surreal, sometimes gross, but almost always at least a little bit funny.

The Bad: I remember that most people enjoyed Asobi Asobase a lot more than me. I liked the style of humor at least enough to not put this in the 4/10s with the other "it was good but just not for me" shows. I still wouldn't call this my favorite thing. I enjoyed how all three girls had their own quirks, but none of them had much depth. Other than a few standout gags, there isn't anything here to elevate this into a higher ranking.

Overall: Asobi Asobase was a fun comedy and I acknowledge its quality. The style of humor that it used just isn't my favorite thing. It was too over-the-top, and none of the characters stood out enough from each other. Still, I remember that most people thought it was the funniest anime of 2018, so I'm probably an outlier in only thinking it was fine.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
121: This anime was summoned, but it isn't the chosen one.
117: This anime wasnt funny enough to stay in until the end.
116: This anime isn't as perfect as it appears to be.

(This 117 isn't the same one as what I referenced in post 202. That one got shuffled quite a bit higher!)

For what it's worth I think Asobi Asobase was somewhat more popular in the anime thread here than it was with the anime community as a whole. (Apparently it has an 8.19 on MAL though so maybe I'm actually wrong there?)

Man I loved this show though. Probably the most I've laughed at any anime.

Asobi Asobase so good

Asobi Asobase vs the one I ranked one spot ahead of it will be a good window into my sense of humor. Asobi feels like the absolute peak of a certain kind of humor. 117 is a mediocre example of a different kind of humor but I like it more.

121: The Executioner and Her Way of Life? Rewatching that after three months seems crazy though...
117: Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!?
116: If only it was Kare Kano...

121 isn't one I rewatched, just one that was ranked slightly too high so I'm shifting it down now while I'm moving things around anyway. I will strive to not change anything in the ranking again (other than finalizing airing anime once they all finish and at the very end when I add in recommendations)

121 could also be The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent. I remember that being the premise, but I only watched the first episode.

121. The Saints Magic Power is Omnipotent
https://myanimelist.net/anime/42826/Seijo_no_Maryoku_wa_Bannou_Desu
Spring 2021 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.26/10
Best Character: Takanashi Sei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NhSMlyoVNM
(I couldnt find the OP without a bunch of blurring or something over the video)

Premise: Takanashi Sei gets summoned to a fantasy world in need of a prophesized hero. The chosen one is actually another girl summoned at the same time, however, which leaves Sei to find her own path by becoming an herbalist.

The Good: The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent is an isekai with elements of slice-of-life, fantasy action, and romance. I'm obviously not a huge isekai fan, and I'll go into that below, but I still enjoyed a lot of things in this. Sei is a good character. She reacts to being summoned and then ignored with the bewildered indignation the situation deserves. It's fun watching her learn about the world and find a place within it. I'm also a sucker for herbalists and potion crafting, which is the profession she settles on. Something about collecting ingredients and mixing them together is inherently interesting to me. The fact that the surrounding woods have a worsening monster infestation that needs to be cleared out is a good driving conflict.

The Bad: My main problem with this is right in the title. Her magic power is omnipotent. Having infinite power right from the start really cheapens Sei's accomplishments. I also thought the romance in this was pretty hollow. Albert is a chivalrous knight who falls for Sei right away and he's perfect. Basically, this anime has lots of wish fulfillment and power fantasy aspects that weren't my favorite thing.

Overall: The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent is one of the better isekai I've seen. It still falls into a few pitfalls typical in the genre, particularly making the main character way too powerful right away. I just really love potion crafting, and the monster conflict was solid with some decent action scenes. Sei was also a good character, so this anime mostly managed to win me over.

Sei is fun, yeah. Hope S2 is good. I was pretty surprised when she got to have a single love interest than a harem (which is a good thing).

They aren't love interests, but Sei still has lots of cute supportive boys who hang around her! I was definitely glad it never became a harem because early on I expected it to.

117. Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Laughing 'til You Cry
https://myanimelist.net/anime/50760/Teppen
Summer 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 6.59/10
Best Character: Hokuto Chihori

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWrtx1O2UHY

Premise: The Teppen Grand Prix is a famous comedy competition, and several groups of three girls have qualified for it. Now they all live together in a dorm practicing their routines.

The Good: Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the only anime with more exclamation marks than Keijo!!!!!!!!) Is a comedy anime, but not the kind it advertised itself as. The show is supposedly about a three-man form of comedy called manzai (basically a straight man reacts to crazy stuff the others say), but in my opinion Teppen isn't about that. There are only a handful of times where they perform onstage. The majority of Teppen is just the antics of a bunch of zany girls living together. I loved how stupid, random, and over-the-top some of the situations became. The second episode has one group think someone at the dorm is an assassin, and their efforts to figure out who creates a growing chain of misunderstandings that was hilarious to behold. Another episode had two girls try to let people know it was their birthday without being obvious about it, and their methods quickly escalated into beautiful absurdity. Another episode had one group stuck in a time loop for some reason. Teppen confused me early on when I was expecting it to be more focused on manzai. Once I realized it was actually about random comedy, I really fell in love with it. I liked pretty much everyone, but my favorite group was the one with a literal alien in it.

The Bad: There are fifteen girls and a few of them don't get much characterization. A lot of jokes relied on knowledge of the regional stereotypes of where the groups come from. Since I still can't recognize a Kansai dialect no matter how many times various anime have pointed out a character as having one, most of those regional jokes fell flat. Otherwise, while I enjoyed Teppen's stupid, random humor, it wasnt the best example of that style that I've seen. It was good at it, not great.

Overall: Teppen was a fun comedy, though some of the jokes fell flat and some of the girls weren't developed much. I greatly enjoyed its random style of humor. Another thing I wanted to mention about Teppen is the voice cast. It's filled with girls who also voice characters in Love Live, BanG Dream, Revue Starlight... just a bunch of talented VAs who I had a fun time recognizing. Any anime where Terakawa Aimi (voice of Kasumi in BanG Dream) randomly breaks into song is worth at least a 6/10 overall.

Mobilezoid posted...

The second episode has one group think someone at the dorm is an assassin, and their efforts to figure out who creates a growing chain of misunderstandings that was hilarious to behold

Was that the episode they skipped. I saw they were airing it, but I'd dropped it by then. I actually really liked the OP, though.

SockoressKnight posted...

Was that the episode they skipped.

Yeah, they skipped that one initially for obvious reasons after the Abe assassination. Episode two was probably my favorite individual episode, so I'm glad they aired it eventually.

116. Himouto! Umaru-chan
https://myanimelist.net/anime/28825/Himouto_Umaru-chan
Summer 2015 (12 episodes), Fall 2017 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.12/10 S1, 7.33/10 S2
Best Character: Tachibana Sylphie Sylphinford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC04OBq_aVk

Premise: Doma Umaru maintains a reputation as a perfect student at school. At home with her brother Taihei, however, she transforms into a lazy, needy slob!

The Good: Himouto is a comedy about the titular Umaru-chan. She strives to seem perfect everywhere except at home. Around her beleaguered older brother, she throws on a hamster hoodie and literally shrinks into a slobby gremlin who only cares about snacks, gaming, and being lazy. It's a basic premise for a comedy, but the execution leads to a lot of funny jokes. Umaru and Taihei get most of the focus, and they're fine. However, the side characters are where Himouto really shines. There's Ebina Nana, a shy girl with a crush on Taihei and who is absolutely adorable. My favorite is still Sylphie, the self-declared rival of Umaru who strives to beat her at anything and everything. Himouto is at its best when it's focusing on the side characters.

The Bad: I don't dislike Umaru, but she's right on the cusp of being a bit too much for me. I'm glad Taihei is around her most of the time because otherwise the slobby/lazy jokes would get really old. The bits where one of her friends shows up and she needs to pretend to be perfect are my favorite parts (also because the side characters are great). When it's just Umaru alone, the humor is kind of mediocre.

Overall: Himouto! Umaru-chan is a decent comedy with a serviceable main duo and some excellent side characters. Umaru being lazy is fine as a premise, but those jokes and scenarios weren't my favorite thing. I mostly enjoyed this because of the different dynamics the side characters brought to the table.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
115: This anime has strayed from the path of godliness and become a slobby failure.
C47: This character had their bread stolen by a dog.
114: This anime thinks that drinking blood is gross.

satania is best

Mobilezoid posted...

Premise: Takanashi Sei gets summoned to a fantasy world in need of a prophesized hero. The chosen one is actually another girl summoned at the same time, however, which leaves Sei to find her own path by becoming an herbalist.

what

the entire point is that she is the chosen one but got ignored because the other girl was prettier

Watched the first ep of Umaru and dropped it because I didn't like the gremlin mode stuff, whoops.

I'm assuming I was tagged because Umaru-chan was mentioned. Which really begs the question how in the hell does anyone remember the fact that I liked Umaru-chan.

Also I agree with most everything in the write up, especially about the side characters being the best part of the show. But I also seem to be in the rare minority who didn't find Umaru herself to be annoying at all, which is probably why I enjoyed it more than the average.

umaru
maria

th3l3fty posted...

what

the entire point is that she is the chosen one but got ignored because the other girl was prettier

It becomes clear pretty early on that Sei is the Saint, but the premise early on is that she was summoned by mistake and they think the other girl is the chosen one so I went with that. I don't think it's 100% confirmed Sei is the Saint until like halfway through the season.

I mean

the title

The MAL description has a similar line

"Needing only one holy maiden, the prince declares the other girl as the Saint, leaving Sei to her own devices."

Whether Sei winds up being the chosen one or not, initially they don't think she is so my premise summary is valid imho

i think not spoiling something that's revealed in the first season is valid. attack on titan's early S1 "twist" caught me off guard

115. Gabriel Dropout
https://myanimelist.net/anime/33731/Gabriel_DropOut
Winter 2017 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.45/10
Best Character: Kurumizawa McDowell Satania Satanichia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfiU6b8LZb0

Premise: Tenma White Gabriel was the top angel in her class, at least until she went to attend high school on Earth. Now she's addicted to video games and has turned into a lazy slob.

The Good: Gabriel Dropout is a comedy about two angels and two demons who are attending high school together on Earth. All four have their good moments, but overall I like the demons way more. Satania is amazing, as I'll cover in her write-up below. She's basically a chunibyo (even though she really is a demon) and a lot of great jokes come from her unwarranted overconfidence. Vigne is also good. Despite being a demon, she struggles to do anything even slightly bad. It's a nice contrast compared to the two who are supposed to be angels. It's fun when the four of them are together and their personalities are bouncing off each other.

The Bad: I don't dislike Gabriel and Raphiel, but they're definitely the weak links in the cast for me. Gabriel is a grumpy, gaming-addicted slob, and she's proud of that so she never changes and a lot of her jokes feel samey. Raphiel likes tormenting Satania for her own amusement, but those scenes are mostly fun because of Satania. I also never felt like Raphiel actually added much. Satania was perfectly capable of failing in a humorous way all on her own without any outside help. If anything, the Raphiel scenes were a bit too meanspirited for me.

Overall: Gabriel Dropout is a solid comedy, and all four main characters add something to the dynamic. Satania is still easily the best. When I was watching it, I remember thinking that it would be great if the entire anime was about Satania... and then, a few years later, The Great Jahy came out and was basically that. Jahy and Satania even have the same voice actress! When I rewatched Gabriel Dropout recently, I couldn't help but feel that it has been made redundant. The Great Jahy had more of everything I loved from this without any of the parts I found mediocre. Having said that, Gabriel Dropout is still worth watching for Satania alone.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/6/1/AAcDcBAADuZN.jpg

CHARACTER: Kurumizawa McDowell Satania Satanichia (Gabriel Dropout)
https://myanimelist.net/character/143076/Satanichia_Kurumizawa_McDowell
Voiced by: Oozora Naomi
TOP 100 RANK: 47th

VIDEO LINK (short, no real spoilers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiW3hGTalG8

SPOILERS FOR GABRIEL DROPOUT

Satania is introduced proudly announcing to her teacher that she deliberately didn't do her homework, and that she isn't sorry for it. Then she lets loose her iconic demonic laugh... right up to the scene transition where she's crying in the hall because she got in trouble. Basically, I fell in love with Satania right away. She acts like she's evil incarnate, like she's destined to become the ruler of hell and all must bow before her superiority. In reality, she's barely any better at being bad than the good girl Vigne. In one episode where Vigne is trying to be more demonic by *gasp* leaving her ribbon loose, Satania is literally the only one to notice and compliment her on her wickedness because she's at about the same level.

Almost every great moment in Gabriel Dropout involved Satania. She bursts into each scene with her amazing laugh and delusions of grandeur, then usually gets hilariously bullied and brought down a few pegs. Nothing ever goes right for Satania. There's a fun running gag where a cute dog keeps stealing her melon bread. She's a frequent target for Raphiel's trolling. She can never get the best of Gabriel (the scene where she tries to shoot Gab with a magic bullet that will make her laugh for ten minutes is great for how easily Gab manages to turn the tables and shoot Satania with it instead). Vigne seems to tolerate Satania more out of pity than actually enjoying her friendship. Satania never lets anything get her down for long, however. She always bounces back by the next scene, which usually leads to more hilarious suffering. I like the scene where Gab and Vigne realize Satania has been eating lunch alone in a secluded corner of the school. For all her bombastic speeches towards her own greatness, Satania on some level seems aware of her shortcomings.

All of that is enough to make her a great character, but there are two other things that elevate her for me. While the angels have Tapris and later Gabriel's sisters as examples of a typical angel (meaning, one that isn't a troll or a slob), the demons only have Vigne, whose whole gimmick is that she's a bad demon, and Satania. That's why I love the scene with Satania's family when she's visiting hell. Her parents are exactly like her, drinking blood in a lavish dining room and laughing maniacally about their evil daughter's progress towards becoming lord of the underworld. Meanwhile, her younger brother is cringing because the blood is tomato juice, most of the lavish dining room is an optical illusion painted onto the wall of the tiny room, and their family runs a bakery and will never be lords of anything. That scene provides some wonderful perspective into Satania's character and confirms without any doubt that Satania isn't a typical demon either. She just enjoys pretending to be one.

I also liked the arc she has with the bread-stealing dog. It torments her for most of the season, showing up in even the most ridiculous places as if put there by the universe to prevent Satania from having any joy (in reality, it's implied Raphiel trained it). Finally the dog gets picked up by animal control and Satania will be free to enjoy her melon bread in peace. Only, she instead rescues the dog with zero hesitation after learning it might get put down. Satania justifies herself in her usual delusional way, that she wants to defeat her nemesis personally by making it her familiar. However, it's clear that she's actually just a good person deep down. When she breaks her melon bread in half, Satania gives the dog the bigger piece. I love Satania's chunibyo declarations about being the pinnacle of evil, future archdemon, destined ruler of the underworld... but I also love how, when it comes down to it, she's a good person. Of the four main characters in Gabriel Dropout, Satania gets the most character development by far. That, and the fact that she's always hilarious, is what makes her one of my favorite anime characters.

great writeup for satania, got me invested in a character whose anime i'll almost certainly never watch!

SeabassDebeste posted...

great writeup for satania, got me invested in a character whose anime i'll almost certainly never watch!

I feel like you've only seen one anime so far on the list (AoT, one of the few I didn't even finish!) so I'm glad you're enjoying following along even though you don't know most of them. I assumed when I started this project that no one would read or comment on anything unless they knew the anime, which would've left me talking to myself for a lot of them so I'm glad that's not the case.

GabDro is good, and Satania is the best. She gets a lot of hilarious scenes, though I think the show as a whole is better early on (I also think it's rather better than Jahy). Gabriel is fun too, but I was just okay with Vigne. Raphael was rarely funny imo.

114. Ms. vampire who lives in my neighborhood
https://myanimelist.net/anime/37579/Tonari_no_Kyuuketsuki-san
Fall 2018 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.09/10
Best Character: Sophie Twilight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIEkTPnZjeI

Premise: Amano Akari loves dolls, so she's thrilled when she meets Sophie Twilight, a friendly vampire with a doll-like appearance. The two move in together and slowly get to know one another.

The Good: Ms. vampire is a slice-of-life comedy about a young girl who moves in with an ageless vampire. Akari is infatuated with Sophie initially because she looks like a doll, but the two quickly form a deeper bond. This isn't a romance (though the yuri is a lot more explicit than it usually is in a cute girls anime, Akari straight-up hopes to marry Sophie someday), but a lot of the humor comes from Akari being obsessive while Sophie tries to keep her from going overboard. One of Akari's fantasies is to have her blood sucked, for example, but Sophie thinks that's gross and orders her blood online. There are lots of fun facts about vampires in this universe that Akari learns by living with one, as well as stories from Sophie's centuries of life. I also liked Akari's school friends.

The Bad: Around halfway through the season, another vampire, Elly, comes for a long visit. I didn't like Elly at all. She wasn't a bad character who ruined the anime or anything. By that point Akari and Sophie had a fun dynamic, and Elly simply got in the way of that. She also rarely contributed anything fun or meaningful, mostly she just wandered into a situation to make a comment as if to remind the viewer she was there too. Elly was such a drag on what was otherwise a cute and funny anime.

Overall: Ms. vampire is a fun comedy about a girl and a vampire living together. It's mostly just cute and nice to watch, but lots of parts also managed to be funny or heartwarming. Elly isn't great and she weighs down the second half a bit. This is still enjoyable throughout just for the Sophie/Akari interactions.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
113: This anime needs to find a new place to live.
112: This anime might be the last of its kind.
111: This anime is being watched by thousands of cameras.

That's a really high ranking for an anime that made me think 'that extremely mediocre manga I just read a week or two ago had an anime??' while I was making my MAL.

Sceptilesolar posted...

That's a really high ranking for an anime that made me think 'that extremely mediocre manga I just read a week or two ago had an anime??' while I was making my MAL.

What can I say, I like cute girls anime with supernatural twists. This honestly would've ranked a lot higher if not for Elly being boring.

Yeah, Vampire was extremely middling. The yuri was nice at least.

I feel bad that I haven't made more progress on recommendations, but thats partly because I'm working my way through some of the longer ones! I finished S1 of Kaiji today, hopefully I'll get through S2 soon.

Ms. Vampire is, in my view, pretty much the peak of "kinda fun to watch in the moment, but not actually good so it gets utterly forgotten about after it ends"

113. RPG Real Estate
https://myanimelist.net/anime/48363/RPG_Fudousan
Spring 2022 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 6.73/10
Best Character: Fa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAg6CKhUKxE

Premise: Kazairo Kotone is a young witch who moves to the capital and begins working for a business that helps people find homes. Together with her three coworkers, they strive to find the perfect place for everyone.

The Good: RPG Real Estate is a cute girls comedy set in a fantasy world. It's mostly lighthearted with the four characters getting one or two clients each episode who they take to various homes. It's stuff like a girl who wants to live with her pet griffon, a necromancer who wants a place with lots of spiritual energy, and a bunch of cats who want to rent out their hot spring rooms. I really enjoyed all of those standalone episodes. The big thing I look for in a cute girls show is a creative twist on familiar antics. Having new side characters show up every episode to visit new places always kept things fresh. Finding people a place where they can belong is also a nice way to have a few heartwarming moments. The main characters are mostly recognizable archetypes, but they were still decent. Fa, the young energetic girl who could talk to monsters, was easily my favorite. The side characters were usually good too, each contributing to the episode's humor.

The Bad: While most of RPG Real Estate is humorous house hunting with an emotional moment or two, there's also an overarching plotline about a dragon attacking towns that I didn't like. It felt like one of those cases where an otherwise lighthearted anime shoehorns in a super dramatic plotline when it isn't necessary. To its credit, RPG handled it better than most shows usually do (Heroines Run the Show from the same season had a similar overdramatic final arc that absolutely ruined the anime for me). Still, even though it was handled well, it still felt harshly out of place next to the tone of the rest of the show, and I'd have ranked this a lot higher if the dragon plotline were removed entirely.

Overall: RPG Real Estate has four girls with familiar archetypes (the tomboy who tries to be more girly, the one with a crush on the tomboy, etc). However, the new side characters every episode and the fun places they visit keeps things fresh and funny, often with a nice heartwarming moment or two along the way. I wasn't a fan of the overarching dramatic plotline, but it wasn't a big part of this until the end and it didn't ruin the anime for me. Most of RPG Real Estate is Fa running around being cute, so overall I enjoyed it quite a bit.

RPG Real Estate kinda disappointed me and could've been better I think, but it was still a pretty good show. Fa is certainly by far the best, and I loved when the MC fucking died. Rufuria was a very boring character.

MacArrowny posted...

Rufuria was a very boring character.

Well someone has to be the adult in the room.

112. Somali and the Forest Spirit
https://myanimelist.net/anime/39575/Somali_to_Mori_no_Kamisama
Winter 2020 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.83/10
Best Character: Golem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGqDymejNQU

Premise: Humans have been all but wiped out by the world's various monster races. Then a Golem begins protecting a human child named Somali, and he embarks on a journey to find other humans to leave her with.

The Good: Somali and the Forest Spirit mixes a few genres, including slice-of-life and drama. It's set in a fantasy world with lots of monster races, and a conflict in the recent past wiped out most of the humans. Golem, an emotionless construct meant to guard nature, decides to protect a small human child that he finds. Since his lifespan is nearing its end, Golem hopes to find other humans to leave Somali with before his time is up. Large parts of this anime are slice-of-life or heartwarming as the two go from place to place looking for information. Golem may be emotionless, but it's clear how much he's chosen to care about Somali despite that. And she quickly comes to view him as a father. It's cute watching them grow closer, it reminded me of Terminator 2. Of course, there are missteps along the way, and the danger of monsters realizing Somali is human and eating her is always there.

The more dramatic parts of the story weren't my favorite thing, but they were still handled well enough that it didn't bug me as much as it usually would. It was pretty over-the-top, for example, when monsters defended the genocide of the humans because humanity is always evil and can't peacefully coexist with anyone different. It's just such a heavy-handed thematic message being directly stated to the viewer, which I usually hate. I didn't mind it here, though, because to me it came across that the monsters were regurgitating justifications that had been passed down to them. The actual events were likely exaggerated by people hoping to look better, in addition to being further blurred by time. It was still heavy-handed, but in a way I found compelling and realistic (as opposed to just "humans bad, grr" which this could've easily turned into with lesser writing).

The Bad: My only real complaint is that the ending was kind of a letdown. It really felt like it was building to a conclusion that would've been definitive and perfect, but then it just... didn't. And now even the manga has been cancelled (last I checked anyway) so there will never be another season and I can't even look up the source material ending like I usually do. It wasnt a terrible ending or anything, but it was so close to being amazing that I felt really disappointed when it missed the mark. Ah well.

Overall: Somali and the Forest Spirit is half slice-of-life about a Golem looking after a cute kid, half drama about protecting that kid against very real danger borne from hatred and prejudice. The anime mostly succeeded at whatever emotion it was striving for, but the two halves had such different tones that it was sometimes difficult to reconcile them. Still, I found Somali and the Forest Spirit cute and compelling in equal measure and I was glad I watched it.

bizarro-world atelier ayesha

111. Castle Town Dandelion
https://myanimelist.net/anime/28387/Joukamachi_no_Dandelion
Summer 2015 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.17/10
Best Character: Sakurada Akane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzaRLm6Ssuw

Premise: The king's children live under constant surveillance by security cameras for their safety. Each of the nine siblings are also candidates in the election to choose the next king, and the shy Sakurada Akane wants to win solely so that she can remove the cameras for good.

The Good: Castle Town Dandelion is a slice-of-life comedy about a large royal family. It mixes a few different concepts together, and the result is a bit messy. They live mostly normal lives but are constantly being watched, which terrifies shy Akane in particular. Another element is the election to choose the next king/queen. The royal family all also have random superpowers, which... well, I'll cover that below. The election concept is my favorite thing about this. I always enjoy when slice-of-life comedy has a neat twist like that, because it makes familiar antics seem fresh. The nine siblings range from kids to almost adults. They're mostly familiar archetypes (Akane isn't much more than "the shy girl") but that's okay with a large cast and a goofy premise like this. They each have different reasons for wanting to win the election or not caring about it at all, and it's fun to follow how their shenanigans impact their poll numbers. I also enjoyed watching Akane put herself out there to campaign no matter how much it terrified her, all for the selfish goal of outlawing security cameras.

The Bad: The royal family members all have superpowers, and in my opinion this is a step too far. Akane can manipulate gravity, for example, and sure, that results in some zany situations. It just makes the premise feel messy, in my opinion. I thought the election concept was enough without tossing in another whole concept. I also wasn't a fan of a few of the siblings having crushes on each other. They're pretty much the only characters in this anime and shipping is a marketable thing to include, but... that's your sister or brother, cut it out with the blushing awkwardness when youre around them.

Overall: I enjoyed Castle Town Dandelion overall, but I felt like it could've been a lot better. The royal election was a lot of fun to follow as the characters tried to sway their poll numbers through various antics. The whole superpowers thing muddled the concept for me, however. I still liked watching Akane being cute and shy, but in the end this anime was merely fine.

COMING UP TOMORROW:
110: This anime solved the energy crisis but wound up with an alien crisis.
109: This anime's fangs werent sharp enough to win.
108: I'm hiring an assassin to kill this anime.

Somali good stuff. Got better as it went, IIRC. Shame the author died.

Dandelion pretty meh. I barely remember anything about it, though I think I remember the romance being bad...?